Abstract

Integrated high-speed experimentation (HSE) technology can be described as a combination of enabling technologies that are deployed to screen for new products and processes at high throughput rates by integrating the use of robotic synthesis, reactor miniaturization, parallelism and high-speed functionality techniques. Clearly, this approach has the potential for enormous time savings in research and development, thus enabling industry to bring new processes and products to the market at lower cost and, more importantly, dramatically shorten the development time.

However, the massive multi-dimensional data sets that are generated will shift the development bottlenecks from data generation to data processing. The challenges of efficiently screening multi-dimensional experimental space using HSE techniques coupled with the rapid processing of this data to generate the desired knowledge will be a major challenge. A variety of mathematical tools and modeling techniques will be vital to the rapid processing of these large data sets and generating new knowledge. In this regard the concepts of virtual laboratory and virtual plant will be discussed as they relate to high speed experimentation and simulation (HSE&S) for new and rapid process development.

Biography

Dr. Ian E. Maxwell is presently the CEO of Avantium Technologies. Prior to this position he was a global technology manager of the catalyst research and development group at the Shell Research and Technology Center, Amsterdam. He had accumulated some 25 years of experience in Shell research covering the fields of fundamental catalysis, exploratory and development chemicals, treating processes, oil refining, process modeling and gas conversion processes and more recently environmental catalysis and catalyst business related research. Some of this experienced was gained in the United States at the Shell technology center in Houston. Within Shell he was also involved in both senior technical management and the formation of new JV companies in the field of catalyst development, manufacturing and marketing. Most of his industrial research experience has been obtained in a variety of functions in which the disciplines of materials science, catalysis, process technology and research management play a prime role. He is also actively involved in contacts with Universities and other scientific/technical institutes. At the academic/industrial interface he is a member of the Industrial Advisory Board of the Netherlands Institute of Catalysis, NIOK and of the Board of the new Institute of Applied Catalysis, iAC in the UK. He is on the editorial boards of a number of International Journals in the fields of catalysis and materials science.

1.	Ian E. Maxwell Chief Executive Officer Avantium Technologies BV Zekeringstraat 29 1014 BV Amsterdam The Netherlands e-mail: ian.maxwell@avantium.nl web: http://www.avantium.nl