Chemical companies are constantly seeking new, high-margin growth opportunities, the majority of which lie in high-grade, specialty chemicals, rather than in the bulk sector. To realize these opportunities, manufacturers are increasingly considering decentralized, flexible production facilities: large-scale production units are uneconomical for innovative products with a short lifespan and volatile markets. Small modular plants have low financial risks, are flexible and can respond rapidly to changes in demand. Logistics costs can be also reduced by moving production closer to customers and/or sources of raw materials. Moreover, stricter safety regulations can in many cases be more easily met using smaller distributed facilities. Modularization of chemical production can thus have potentially significant economic and safety benefits. In this article, several drivers for modular production are reviewed, and modular production architectures are evaluated based on a new metric, the value density of feedstock resources and markets for the products of a process. The links between modularization and process intensification are also discussed. Several industrial examples are provided and used to highlight challenges and future directions for this area. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2017

中文翻译：

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模块化制造流程：现状，挑战和机遇

化工公司一直在寻找新的，高利润的增长机会，其中大部分都属于高档特种化学品，而不是散装行业。为了实现这些机会，制造商越来越多地考虑分散化，灵活的生产设施：大规模生产单位对于寿命短且市场动荡的创新产品而言不经济。小型模块化工厂的财务风险较低，具有灵活性，可以对需求变化做出快速响应。通过将生产移至离客户和/或原材料来源更近的位置，也可以降低物流成本。而且，在许多情况下，使用较小的分布式设备可以更轻松地满足更严格的安全法规。因此，化学生产的模块化可能具有潜在的显着经济和安全效益。在本文中，对模块化生产的几个驱动因素进行了回顾，并根据新指标，原料资源的价值密度和过程产品的市场对模块化生产体系结构进行了评估。还讨论了模块化与流程强化之间的联系。提供了一些工业示例，用于突出该领域的挑战和未来方向。©2017美国化学工程师学会AIChE J，2017