Process simulation modeling project that followed consulting work on the design of the Valent BioSciences multiproduct greenfield biopesticides plant. Client contracted with Urna Vitae to develop a set of fermentation and recovery models for their major products. Models include detailed process equipment and labor utilization; raw materials, utilities and consumables consumption; wastewater generation; and operating costs for all of these parameters by individual procedure. Individual process models can be combined into overall plant models to predict average and peak equipment, labor, raw materials, and utilities consumption and wastewater generation for different product mixtures and future plant expansion scenarios.
| Unit operations: Fermentation, Sterile nutrient dosing, Rotary separation, Vibratory separation, Disc stack separation (centrifugation), Ceramic microfiltration, Thin film evaporation, Forced circulation evaporation, Ion exchange separation, Reverse osmosis filtration, Crystallization, Nutsche filter drying, Continuous media sterilization, Pneumatic conveying, Tank truck loading |
| Products: Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) biopesticides, Bacillus (Lysinibacillus) sphaericus biopesticides, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens biopesticides, Aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG) from Streptomyces sp. fermentation |
| Company: Valent BioSciences LLC |
| Location: Osage, Iowa |
This project used the full capabilities of the SuperPro Designer® and SchedulePro® process simulation modeling software to model an entire multiproduct fermentation batch plant. Having these models allows the company to improve their understanding of capacity utilization, manufacturing costs, and wastewater output.
Individual Process Models
The project was an on-again, off-again project over five years that developed detailed simulation models of the aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG) plant growth regulator fermentation and recovery process and Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki (Btk) and Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) biopesticide fermentation and recovery processes. Each model includes detailed process equipment and labor utilization; raw materials, utilities and consumables consumption; and wastewater generation. The models were accurately calibrated to actual process data to represent the changing demands for steam, agitator power, air flow and cooling over the course of each fermentation batch. This allowed the plant to better understand both their minimum and maximum (peak) utility demand for future equipment sizing. In addition to modeling wastewater hydraulic volume per batch, the models also have the capability to model detailed wastewater composition. This will improve the company’s understanding of the relative contributions of the different products to the total wastewater treatment load.
The models also have the capability of including equipment capital costs and total costs for every input and treatment or disposal costs for each waste stream. This allows each model to provide a breakdown of total manufacturing costs by procedure for each product. These data will support the company’s activity-based costing initiative. They will also allow the company to identify the best opportunities for cost reduction projects and to simulate the impact of any process changes on the overall process and its total manufacturing costs.
Model Production Schedules
To understand overall equipment and other resource requirements in the multiproduct plant, the individual models were imported into a single SchedulePro planning model of the entire plant. Model production schedules were then generated with corresponding total labor, raw material, and utilities utilization and wastewater output trends. This allows the company to use the models to generate model production schedules for an expanded plant based on long-term forecasts. This, in turn, will allow the company to determine the minimum equipment and wastewater treatment capacity required of the expanded plant for a variety of product mixture scenarios.