U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 Eastern Regional Research Center: Wyndmoor, PA
 close



    Research

                    Research Projects
                                    Publications
                                    Collaborations
                                    News
                People

                    Staff Listing
                                    Careers


        


                    About ERRC
                        Greetings from the Director
                                    Directions/Lodging
                                    History and Accomplishments
                    Our Work
                        Biomass Pyrolysis Research
                                    IPMP 2013
                                    IPMP Dynamic Prediction
                                    IPMP Global Fit
                                    Pathogen Modeling Program (PMP)
                                    Predictive Microbiology Information Portal (PMIP)
                                    PoultryFARMSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home Northeast Area Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania Eastern Regional Research Center Docs Engineering SUPER Support Group







Mainheadline bar **Photo of Pilot Plant**
**Mr. Neil Goldberg***SUPER Manager*Voice:  215-233-6590Fax:  215-233-6406e-mail:  Neil.Goldberg@usda.gov
**Pilot Plant Facilities and Equipment for Production Runs and Scale-Up of Official USDA Projects**
Equipment Design and Development
Process and Cost Simulation
Analytical Laboratory
**SUPER Request Form** Objectives: Provide research support in the commercialization of new processes and products  developed in ARS's laboratories through process scale up and process economic research. The Engineering Scale-Up, Process and Economics Research (SUPER) Support Group Unit has the Agency's only process engineering unit with the facilities and expertise to do pilot plant research involving basic theoretical investigations, process development, scale-up, simulation and economic feasibility studies. Processes are developed at the bench and pilot scale to make the technology directly transferable to a broad range of end-users and bridging the gap between laboratory and industry. The unit provides research support to  Chemists, Microbiologists,  Food Technologists, Plant Physiologists, and Engineering Research Programs at ARS. Customers: In priority order, the SUPER group applies its unique equipment, facilities, capabilities, and personnel to support the research mission of: ERRC Research Projects in ARS National Programs 306 and 307 (Quality and Utilization of Agricultural Products; Bioenergy and Energy Alternatives)
Other ARS Research Programs in NP 306 and 307
University and Private Industry Research Partners
Non-Profit Institution and Trade Association Research Partners Note:  The SUPER group is not a "fee for service" contract organization.  Only research activities which do not compete with commercial laboratories and pilot plants are pursued. Click for a SUPER group support form. Resources: ERRC has one of the most unique and completely equipped food, chemical, dairy, biochemical, and industrial pilot plants in the Federal and Non-commercial sectors. Approximately 19,000 square feet of specialized space is dedicated to these facilities. Equipment categories include: Numerous size reduction and sample mixing devices
Batch and continuous chemical reactors 1 to 1000 liters
Fermentors, sizes 1 to 300 liters
Complete research pilot plant for dry-grind ethanol process development
Various evaporators
Twin screw extruders (see Dairy Products and Processes RU)
Dryers:  shelf-, freeze-, convection- and belt-types
Distillation equipment
Pervaporation, reverse osmosis, micro- and ultra-filtration membrane systems
High-pressure gas extraction and fractionation systems Unique capabilities: Complete mechanical design facilities, software and hardware
Complete fabrication facilities with ability to fabricate new research equipment and new process unit operations
Process simulation capability using Aspen+ and SuperPro Design software
Cost estimation for known and experimental unit operations, processes and products Unique personnel: Mechanical engineers
Chemical engineers
Equipment operators
Chemical engineering support scientists and technicians
Cost engineers
Fabricators
Mechanics Examples of Research Support Provided: Bioproduct and commodity product value estimation
Process and product cost estimation and analysis
Process simulation using Aspen+ and SuperPro Designer software
Simple scale-up of bench-scale reactions
Preparation of large quantities of research products for testing purposes
Extractions
Filtrations
Fermentations
Evaporation and drying of large samples
Simple design and fabrication of research equipment
Process design and development
Biofuels process development
Evaluation of alternative wet and dry-grind ethanol processes through experimentation, simulation, and comparison to base case processes


Return to top


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov