Issue 40 of Science@ifpen - Process Design and Modeling

IFP Group deploys processes on the world market that are as much about recycling plastics, capturing CO₂ and producing bioproducts as they are about refining or petrochemicals. Whether they are emergent or mature, all these sectors demand innovations to reduce their environmental impact, improve their competitiveness and move towards the energy transition.

The philosophy within the Process Design and Modeling Division is one of risk control when extrapolating to an industrial scale concepts and ideas initially verified on a small scale. This involves defining individual step sequences, dimensioning rules, operating conditions and methods of conduct enabling us to confidently begin prototyping and industrializing new processes.

To do so, the Division is supported by multidisciplinary fundamental research, ranging from kinetics to hydrodynamics, via matter and energy transfers, using data obtained using original experimental methods and structured by dedicated mathematical approaches. This research must meet the permanent challenge of industrial relevance.

The articles in this issue illustrate this constant back-and-forth interaction between science and operational reality facing the Division's researchers on a daily basis.

Have a good reading!

Pierre Porot
Process Design and Modeling Division Director

The industrial production of ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass was demonstrated by the Futurol™ project^a.