UNIVERSITY OF BALAMAND

Faculty of Engineering

Department of Chemical Engineering

Chemical Product Design

CHEN389

Submitted to: Dr. Karam Jabbour

Submitted by: Gilbert Mansour

Hilal Zouhbie

Ziwar Mulky

Ali Al Husseini

Hamza Khaled
Table of Content
CHAPTER 1. LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................... 5
INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEM STATEMENT:.........................................................................................................5
DEFINITION OF POLYSTYRENE:............................................................................................................................6
HISTORY OF POLYSTYRENE:.................................................................................................................................6
CATEGORIES OF POLYSTYRENE:..........................................................................................................................7
BENEFITS OF USING POLYSTYRENE PRODUCTS:.............................................................................................8
DISADVANTAGES OF USING POLYSTYRENE PRODUCTS:..............................................................................9
CHAPTER 2. INTRODUCTION TO CHEMICAL PRODUCT DESIGN........................................10
5.1. WHAT IS CHEMICAL PRODUCT DESIGN (CPD)?.................................................................................11
IMPORTANCE OF CHEMICAL PRODUCT DESIGN..................................................................................................11
CATEGORIES OF CHEMICAL PRODUCTS...............................................................................................................15
COMMODITY PRODUCTS..........................................................................................................................................16
CHEMICAL PRODUCTS..............................................................................................................................................16
MOLECULAR PRODUCTS..........................................................................................................................................17
MICROSTRUCTURE PRODUCTS...............................................................................................................................17
PRODUCT DESIGN PROCEDURE..............................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES:............................................................................................................................................................ 19
CHAPTER 3. ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS.............................................................................. 20
WHY ECONOMICS FOR ENGINEERS?......................................................................................................................20
PROCESS VS. PRODUCT ECONOMICS.......................................................................................................................20
 Commodity products............................................................................................................................... 21
 Non commodity products (specialty).............................................................................................. 22
3.2.1 Process economics.......................................................................................................................... 23
3.2.2 Hierarchy of process design....................................................................................................... 23
ECONOMIC POTENTIAL.........................................................................................................................................24
PRODUCT ECONOMICS..............................................................................................................................................25
3.1.1 CASH FLOWS:.........................................................................................................................................25
3.1.2 TIME TO MARKET:................................................................................................................................ 26
5.6. WRITING A BUSINESS PLAN.....................................................................................................................26
THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY................................................................................................................................26
THE BUSINESS IDEA...............................................................................................................................................26
THE MANAGEMENT TEAM...................................................................................................................................27
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY..................................................................................................................................27
THE MARKET POTENTIAL.................................................................................................................................... 27
FINANCE................................................................................................................................................................... 27
REFERENCES.............................................................................................................................................................. 28
CHAPTER 4. NEEDS.......................................................................................................................... 29
5.1. CUSTOMER NEEDS.....................................................................................................................................29
5.2. IDENTIFYING AND INTERVIEWING CUSTOMERS:...................................................................................29
5.3. INTERPRETING CUSTOMER NEEDS.........................................................................................................31
5.4. CONSUMER PRODUCTS..............................................................................................................................31
5.5. TRANSLATING NEEDS INTO SPECIFICATIONS.......................................................................................32

2
 5.6. BENCHMARK...............................................................................................................................................33
5.7. REVISING PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS....................................................................................................34
UNIPACK.....................................................................................................................................................................34
10- REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................... 39
CHAPTER 5. IDEAS........................................................................................................................... 40
5.1. LIST OF IDEAS:......................................................................................................................................... 40
5.2. REMOVE FOLLY AND REDUNDANT IDEA:..............................................................................................42
5.3. SORTING IDEAS:...................................................................................................................................... 42
5.4. SCREEN MATRIX:....................................................................................................................................43
5.5. REFERENCE LIST........................................................................................................................................44
CHAPTER 6. SELECTION................................................................................................................. 45
6.1. INTRODUCTION:.........................................................................................................................................46
6.2. SELECTION CRITERIA:...............................................................................................................................46
6.2.1. Hardness:................................................................................................................................................... 46
6.2.2. Biodegradable:........................................................................................................................................ 47
6.2.3. Melting point performance:............................................................................................................... 48
6.2.4. Toxicity:...................................................................................................................................................... 48
6.3. SELECTION MATRIX:..............................................................................................................................48
6.4. REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................... 49
CHAPTER 7. MANUFACTURING.................................................................................................... 50
7.1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................................................51
7.2 PREPARATION FOR MANUFACTURE...............................................................................................................52
BECAUSE WE ARE CLOSE TO A DECISION ON WHETHER TO MAKE A SPECIFIC PRODUCT, WE NEED
TO EXPAND OUR FOCUS FROM TECHNOLOGY AND THINK OF SOME BROADER ISSUES OF
PRODUCT DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT...........................................................................................................52
7.2.1 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.......................................................................................................................52
a- Patents.......................................................................................................................................................... 52
b- Trade secrets.............................................................................................................................................. 52
c- Types of patents........................................................................................................................................ 52
7.2.2 SUPPLYING MISSING INFORMATION......................................................................................................53
7.3 SETTING FINAL SPECIFICATIONS....................................................................................................................53
7.3.1 SETTING A SPECIFICATION.......................................................................................................................53
7.3.2 PROTOTYPING.............................................................................................................................................. 54
................................................................................................................................................................ 55
7.4 SCALE-UP/SCALE DOWN | GENERAL ISSUES OF SCALING..........................................................................55
REFERENCES.............................................................................................................................................................. 57

3
Table of Figures
1-1:Polystyrene Molecule....................................................................................................................................... 7
1-2:Extruded and Expanded polystyrene........................................................................................................... 8
1-3: Polystyrene plastic........................................................................................................................................... 8
1-4: Polystyrene Film............................................................................................................................................... 8
2-1: Chemical Engineering Job Titles.............................................................................................................. 13
2-2: Difference between both organizations................................................................................................... 14
2-3: Market pull vs. Market push....................................................................................................................... 14
2-4: Traditional Product Design Schedule...................................................................................................... 15
2-5: Modern Product Design Procedure.......................................................................................................... 15
3-1:Commodity vs. Specialty.............................................................................................................................. 21
3-2: Examples of commodity products............................................................................................................ 22
3-3: Snap Light (Specialty Product).................................................................................................................. 23
3-4: Artificial Kidney (specialty product)....................................................................................................... 23
3-5: Example of a hierarchy of design process.............................................................................................. 24
3-6: Example of how inflation affects the value of money (Check reference list for complete)....26
4-1:Face to face interview.................................................................................................................................... 30
4-2: Focus Group.................................................................................................................................................... 30
4-4: Percentage of usage of polystyrene foam............................................................................................... 36
4-7: Needs proposed by customers as useful.................................................................................................. 37
4-6: Needs proposed by customers as desirable............................................................................................ 37
5-1: Cabbage............................................................................................................................................................ 41
5-2: Palm Leaf......................................................................................................................................................... 42
5-3: Mealworm........................................................................................................................................................ 42
5-4: Pseudomonas Putida..................................................................................................................................... 42
6-1:Preparation of Papaya pure and Papaya pure with Gelatine..............................................................48
7-1: Manufacturing process................................................................................................................................. 52

4
Table of Tables
2-1:Table showing the changes that made CPD important........................................................................12
2-2: The four types of Chemical products....................................................................................................... 16
3-1:Commodity vs. Specialty.............................................................................................................................. 21
5-1: Selecation Matrix........................................................................................................................................... 45
6-1: Selection Matrix............................................................................................................................................. 50

5
Abstract
Polystyrene foam is an effective packaging material, however, its environmental impact
is considered a nightmare due to its low density which makes it blow all over the place, in
addition to the fact that it doesn’t get wet which makes it float in rivers, lakes… but most
importantly, it’s not biodegradable.

Our Corporate UniPack© has assigned us, a team of Chemical engineers, to seek a
biodegradable substitute for polystyrene which basically should have the same packaging
effectiveness but with less damaging environmental impacts (eco-friendly).

In the following report, we as a core team discussed what the needs are, how we
translated them into product specifications, what ideas we found and which one was the
best selected idea to meet the desired need, along with the manufacturing stage.

6
 Chapter 1. Literature Review
Introduction and problem statement:
Unipack is a Lebanese industrial company that was constructed in 1996, dedicated for
producing chemical packaging products. Such packaging contains polystyrene chemical
that is harmful for the environment. Thus, many people and environmentalists started
complaining about the polystyrene packaging. Even though such material is effective, yet
it is an environmental nightmare. According to this problem, Unipack assigned an urgent
meeting with the core team to find an optimum solution. Therefore, the main purpose of
this report is to find an alternative to polystyrene that would be less harmful for the
environment.

The core team consists of:

- Hilal Zouhbie: the scientist

- Gilbert Mansour: the design engineer
- Ziwar Moulky: the researcher
- Hamza Khaled: the sales manager
- Ali Husseini: the head of manufacture

Definition of polystyrene:
Polystyrene, known as Styrofoam, is a thermoplastic polymer made from styrene.
A thermoplastic polymer is a material that can be repeatedly softened and hardened
by alternately heating and cooling. Styrene is a hydrocarbon derived from
petroleum with the formula C6H5CH=CH2. The presence of the double bond in the
styrene molecule makes it possible for styrene molecules to react with each other
in long chains that constitute the polymer polystyrene.

7
 1-1:Polystyrene Molecule

History of Polystyrene:
Polystyrene is a strong plastic created from ethylene and benzene that can be
injected, extruded or blow molded, making it a very useful and versatile
manufacturing material. Most of us recognize Styrofoam a form of foam
polystyrene packaging. Polystyrene is also used as a building material, with
electrical appliances such as light switches and plates, and in other household
items.
However, when it came to the invention of polystyrene, at least three inventors
took part of the process:

1. Polystyrene was first discovered by a German apothecary called Eduard

Simon. At first, Eduard isolated a substance from natural resin; yet, he didn’t
know what he had discovered.

2. Herrmann Staudinger, a German organic chemist, has realized that Simon’s

discovery that was comprised of long chain of styrene molecule was a plastic
polymer.

3. In 1930, the scientists at BASF (Badische Anilin & Soda-Fabric) developed a

way to commercially manufacture polystyrene.

Categories of Polystyrene:

 Polystyrene Foam: Among the different types of foam are expanded polystyrene
(EPS) and extruded polystyrene (XPS). EPS includes the most well-known and

8
 common type of polystyrene to include Styrofoam and packing peanuts. However,
XPS is higher density foam typically used in applications like architectural
building model. In the figure below, it shows the difference between EPS and
XPS.

1-2:Extruded and Expanded

polystyrene

 Regular Polystyrene Plastic: Some types of polystyrene plastic are copolymers.

Oftentimes homopolymer PS is fairly brittle and can be made more impact
resistant if combined with other materials (known in this form as the copolymer
High Impact Polystyrene, or HIPS).

1-3: Polystyrene plastic

 Polystyrene film: Polystyrene film
can also be vacuum formed and used in packaging applications. Films can be
stretched into oriented polystyrene (OPS) that is cheaper to produce (albeit more
brittle) than alternatives.

1-4: Polystyrene Film

9
Benefits of using Polystyrene products:

 Appliances: Refrigerators, air conditioners, ovens, microwaves, vacuum cleaners,

blenders – these and other appliances often are made with polystyrene (solid and
foam) because it is inert (doesn’t react with other materials), cost-effective and
long lasting.
 Automotive: Polystyrene (solid and foam) is used to make many car parts,
including knobs, instrument panels, trim, energy absorbing door panels and sound
dampening foam. Foam polystyrene also is widely used in child protective seats. 
 Electronics: Polystyrene is used for the housing and other parts for televisions,
computers and all types of IT equipment, where the combination of form, function
and aesthetics are essential. 
 Foodservice: Polystyrene foodservice packaging typically insulates better, keeps
food fresher longer and costs less than alternatives. 
 Insulation: Lightweight polystyrene foam provides excellent thermal insulation
in numerous applications, such as building walls and roofing, refrigerators and
freezers, and industrial cold storage facilities. Polystyrene insulation is inert,
durable and resistant to water damage.

 Packaging: Polystyrene (solid and foam) is widely used to protect consumer

products. CD and DVD cases, foam-packaging peanuts for shipping, food
packaging, meat/poultry trays and egg cartons typically are made with
polystyrene to protect against damage or spoilage.

Disadvantages of using Polystyrene products:

 Environmental Effects: Polystyrene has contaminated and effected both the
environment and our health. When thrown away as trash, polystyrene cannot
biodegrade or breakdown via other means, remaining in the environment for
thousands of years. Keep in mind; plastics cover 25-30 percent of space in
landfills. Foam polystyrene has been found in water and wind, especially at
shores, making up for a considerable amount of marine debris. This also affects
animals in the wild, due to broken down bits of polystyrene obstructing their

10
 airways, contaminating their resources, and causing cancer and digestive
problems. The polystyrene manufacturing process is the 5th largest creator of
hazardous waste. The process of making polystyrene pollutes the air and creates
large amounts of liquid and solid waste.
 Health Effects: Styrofoam containers are commonly used for take-out food, but
chemicals can leach into it and contaminate that food, affecting human health and
reproductive systems. This effect is further accentuated if food is reheated while
still in the container. Moreover, an important thing to mention that those who
work in styrene product manufacturing and are regularly exposed to high levels of
styrene have experienced acute health effects, including the following:
- Irritation of the skin
- Irritation of the eyes
- Irritation of the upper respiratory tract
- Gastrointestinal effects
 In addition to the effects mentioned above, this “environmental immortal” product
is flammable, weak and not economical making it not a suitable material to deal
with. Thus, seeking for a biodegradable packing substitute that will function as
well as the current product with less damaging environmental effects is the ideal
solution.

11
 Chapter 2. Introduction to Chemical
Product Design
5.1. What is Chemical Product Design (CPD)?
 Chemical product design is defined as the whole methodology of designing and
manufacturing a chemical product. This procedure consist of 4 steps:
 Defining our needs
 Elaborating the ideas that will meet our needs
 Selecting the best of these ideas
 Choosing of the product’s shape and its manufacturing plan

 We define chemical product design as this entire procedure. At the start of the
procedure, when we are deciding what the product should do, we expect major
Input from both marketing and research, as well as from engineering. By the end
of the procedure, when we are focused on the manufacturing process, we expect a
reduced role for marketing, and a major effort from engineering. However, we
believe that the entire effort is best viewed as a whole, carried out by integrated
teams drawn from marketing, research, and engineering.

Importance of Chemical Product Design

 Chemical product design has become more important because of major
change in:
 Chemical Industry
 Employment/work field of engineers
 Corporate structure and strategy
 Changes in product design schedul

12
2-1:Table showing the changes that made CPD important

30 years ago Today

Available time
Industrial Research
Developing in sequence
Reliable, slow and according to the rules
Technology driven development
International developing
Each specialism in autonomous
Department head important
Manufacturing and service separated
Job for life
Stress
Application Research
Everything is concurrent
Fast and direct
Market driven development
External developing
Absence of the specialism concept
Project manager important
Manufacturing serves service
Jobbing, altering projects

 Those changes had an impact on the chemical engineers:

 Transition between 7 jobs/career instead of having only 2 jobs/career
 No change in the skills that companies demand from engineers but in the job
they are hired to accomplish
 Basics skills needed by engineers have always been diverse and have not
altered dramatically

The figure in the next page shows the type of jobs chemical engineers today can
have.

13
 2-5: Chemical Engineering Job Titles

 The focus of chemical companies on specialty products and new materials had a major
impact on the jobs which chemical engineers do:
- Smaller volume production higher added value in final product
- More focus on research higher profits
We should also note that in 1975, focus began to shift from commodity products to
specialty products, with the emergence of technology and computer programs.
 The consequences of the changes in chemical industries lead to serious changes in
the way companies approach their business. Two major organizations are
important to deal with:
 Functional Organization
 Project Organization
 A common alternative is a project organization. In a project organization, a core
team is formed from the different divisions. The team will normally include
representatives from marketing, research and development, engineering,
production, and so on. These core team members will have complete
responsibility and a good deal of resources to design and develop the target
product. They will be judged not by their immediate functional supervisors, but
rather by a panel of senior managers well versed in the company’s long-term
strategy. Functional supervisors still have the job of making the divisions run
smoothly. Such divided management can be chaotic and inefficient.

14
 2-6: Difference between both organizations
 In this part we are
going to discuss the way in which corporate strategy affects job. Based on the
company’s organization, a company will have strategic forces to drive product
development. Such driving forces are described in terms of 2 limiting forces:

- Market-pull: Corporations look toward their markets for inspiration

- Market-push: Corporations emphasize on extending their technologies
In addition, we can’t deny the fact that both market pull and market push
strategies use the same product design procedure.

2-7: Market pull vs. Market push

 All in all, we can notice that the time required to produce a new material from the
start to the end will be much less in modern product design than in traditional
product design. The below figures will illustrate our point of view.

15
 2-8: Traditional Product Design Schedule

Categories of Chemical
Products 2-9: Modern Product Design Procedure
 Chemical
products are divided into 2 major types: commodity products and specialty products
known as “ non-commodity products”
 Specialty products are divided into 3 main types:
 Chemical products/Devices
 Molecular products
 Microstructure products
 According the annual production of polystyrene that the American Institute
declared in 2014 which was around 28,300 tons/year. Polystyrene is considered as a
non-commodity product.

16
2-2: The four types of Chemical products

Commodities Devices Molecules Microstructures

Examples Ammonia Blood Polystyrene Sunscreen
oxygenator
Scale Continua Meters Nano-meters Micro-meters
Key Cost Convenience Discovery Function
Basis Unit Operations Unit operations Chemistry Recipe
Risk Feedstock Intellectual Discovery Science
Property

Commodity Products
 Produced in large quantities, on large scale production sites and are sold at the
lowest possible price
 Commodities are the traditional focus of chemical engineering and are made
using the tools of reaction engineering and unit operation
 Their production requires huge capital investment(land cost of the site,
equipment’s volume)
 The uncertainty is their manufacture is the patent( the process needs to have
secured and scientifically proven before application)
 They have a macroscopic structure and are considered as a mini-chemical plant

Chemical Products
 These products are miniature processes which accomplish a particular chemical
transformation but a small scale
 The main objectives in their manufacturing is suitability, safety and low cost
 The uncertainty is their manufacture is the patent (the process needs to have
secured and scientifically proven before application
 They have a macroscopic structure and are considered as a mini-chemical plant
(scaling down of larger facilities)

17
Molecular Products
 These products are molecules most often manifested in the form of well-known
structures with important complexities
 Processes for making these molecules are batch procedures
 The key is not the process cost or convenience but discovery
 The uncertainty in their manufacture is the discovery (the product needs to be a
new innovative material that is the first of its kind)
 The important scale of these product is nanometers

Microstructure Products
 These products are micro-molecules (size much larger than molecular and
smaller than chemical device products)
 The key to this type of product is not its cost or discovery but its function
 The uncertainty is their manufacture is the lack in the knowledge of the structure-
function relationship
 The important scale of these product is micro-meters

Product Design Procedure

 Schemes of products design procedures can be complex, especially with respect
to:
 The role of the management
 The corporate organization and strategy
 The job occupied by the chemical engineer
 The design procedure is composed of 4 steps:
 Needs: What needs should the product satisfy? Is there an existing
benchmark?
Quantitative and Qualitative specifications?
 Ideas: What kind of products could satisfy these needs? Search! Screen
the ideas! and reduce 100 to only 5 ideas
 Selection: Which ideas are the most promising? Risk assessment! Reduce
5 to 1 or 2 ideas! Start design and development!

18
  Manufacture: How can we make the product in commercial quantities?
Estimate costs! Required facilities! Work in batch?

References:
 “Everything You Need To Know About Polystyrene (PS)” in URL
https://www.creativemechanisms.com/blog/polystyrene-ps-plastic\

19
  “Polystyrene” in URL https://www.chemicalsafetyfacts.org/polystyrene-post/
 Adrienne Miller, Sheila Mohazzebi, Samantha Pasewark with Julie M. Fagan,
Ph.D.; “Styrofoam: More Harmful than Helpful”, in URL
 Bellis, Mary (2006); “Polystyrene and Styrofoam”, in: URL
http://theinventors.org/library/inventors/blpolystyrene.htm
 https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/38329/PDF/1/play/

Sims, Judith (2003); "Polystyrene", in: URL

https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/academic-and-educational-journals/polystyrene

20
 Chapter 3. Economic Considerations
Why economics for engineers?
Business trained persons (marketing & sales divisions of the core team) may
argue, using large and detailed business literature that includes examples aimed at
beginners and accomplished professionals, that chemical product design must include
detailed discussions of financial issues. Therefore, a brief outline of the finances of CPD
is necessary to understand how these arguments are made, since these finance related
specialists are our associates and we need to know at least a part of their language, in
order to achieve at the end, what we call “Ideal Economic Study”.

A mandatory and elementary step which is the first thing to do, is to check and
decide if our product is a commodity product in which we focus on the economics of the
chemical process, or if it’s a specialty product, in which we focus on the economics of the
chemical product.

Not to mention the importance of costs and prices, generally in any business as
well as for the development stage, since we determine if our product is a success or not
by calculating the profit by: Profits = Prices – Costs

Process vs. product economics

In order to differentiate between commodity and specialty products, the following
questions are asked:

 How much product is made?

 What equipment is used?
 Which producer makes the most money?

Commodity Specialty

3-10:Commodity vs. Specialty

21
 Large amounts Small amounts
Dedicated equipment
Batch equipment
Operated continuously
Huge capital cost Cost of development

3-3:Commodity vs. Specialty

 Commodity products
Most chemical commodities have known prices and have been made for decades using
technology that does not change much from one year to another, and are sold in highly
competitive markets that are chemically well defined.

Creativity is limited when it comes to commodities.

Fences Caps

Plastic
Disks
Material

3-11: Examples of commodity products

 Non commodity products (specialty)

The economics of scale are not so important since the volume of manufacture is small
compared to commodity products. But market margins are higher since there is a very

22
strong competition on performance (drive of manufacturing efficiency is less harsh).
These products have a short shelf life (5-10 years), which makes plant optimization
useless. Its life is limited by the expiry date of the product, the arrival of a competitor’s
better product or by changes in fashion.

We can’t assume the presence of a market nor fix a price for our specialty product, which
its development is highly expensive due to the skill intensive labor required, which takes
long durations, which brings us to conclude that the economics of such products isn’t
dominated by the equipment costs but by the cost of people.

The most important factors determining a product’s viability are:

 Potential lifetime in the market

 Size of the market
 The price the product can command

3-12: Snap Light (Specialty Product)

23
 3.2.1 Process

3-13: Artificial Kidney (specialty product)

economics
Here what really matters is the cost involved in the production of the product, this is why
we talk about process economics (more concerned with chemical process used to make
the commodity product).

3.2.2 Hierarchy of process design

The four steps involved in this hierarchy are the intellectual sequence of any process
design:

 Batch vs. Continuous process

 Input-Output structure: simple block diagram showing chemical streams
 Details of chemical reactions, including recycles
 Separations and energy requirements

A Unit Operation Scheme

24
 3-14: Example of a hierarchy of design process

Economic potential
Consists of three sequential tests on the economic potential of the process:

1. Estimate the economic potential based only on the current price of the product
and raw materials:
Economic potential = [revenue from product sales/year] – [raw material cost/year]

2. Estimate how much energy we will need to make our product:

Economic potential = [revenue from product sales/year] – [raw material cost/year] –
[utility cost/year]

3. Estimate how much equipment will cost and how much working capital we will
need:
Economic potential = [revenue from product sales/year] – [raw material cost/year] –
[utility cost/year] – [total capital cost/year]

The first test has three implications:

 Stoichiometry of the process is important

 We must have finished steps 1 & 2 of the design hierarchy
 Only applied for commodity products
The second test has only one implication:

 We must have finished initial estimates of all four steps of our design hierarchy

25
The third test has no implications.

Product economics
Several factors must be considered here, including:

1. Cash flows
2. Time to market
1.1.1 Cash flows:
 Net present value
 ROI (return of investment) = [Average (profit/year) / initial investment] * 100
 Payback time (should be less than 5 years for a product to be viable)
Cash flow includes development (salaries, fringe benefits and overhead), equipment,
start-up and production (includes as well costs of marketing and sales).
Instantaneous break-even point (when -  +) and profit starts.

Overall break-even point.

While doing the cash flow, some basic assumptions must be taken:

 Demands for the product start as soon as it hits the market.

 These demands stay steady throughout the cycle.
 Everything is sold at the same price, no discounts.
 No inflation.
 Ignore any extra revenue caused by being first to market.

Notice that there is no inflation here: time value of money is the most important
factor that we neglected during calculations.

In case inflation was taken into consideration, an adjusted cash flow must be done simply
because all the numbers will change.

26
1.1.2 Time to market:
As a general rule, the first company to bring the new product to the market gets 60-70% of the
total sales, while the competitors who arrive late fight over the remaining fraction. The main
reason for this is the product quality and price.

5.6. Writing a business plan

The main characteristic of an ideal business plan is to be realistic while writing it. It should
also be written with a style that is accessible to all types of readers, and it should encourage
them through its executive summary to continue reading it.

The executive summary

Short, brief, direct and clear. It’s that simple. In our case, the summary should talk
about how polystyrene foam is an excellent packaging material but is also an
environmental nightmare, and that our aim is to design a biodegradable packing
material for less environmental impact.

The business idea

Describe how the business idea will lead to a sustainable business with significant
growth. In other words, how and why our product will be highly asked for once it hits the
market. We should also describe the technology needed and should focus on the idea that
meets the needs demanded by the market (same packaging quality with less
environmental impact).

27
The management team
Which is the core team, where we describe the role of each person and division and note
if there is any shortage in skills needed (Gilbert, Hilal, Ziwar, Ali, Hamza).

Intellectual property
Describe how the business depends on intellectual property (innovative idea to fulfill the
desired need) and how it’s retained since at this early stage, it’s the only asset of value, so
we must be careful on what to share and what not to share in our business plan.

The market potential

Define the market we target (size of it, expected market share and product price). In this
case, our targeted market should be any store that sells packaging boxes to homes and
restaurants… Estimates should be as reliable as possible and we should also clearly state
all possible risks and uncertainties.

Finance
Commodity: hierarchy of process design & economic potential.

Specialty: Cash flows should be plotted in order to economically judge our new proposed
product. Which is our way to go since we are working on a molecular basis (specialty).

References
 https://courses.lumenlearning.com/sanjacinto-atdcoursereview-chemistry1-
1/chapter/writing-and-balancing-chemical-equations/
 http://hesreport.sunocoinc.com/fw/main/Commodity-Chemicals-468C995.html

28
 http://www.wiki-blue.com/sites/wikiblue/Pages/Incremental%20new%20products
%20and%20commoditization.aspx
 https://www.innovativewealth.com/alternative-investment/inflation-the-secret-to-
building-wealth-in-real-estate/
 https://www.thebalancesmb.com/free-cash-flow-393588
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RLQ9sHkdkk

Chapter 4. Needs

29
3
5.1. Customer Needs
The very first step of chemical product design is to recognize what customers need which
can be the ignition to a new product.

Identifying customers’ needs can be done through 3 steps:

5.2. Identifying and interviewing customers:

 Customers can be grouped into 2 categories:

- Final users: who ultimately uses or are intended to ultimately use a product.
- Lead users: positioned to benefit significantly by obtaining a solution to needs.

In other words, lead users are users of a product or service that currently
experience needs still unknown to the public and who also benefit greatly if they obtain a
solution to these needs. Final users typically do not possess the technical understanding
or skill of the product designers.

 There are 3 types of interviews:

Face-to-Face Interviews: The face-to-face contact between researcher and respondent is

not equal in terms of the potential quality of data that can be obtained. In the face-to-face
interview it is possible to record more than the verbal responses of the interviewee, which
are often superficial. When human beings communicate directly with each other much
more information is communicated between them. When two people face one another,
the dialogue is conducted on several levels. It goes beyond verbal expression. The nature
of words used, facial expressions and body language all communicate what the other
party means. In this case, the ideal number of interviews should be around 15.

30
 4-16:Face to face interview

Focus Groups: Are composed of a leader and eight panel members. Focus group
interviews are a survey research instrument which can be used in addition to, or instead
of, a personal interview approach. It has particular advantages for use in qualitative
research applications. The central feature of this method of obtaining information from
groups of people is that the interviewer strives to keep the discussion led by the leader
focused upon the issue of concern. The moderator behaves almost like a psycho-therapist
who directs the group towards the focus of the researcher. In doing so, the moderator
speaks very little, and encourages the group to generate the information required by
stimulating discussion through terse provocative statements.

4-17: Focus Group

31
Trained test panels: these are common in evaluating the little variation in consumer
goods. During this step, the panel is promoted to use comparative words (thicker,
saltier…)

 In order for us to manage an ideal discussion, we in Unipack work under some

rules that help us understand the product; that’s why every member of the core team
states the project scope, the targeted market, and the key business goals, then all the
members choose the most appropriate ones.

5.3. Interpreting Customer Needs

 

 The needs that we get from the interviews might not be relatable to our work,
might be beyond our abilities, and might be repeated.
 The needs that are left must be divided into 3 categories, “essential”, “desirable”
and “useful”.

5.4. Consumer Products

The usage of conventional instruments may lead to difficulties in the measuring of

important consumer products characteristics. It is desired to measure the "smoothness" of
skin in order to enhance cosmetics products. We may want to determine wool features,
such as "softness", to ease the development of new winter jackets. We will constantly
want to improve these attributes. Hence, we may have trouble creating suitable
specifications.

 In order to assess their needs, we must follow a scale of measurements. There are
two such scales: 

1. Hedonic: which is related to the customer's sensations

2. Intensity: which is related to costumer's feel

32
  
 In order to have a clear idea of the final product specifications, we can adapt 3
scales:

1. Comparison Test: It is very simple and fast. This test is suitable for simple
product improvements. However, it does not contribute to a model for further
expansion.
2. Ordinal or Category Scale: We suggest a specific scaling technique for the
customers so they can sound out their thoughts. It is more difficult than test 1
but gives more accurate results.
3. Ratio Scale: It is the most difficult scaling process, but however, the
information outcome is the most suitable one. It consists of choosing a standard
product and comparing the relative ratio. This test gives an extremely specific
ranking of an ordinal scale.

 The ideal solution is to use scientific instruments that can relate between
consumer attributes and science. Sometimes, inventing and designing unique instruments
helps to assess consumer needs.

5.5.     Translating Needs into Specifications

 The strategic procedure that should be followed for product specifications is

divided into a three steps:

1)      Write complete chemical reactions for any chemical steps involved:

Consideration of mass versus moles

Checking the stoichiometry of the reaction 

33
2)      Make mass and energy balances equations, for such calculations are highly essential
in product use:

Identification of thermodynamic aspects

Explanation of volume change
Observing for temperature change
Choosing (after calculation) the size of process recycles

3)       Evaluate any important rates which occur during product use:

Rate processes by choosing the most simplified assumptions:

All relevant transport coefficient (thermal conductivity and diffusion coefficient)

should be taken as constant
The viscosity should be assumed Newtonian unless non-Newtonian behavior is
essential to the specifications
Chemical reactions should be taken either as first order or zero order
Reaction rates should be capped: it is unwanted for them to go faster than
diffusion control, even at high temperatures

5.6.  Benchmark

 In every product design, referring to a "benchmark" will help in improving our

product, since it is considered as a standard product. The benchmark could be an existing
product that enables us to add improvements and value, or it could be a hypothetical
product that our competitors could develop in the future.
 However, we should be aware of the serious risk that comes with choosing
benchmarks. The risk is that we will most likely jump straight to our best guess of
solution rather than take note of the product design process. We will not be careful while
finalizing setting specifications. This risk is “REAL”. We should minimize it by: 
1- Revising our specifications
2- Urging the product development team to minimize the amount of their favorite

34
 guesses

5.7. Revising Product Specifications

When converting needs into specifications, we are able to identify good estimations of
the parameters related to our product specifications. However, such estimates have 3
serious shortcomings:

1. Our initial specifications may be transparently unrealistic: need of materials of

high cost, requirements of high flows or high concentration of reagents and
utilization of materials that are not listed in the periodic table
2. Not being attentive while comparing the product to the “benchmark”: Poor
comparison with existing products and high expectations of parameters
3. Not respecting broader social needs: the effect of toxicity level on our
employees and customers. Toxic product causes community pollution and
producing unnecessary needs

 This is our final chance to revise and define our product specifications before
beginning with the elaboration of the idea. After this step, there is no going back.

Unipack

 In Unipack, we always receive complaints and feedbacks about our polystyrene

foam products. We, as a core team, are relying on those feedbacks in order to seek a
better product satisfying customer needs.

 We often conduct surveys that play a big part in determining the needs of the
customers and identifying the reaction of the consumers towards our product, what needs
to be improved…

35
 How often
Would
What
What
What
doquality
you
quality
you
quality
recommend/use
usedo
do packing
doyou
you
youthink
think
think
foam
biodegradable
isisisthe
in
the
the
amost
most
week?
mostdesirable?
essential?
useful?
packing
foam? 3-5 times Cost
3% Cost 11%
Never
Strength Neutral
14%
Strength
Toxicity
18% 17% 17% Cost
21%21% 32%
Toxicity Heat Resistance
No 14%
14%7%
Attractive
Toxicity Shape
1-3 times
16% Heat Resistance
39%
80% Yes
Humidity Resistance
77% 42%
7%
Heat Resistance
Attractive11%
Shape
Humidity Resisstance
Attractive Shape 4%
11%
25%

 In our case, we conducted the survey online (using Survey Monkey) and grouped
the results under diagrams. These are some of the results that were essential in identifying
important needs.
1- As we can clearly note in figure 4-3, our product will be highly needed. Over three
quarters of the 30 people who carried out the survey believe that our product will be
well recommended.

2- Over 80% of the interviewees use polystyrene foam -3 times a week (Figure 4-4).
This question shows that huge amount of polystyrene is used in our society.

3- Between several different gum specification, Toxicity was an essential need required
by customers (39%) (Figure 4-5).

4- Cost was one of the most desirable characteristics (32%) (Figure 4-6).

5- A very useful need which customers desired was polystyrene foam that is heat
resistant (42%) (Figure 4-7).
6- When interviewees where asked what do they do with the foam after they finish using
it, only 2-3 answered that the recycle it, and only one said that he reuses it; while the

Figure
4-18:4-6: Needs proposed
Percentage of usageby
of customers
polystyreneasfoam
essential

others said they throw it in the garbage can which make this an environmental issue.

36
 7- In order to get a variety of opinions on why our product will be needed, our core team
asked this question: “Why will the world needs biodegradable packing foam?”
Biodegradable packing foam is capable of being decomposed by bacteria or other living
organisms and thereby avoiding pollution. A variety of responses included:

To prevent pollution and to facilitate the To save us from global warming.

disposal these packing foam

Saves up a lot of plastic usage therefore Because we’re drowning in waste

helps the environment

Because it help them in recycling Reserve products

8- When asked what important feature should polystyrene have, some answers were:

moisture resistance Easy to use

No poison It should have compartments to separate food

and keep food moist out

Being biodegradable can be closed tightly

Easy to hold Don’t pollute

Reusable Eco friendly

Support Durability

9- Most of the customers emphasized that the corporates using the bio-degradable foam
as a raw material in their processing (companies manufacturing coffee cups, fast food
boxes, kitchen utilities etc...) will be the vita customers.

 Since we are improving an existing product, we already know how the existing product is
used and therefore we can be able to define the essential, desirable and useful needs from
the survey above and research. After discussion with the core team, additional review was
made with customers in order to clarify our list. The needs of customers are ranked in the
table in the next page:

37
Organization of needs into the 3 main categories
Essential Needs Desirable Needs Useful Needs

Toxicity Cost Heat Resistant

Attractive Shape Available from

Strength
multiple suppliers

Biodegradable - -

Products Reservation - -

 To fully assess customer needs we had to convert the qualitative needs into
quantitative specifications. For example, the attribute of strength is a qualitative need. In
order to understand this assessment we have to relate this qualitative attribute to a
scientific parameter. The key to strength is the polymers, plasticizers, and resins that act as
stabilizers . We relate the needs to the polymers involved in the preparation of polystyrene
foam: we will work on the synthetic polymers that could help increase the strength of the
foam. Note the conversion from non-scientific to scientific is made by the use of
instruments.

10- References
Chapter 5: Personal Interviews (n.d.). Retrieved from :
http://www.fao.org/docrep/w3241e/w3241e06.htm#focus%20group
%20interviews
Coaching Session (n.d.). Retrieved from:
http://www.ducksinarow.uk.com/coach/oscarthompson/product/face
-to-face-coaching/
Paid focus groups (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://paid-focusgroups.com/

38
 Chapter 5. Ideas
In this step of product design, we know the specification needed to be present in
our product. Now we begin generating ideas that meet our specification. Our sources of
idea are the core team, nature and literature.

5.1. List of ideas:

1. Change the composition of polystyrene foam to dissolve in water.
2. Use cabbage as food package

39
 5-21: Cabbage
3. Do not use polystyrene foam for packaging
4. Use paper as packaging material
5. Do packaging using corn starch
6. Use bubble wrap which is biodegradable
7. Use foldable cardboard wrapping which is biodegradable and eco-friendly
8. Do edible packaging. Package that can be eaten while eating the food.
9. Use starch, found in the plants, to make bio-polymer
10. Turn sugar bagasse into packaging product. The waste material produced once
sugar cane has been harvested for the sugar syrup is called bagasse. This fibrous
material is a renewable resource.
11. Do polyethylene terephthalate plastic packaging.
12. Use palm leaf as packaging material.

5-22: Palm Leaf

13. Use Polylactic Acid derived from corn starch
14. Use mealworms to make polystyrene foam biodegradable by digesting it

40
 5-23: Mealworm
15. Embedding water-absorbing resin particles throughout a chemical to make it
biodegradable
16. Coating the polystyrene with electro statically coating, this media capable of
supporting the growth of bacteria which assist in the decomposition of the
polystyrene
17. Use Pseudomonas putida bacteria to convert polystyrene into biodegradable
packaging.

5-24: Pseudomonas Putida

18. Use carton as packaging material

5.2. Remove Folly and Redundant Idea:

In this part, we will remove redundancy and folly ideas. These ideas are:
1. Idea 18 is the same as the idea 7
2. Using mealworms to make polystyrene foam biodegradable is a folly idea,
because we cannot carry with us mealworms to put them on polystyrene when we
finish using them

41
 3. Use Pseudomonas putida bacteria is a folly idea because we are not able to carry
bacteria with us.
4. Idea 9 is repetitive of idea 13. Idea 9 is more general than idea 13. So we remove
idea 9

5.3. Sorting Ideas:

Ideas, generated to respond to product specification, are sorted in this table below:

I- Alternative II- New III- Disposal of

Packaging Composition Packaging
A) Natural Alternative: - Change the composition of A)After Usage:
-Use cabbage polystyrene foam to dissolve in
- Do edible packaging.
water.
-Use of corn starch
- Turn sugar bagasse into
- Use palm leaf
packaging product

- Do polyethylene terephthalate
plastic packaging
B) Other Alternative: B)Before Usage:
-Use Polylactic Acid
- Use paper as packaging
-Do not use polystyrene foam
material -Embedding water-absorbing
for packaging
resin particles throughout a
-Use bubble wrap
chemical
-Use foldable cardboard
- Coating the polystyrene with
wrapping
electro statically coating

5.4. Screen Matrix:

After careful elimination, we ended up with three strong potential ideas. Each idea is
from a different heading. Screen matrix is used to choose the best idea between these
potential ideas.

42
Ideas Advantages Disadvantages
Polylactic acid 3.5.1. - Does not -Need big land for corn
produce toxic gases
if incinerated

-Break down into natural

element
Edible Packaging -Can be applied for variety -Water soluble
of uses
-Some need outer
- Can be used for packaging
refrigerated food and single
- May not be compatible
serve products
with those consumers that
-Water soluble suffer from food allergies
Palm Leaf -It does not any added -Not for every food type
materials or chemicals
-Not for liquid
-Cheap

-Safe

-Lightweight

5-4: Selecation Matrix

Weighting Polystyrene Palm Polylactic Edible

Criteria
Criteria Foam Leaf Acid Packaging
Durability 0.2 5 3 7 3
Biodegradabl
0.6 5 8 8 9
e
Cost 0.2 5 7 6 6

43
Total Score 1 5 6.8 7.4 7.2

So Polylactic Acid is the best choice.

5.5. Reference List

-Biello, D. (2006). Bacteria turn styrofoam into biodegradable plastic. Retrieved from:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bacteria-turn-styrofoam-i/

BioMass Packaging (2015, April 27). The pros and cons of polylactic acid (PLA)

Bioplastic, the “Corn Plastics”. Retrieved from:

http://www.biomasspackaging.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-polylactic-acid-

pla-bioplastic-the-corn-plastics/

Green, A. (2015). Mealworms Make Styrofoam Biodegradable By Digesting It.

Retrieved from: http://mentalfloss.com/article/69496/mealworms-make-

styrofoam-biodegradable-digesting-it

Green Gate. What Materials Make Eco Packaging? Retrieved from:

https://shop.biogreengate.com/materials_a/252.htm

LondonBioPacking. Our Sustainable Packaging Materials. Retrieved from:

https://www.londonbiopackaging.com/about-our-products/our-materials/

44
Luxury Group (2014). Protective Palm Leaves, Food Packaging, IDM7 [Power point

Slide]. Retrieved from: https://www.slideshare.net/Albairaq/bairaq-powerpoint-

done-pfficil

Water-io (n.d.). Edible food packaging will prevent waste in the future. Retrieved

from: https://www.water-io.com/edible-food-packaging

Chapter 6. Selection
At this stage, we have to select one of the best ideas we got from the previous stages for
manufacturing.

6.1. Introduction:

In our case we have 3 top ideas from the previous stage:

1. Use Polylactic Acid derived from corn starch.

2. Do edible packaging. Package that can be eaten after eating the food.
3. Use palm leaf as packaging material.

In selecting between these 3 ideas, we can identify two different situations:

 Using only technical criteria drawn from chemistry and engineering. This
comparison refers to a scientific background that is based on
thermodynamics and kinetics.
Using this technical background, we do objective approximations of different
needed criteria.
 This situation is comparing products not only on a technical basis but also
using subjective criteria.

45
 This situation is more difficult than the first one, consumer reactions and public
opinions must be taken into consideration.

Based on all the above, we will study hardness, biodegradable, melting point
performance, and toxicity for each idea to choose the best for the next stage.

6.2. Selection Criteria:

6.2.1. Hardness:
Hardness is essential in food packaging to protect the food from the surroundings. Also,
packaging shouldn’t be reactive or dissolve in water or any liquid food may seep.

 For Polylactic Acid PLA:

PLA is known by its hardness. It reacts with nitrogen compounds, anhydrides and
some alcohol and it doesn’t react with aromatic hydrocarbons, sulfur
compounds, and with the most important compound water. This makes it hard
even in wet conditions.

 For edible packaging:

It is flexible and reacts with water, since it has protein and glycerol, which makes it
more fragile in wet conditions [1]. This makes it not efficient at holding food
that has water and liquid.
Whereas, if we add Gelatin to Papaya pure (see fig 6.1) which is an edible packaging
film, it increases its tensile strength and seal strength.

6-25:Preparation of Papaya pure and Papaya pure with Gelatine.

 Palm leaf:
Palm leaf is not hard. It needs to be packaged by another hard material which may
have the same problems as PVC.

46
 6.2.2. Biodegradable:

Biodegradable product is one of the most important property that we should get in our new
product to get rid of the environmental damage that existing food packaging films are
causing.

 Polylactic Acid PLA:

The biodegradability of polylactic acid based on microorganisms such as bacteria and
fugues. Aerobic microorganism also can help in the acceleration of PLA
degradation.

 Edible packaging:
It is 100% biodegradable.

 Palm leaf:
100% biodegradable since it is initially from nature.

6.2.3. Melting point performance:

Melting point behavior is very important criteria to carry on in our new product since some
food will be hot while packaging.

 Polylactic Acid PLA:

PLA has a high melting point 150 to 160°C which makes it perfect at resisting hot food
that is maximum 100°C .

 Edible Packaging:
It can resist low temperature, but it becomes more soluble in water at high
temperature. Some proteins and enzymes will decompose at high temperature.

 Palm leaf:
It is considered as a good thermal insulator [2]. Its thermal conductivity is k=0.03
W/m.K .

6.2.4. Toxicity:
Food packaging films are in direct contact with food. Thus, packages shouldn’t be toxic by
any reaction with food

47
  Polylactic Acid PLA: Polylactic acid is non-toxic. It is being considered to
replace currently used common plastics. It is even used in the biomedical field
as implants [3].

 Edible Packaging: It is easily digestible by our stomach. It is meant to be

consumed and therefore non-toxic.

 Palm leaf: The palm leaf depending on which palm tree is used can be toxic to
humans and animals if consumed. It can have a negative impact on the
environment if it results in animal deaths. Since it is used only as packaging for
the food and it is not meant to be consumed it is still is a valid method.

6.3. Selection Matrix:

6-5: Selection Matrix

Selection Weighting Polystyren Polylactic Edible Palm leaf

criteria factor e acid packaging
Foam
Hardness 0.3 5 7 5 4
Biodegradabl 0.3 5 8 8 8
e
Melting point 0.1 5 8 5 7
Toxicity 0.3 5 7 8 4
Total score 1 5 7.4 6.8 5.5

The evaluation of the criteria needed for our product was done in this selection
matrix. The polylactic acid solution presented the highest score. Further sensitivity
analysis showed the edible packaging idea to be potentially useful but still not better than
the polylactic acid. We will start our manufacturing design based on the polylactic acid
solution.

48
6.4. References
Al- Nesearawi M.A.-N. (2008). Palm Leaf as a Thermal Insulation Material.
Rasal M.R. Janorkar V.A. , Hirt E.D..(2009) Poly(lactic acid) modifications.
Tulumandi S., Rangarajan V., (2016) A biodegradable and edible packaging film based
on papaya puree, gelatin, and defatted soy protein.

49
 Chapter 7. Manufacturing
7.1 Introduction
After identifying the needs, translating them into product specifications, gathering a
number of ideas and reducing them to a top 5 and choosing the best one that will meet the need,
it’s time to start the manufacturing stage which is the final stage of the product design procedure.
But, in order to have a correct manufacturing procedure, we must first take into consideration the
following three aspects:

 Intellectual property: deciding whether or not to seek patent protection, since innovation
is present in our product, so patents will give us an exclusive license to market our
invention, which means we can command higher prices and thus, recover faster the
development cost. Although this is a huge advantage, but seeking patent protection means
having to expose, explain and say everything about our product, which is a risk since a
chemist might be present within the jury and might use our idea for his own intentions.
 Complete all missing information: whether to assure correct product functioning or for
patent goals, missing information must be assembled through actual chemical and
physical experiments.

50
  Environment impact: checking how our product affects the environment through
manufacture, use and disposal. This is a bit complex due to the presence of different
criteria and scales for environmental damage.

7-26: Manufacturing process

7.2 Preparation for manufacture
Because we are close to a decision on whether to make a specific product, we need to
expand our focus from technology and think of some broader issues of product design
and development.
7.2.1 Intellectual property
First, we would want to make sure that the markets we identified at the beginning of the
development process are still there and that customer needs haven’t changed. Our product should
fit perfectly our targeted markets. Now back to the patent issue, we already discussed the
importance of having a patent, and how they can enhance the advantages of being first to market
(70% of sales with higher prices). But, just to avoid ending up like the famous Jerome Lemelson,
more than one person (preferably from the core team) should know the secret of our product’s
innovative side so that the millions paid for protection don’t go to waste. Some teams even get a
lawyer so that their idea is protected from the beginning.

Intellectual property could be patents or trade secrets:

51
 a- Patents
It’s a contract between the inventor and the government. The inventor convinces the government
that his invention is new and so, the government gives him exclusive rights to the invention for a
considerable time. The inventor should also explain to the public how the product is used. And
since it’s a contract with the government, the rules vary from one country to another. If patents
are violated, the violator either pays an amount of money or might even get his company closed.

b- Trade secrets
It’s something very private, public should not know it; an identification number on a credit card is
an ideal example. And since these secrets are not actually legal, the product is therefore
vulnerable either by the fact that these secrets may be lost with an employee who changed jobs
and used by him/her in the new job, or if a competitor independently discovers the secret and
patents. Some companies try a third way that consists of showing the secret as a poster in a minor
technical meeting which is poorly attended and therefore it will be unnoticeable.

c- Types of patents
 Utility patents: complex, expensive and long process; most common and important for
chemical products, granted for any useful, new and non-obvious composition of
matter, article of manufacture or process. Granted for 20 years. To obtain such a
patent, the product should be new, innovative and non-obvious (introduces
substantial uncertainty into the assessment of whether the new product merits a
patent. So, in order to fulfill this requirement, three areas must be covered:
 The scope and content of the prior art
 The differences between the art and the claimed invention
 The level of ordinary skill in the field of the invention)
 Design patents: involve physical non-functional appearance of an innovation. They’re
simple, inexpensive but are not considered a reliable source of information.
 Living plant patents: protects a new and unique plant’s key characteristics from being
copied, sold or used by others. A plant patent can help an inventor secure higher profits
during the patent protection period by preventing competitors from using the plant. It will
only be granted to a discovered plant if the discovery is made in a cultivated area. This
type of patent also requires that the plant should be non-obvious.

52
7.2.2 Supplying missing information
Since the product development program is expensive, we might as well be sure how the product
will work. The work up to here was minimized in order to save time, but now we must confirm
experimentally any information used and fill all the present gaps. These gaps vary from one
project to another depending on the level of literature interest and the prior activity of the
company in the area.

7.3 Setting final specifications

7.3.1 Setting a specification
At this point, we consider manufacturing one or two products (chemical/mixture of
chemicals or chemical device). During the early stages of the design procedure, innovation
was the basis of our thinking since we needed to think outside the box so that our product
could be unique enough, but now in manufacturing, we need to change our thinking
methodology from innovative to adaptive. As the famous saying “Come, Adapt and
Overcome”, this is exactly what we’re aiming to do. We came and saw the need for a
biodegradable eco-friendly packaging material, we came up with the ideas and chose the
best one, now we want the product to adapt through an adaptive thinking and setting the
final specs for the adaptation by:

1. Defining the product structure (applied differently to different products): a

straightforward task which involves:
 Chemical composition: everything related to what the product is made of and
how changing its internal components affect its performance.
 Physical geometry: noting all the fixed parameters of the product and their
dimensions and if there are any physical properties involved.
 Chemical reactions: check if the product reacts and changes during usage
and in presence of an acid/base/salt additive.
 Product thermodynamics: we should know at what phase the product is and
if it’s thermodynamically stable/metastable in addition to the characteristic
size scale in any mixed phases.
2. Ranking the product’s most important attributes: we need to review how the product will
be used:
 Structural attributes: physical properties of the product.

53
  Equilibrium changes: check for equilibrium changes that occur after a
temperature or pH or other variables change.
 Key rate processes: rates of important chemical reactions in addition to a less
important rate of heat transfer or diffusion.
3. Reviewing any chemical triggers: identify any chemistry that makes the product active:
 Solvents: dissolve or disperse in the product to become useful.
 Temperature changes: heating/cooling to regenerate a product.
 Chemical reactions: changes in chemical paths due to altering the pH,
temperature and pressure.
7.3.2 Prototyping
Creating a prototype is essential for both micro-structured products and devices in order to
ensure that it functions as expected and to further refine the design. It’s specially important
for consumer products since they’re needs related to something not scientific, and
therefore, we need a real prototype to make sure that it functions correctly and that our
guesses are correct.

And since time is money, we can’t afford to lose time on building an exact copy of the
product, we just build a prototype that contains the essential features of the product using
the central product attributes and test these features against the target market.

Prototyping is important because it reduces the unwanted production of the targeted

product and enhances the economics of the whole design procedure.it also reflects, to the
customer, the correct image of the final product and accounts for all of the remarks and
suggestions that could ultimately result before initiating the production of larger amounts
of this product.

54
 Figure 7-2: Prototype of
biodegradable package

7.4 Scale-up/Scale down | General issues of scaling

Scaling up a process is best described as creating one first and then making a thousand
maybe (ex. We make one packaging box and then create many more) while scaling down a
process is when we make a huge piece of the biodegradable material, and from it we cut to
make the small packaging boxes.

We, as chemical engineers, use dimensionless analysis, based on the principle of

dimensionless homogeneity, to achieve scale up or scale down of processes, especially the
use of dimensionless groups.

Dimensionless analysis is done in order to:

1. Check for the correctness of mathematical models for physical problems.

2. Derive mathematical models for scaling up/scaling down procedures.
3. Identify key parameters such as Reynolds number or the Zeta number.
4. Apply all of the calculated parameters during selection to the actual design of the unit
that is being used for scaling purposes.
5. Create a model or a representation (flow chart and/or simulation chart) for all the units, to
illustrate the flow of each component and the corresponding units applied for dictating
quantitative specifications.

55
References
 https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/plant-patent.asp
 https://startupxplore.com/en/blog/startup-patents-in-europe/
 https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-manufacturing-process-chart-business-
concept-image57689258
 https://thenounproject.com/term/question-mark/90575/
 https://www.iconfinder.com/icons/336533/check_checklist_document_form_list_r
eport_test_icon#size=256
 https://www.catering24.co.uk/hp2-polystyrene-takeaway-food-boxes-white.html
 http://prototypela.com
 http://civitas.eu/content/training-evaluation-and-upscaling-urban-mobility-
projects-27th-september-2016

56
57