Pilot Plant
also known as pilot-scale · miniplant
A pilot plant reproduces a flowsheet at a scale large enough for real behaviour — real recycle streams, real residence times, real slurry handling — but small enough to be built and modified quickly. It is normally run continuously for long enough to reach steady state in recycles, which bench tests never do.
Why it matters in practice
The purpose of a pilot plant is not to confirm chemistry, which bench work already did, but to discover the physical problems that only appear with recycles and long run times: crud accumulation, solids build-up, entrainment, and control interactions between steps.
Where this appears on this site
Equipment referenced in this entry
Pilot Scale Mixer Settler
8 Specifications · mixer settler
Pilot-Scale PP Reactor
9 Specifications · pp reactor
Related terms
Reference entry GL-PILOT-PLANT. Definitions on this page describe engineering practice in hydrometallurgical process design; they are not a substitute for test work on your own material.