Process Development Engineer

Role Purpose

The Process Development Engineer will lead the design, development, and optimization of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) manufacturing processes from lab-scale to commercial scale. This includes parameter optimization, process reliability improvement, and adaptation of SWCNTs for targeted applications such as membranes, battery dispersions, purification, and sorting. The role bridges R&D outputs with robust, scalable, and safe production operations.

Key Responsibilities

1. Process Design & Optimization

• Develop and refine process parameters, control strategies, and scale-up criteria for SWCNT production & its applications – membrane, sorting, battery dispersions etc., (A/R).

• Provide feasibility assessments and risk analysis for new processes and applications (C).

• Specify process requirements including flow rates, pressures, temperatures, and material handling needs (C).

• Ensure processes meet application-specific performance metrics for membranes, battery dispersions, purification, and sorting (R).

2. Pilot Trials & Scale-Up

• Lead pilot trial planning and execution, ensuring process performance aligns with design targets (R).

• Monitor and analyze trial data, proposing process adjustments for yield, purity, and consistency (A/R).

• Translate laboratory processes into industrial-scale operations while maintaining product quality and reproducibility.

3. Process Data Analysis & Continuous Improvement

• Collect, analyze, and interpret process data for efficiency, yield, and purity metrics (A/R).

• Identify root causes of process deviations and implement corrective actions (R).

• Link process variations to mechanical and operational factors, collaborating with mechanical engineering teams to resolve issues (C).

4. Equipment & Systems Integration

• Collaborate with the Process Mechanical Engineer to ensure equipment can meet process requirements and specifications (C).

• Define critical process data to be recorded and establish monitoring protocols (C).

• Review and validate process control systems for scalability and robustness.

5. Documentation & Compliance

• Prepare process flow diagrams (PFDs), piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs), and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for new and optimized processes (R).

• Conduct process hazard assessments in alignment with EHS compliance requirements (R).

• Maintain thorough documentation for operations handover and regulatory compliance.

6. Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work with Quality & Operations teams to submit process data and ensure product meets specifications (R).

• Provide process-related insights to the operations team for seamless scale-up and commercial production.

• Engage with customers and applications engineers to align process outputs with end-use performance needs (R).

Additional Responsibilities for SWCNT Applications Scale-Up

• Develop tailored dispersion / sorting protocols for SWCNTs in different media (e.g., battery electrolytes, solvents, membrane casting solutions).

• Evaluate and integrate new nanomaterial processing technologies for competitive advantage.

Skillset & Experience Requirements

Core Skills (Required)

• Process engineering fundamentals: reaction engineering, heat/mass transfer, fluid dynamics.

• Experience scaling processes from lab/pilot to production (fine chemicals, catalysts, specialty materials);

• Process Modelling & Simulations – ASPEN /DWSIM, writing custom codes; CFD exposure is a plus.

• Pilot plant operations, commissioning, troubleshooting, and parameter optimization – Yield, purity, consistency; high pressure, high temperature reactors.

• Process control and data analysis (SPC, Six Sigma, DOE).

• EHS compliance for hazardous chemicals and powders.

• Technical documentation (BED, FEED || PFDs, P&IDs, SOPs) and cross-team collaboration.

Desirable Skills (Trainable for SWCNT)

• Nanomaterial or advanced material processing (carbon materials, ceramics, battery materials).

• Dispersion, purification, and drying of fine particulates.

• Exposure to characterization tools: Raman, SEM/TEM, XRD, TGA etc.,

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