Taking initiative, thinking proactively, and acting collaboratively as a team are all elements of responsibility, a Monument Behavior. With their dedication to optimizing the production process for dibutylaminopropylamine (DBAPA), a team in Bayport exemplified this behavior and was nominated to be featured here by UmairVirani, Commercial Development Manager.

Used in deep offshore drilling applications, DBAPA is a custom manufacturing product made for Clariant and is a top-tier product when compared to the portfolio.

“The Bayport team has been working with DBAPA for years and knew the manufacturing process could be improved, but we were unable to make any changes because of contract limitations,” said Virani. “When we renegotiated the contract in 2019, we got the green light to make improvements – and more importantly, Monument owns the optimized product, which we can now make and sell to multiple customers.”

So, how was the Bayport team able to optimize the manufacturing process, and what improvements have they seen as a result?

Bobby Rundberg, R&D Chemist, explained, “We started working with DBAPA in 2014 in a batch process. This hydrogenation requires cobalt, which is an expensive catalyst. Cobalt doesn’t have good utilization in batch mode, but as we’ve refined the process over time, we’ve also identified opportunities to optimize the overall catalyst usage. We are now able to produce DBAPA in CSTR (continuous stirred tank reactor) mode, which has resulted in significant improvements in loading and using the catalyst, optimizing the process for a seamless experience.”

“Processing DBAPA in CSTR mode means we’re now able to make 2,520 pounds (1,145 kg) of product an hour, up from 1,100 pounds (499 kg) per hour,” said Romain Vidal-Michel, Campaign Team Leader. “Running the process continuously in CSTR mode is also more efficient, less work for our crews, and safer, because we’re working with smaller quantities of DBAPN feed reacting at any moment in the process. It’s taken years to get where we are, but we’ve been very methodical in our approach and are now able to produce 2 million pounds of high purity material over one single campaign without issues.”

As a result of these process improvements – including the ability to schedule shorter campaign runs – the Bayport site has been able to evaluate other amine projects in the same reactor. Some of these are based on acrylonitrile/cyanoethylation chemistry, one of Bayport’s key capabilities. “Instead of something taking 21 days, we’re now able to make a truckload a day, which opens up our ability to run other projects,” said Dottie Linkugel, Production Scheduler. “We can also scale back on the amount of catalyst used if we need to run a shorter campaign.”

Congratulations to Kris Sturgul, Bayport Site Leader, and the entire team involved, on safely implementing these impressive process improvements and opening up new production opportunities at the site!