Translate experimental performance into an engineering basis for the next scale.
Scale-up is not a geometric exercise. Mixing, heat transfer, mass transfer, residence-time distribution, pressure drop, solids behavior, controls, and equipment constraints can change as the system grows.
ONB combines modeling, engineering calculations, data review, and stage-appropriate process design to define the next-scale basis and reduce the risk of committing to equipment before critical uncertainties are understood.
Is the process ready for the next scale?
Assess whether the evidence supports pilot, demonstration, or commercial assumptions.
What changes with scale?
Identify transport, hydrodynamic, thermal, mechanical, and operability effects.
What must be drawn and specified?
Convert requirements into PFDs, P&IDs, equipment lists, datasheets, controls concepts, and vendor questions.
What must be tested first?
Prioritize work that materially reduces design or scale-up uncertainty.
Feasibility and FEL studies
Project basis, alternatives, site and infrastructure inputs, stage-appropriate definition, risk, cost basis, and implementation planning.
Scale-up basis
Performance targets, governing phenomena, similarity criteria, uncertainty, and validation requirements.
Reactor sizing and performance
Kinetics, residence time, heat and mass transfer, hydrodynamics, pressure drop, and operating windows.
PFD and P&ID development
Process and utility flows, equipment and line identification, control loops, safeguards, isolation concepts, and review incorporation.
Equipment definition
Sizing calculations, equipment lists, preliminary datasheets, layouts, materials considerations, and utility interfaces.
Vendor and fabrication support
Technical bid questions, vendor-data review, clarifications, and support through equipment definition.
Stage-gated engineering prevents false precision.
Early engineering should be detailed enough to support the decision, but not so detailed that unvalidated assumptions become embedded in the design. ONB separates knowns, estimates, and open questions and matches document maturity to project stage.