Translate performance at one scale into a credible basis for the next.
Scale-up is not a geometric exercise. Mixing, heat and mass transfer, residence-time distribution, hydrodynamics, pressure drop, solids behavior, thermal management, controls, and equipment limitations can change as throughput and dimensions increase.
ONB combines experimental evidence, reactor models, engineering correlations, CFD/CPFD where warranted, and stage-appropriate design calculations to identify governing phenomena and define the next-scale basis.
Is the process ready for the next scale?
Assess whether the available evidence supports pilot, demonstration, or commercial assumptions.
What changes with scale?
Identify transport, hydrodynamic, thermal, mechanical, control, and operability effects that may not preserve similarity.
What reactor size and configuration are appropriate?
Link kinetics, residence time, heat removal, pressure drop, mixing, and practical equipment constraints.
What must be tested before committing?
Prioritize experiments, measurements, and validation work that materially reduce scale-up risk.
Scale-up basis and criteria
Performance targets, governing phenomena, similarity criteria, dimensionless groups, uncertainty, and validation requirements.
Kinetics and reactor models
Reaction networks, rate expressions, parameter estimation, selectivity, deactivation, residence-time effects, and reactor performance.
Transport and hydrodynamics
Heat and mass transfer, mixing, multiphase flow, fluidization, solids circulation, pressure drop, and flow distribution.
Thermal and operability analysis
Heat generation and removal, hot-spot risk, temperature control, startup, shutdown, turndown, and operating envelopes.
CFD and CPFD
Targeted simulation of geometry-sensitive flow, heat transfer, solids behavior, multiphase hydrodynamics, and scale-dependent maldistribution.
Pilot and demonstration definition
Design cases, instrument and data requirements, test matrices, scale-up metrics, and acceptance criteria for the next system.
Scale the governing physics—not only the dimensions.
ONB identifies which similarities can be preserved, which effects will change, and which uncertainties must be bounded experimentally. The result is a traceable scale-up basis rather than a single extrapolation factor.