Scope of Pilot Plants

Abstract

HIGHLY stimulating and interesting technological devel-opments in diverse fields of metallurgical industries are taking place the world over based essentially on well financed and comprehensive research investigations into multitudinous processes that today constitute the all embracing science and art of metallurgy. The fountain head of such researches springs from "basic" concepts of fund-amental science followed by their "applied" pursuits and trials on semi-pilot and pilot plant scale implementation. The success or failure of these pilot plant investigations determines whether a particular process will eventually be adopted on industrial scale or will fall by the wayside on the difficult road between development and production. The outstanding factor in such trials is the embracing breadth of the research and pilot plant projects-- ranging from the basic chemistry of metals to financial evaluation of processes in terms of economics and profit dividends resu-lting. These pilot plant trials determine the speed with which these technological concepts and innovations find their way from the laboratory to the industrial floor.