“We have raised the bar”
Interview: Degussa is looking to explore new ways in process intensification

Degussa have set themselves the challenge of significantly improving their process yield in the future. PROCESS spoke to Dr. Henrik Hahn (Project House Manager) and Dr. Markus Rudek (Corporate Innovation Management) about the goals and practical ramifications of process intensification.

PROCESS: Where do you draw the line between process intensification and microreactor technology, micro process engineering technology and other similar areas? What is the unique approach?

Hahn: Naturally, you cannot draw an absolute line between process intensification and process engineering. We connect chemistry with technology albeit in new ways. This also includes the corresponding management process, i.e. our Project House philosophy. We start from a specific issue within the company for which there is a demand in the marketplace. Past experience has shown that, for example in the case of applications for micro process engineering technology, things were approached the wrong way around—first we found the solution, then we tried to find a matching problem. Now we take the opposite approach, starting with a concrete market challenge and using innovative tools to find a solution.

Rudek: I think there is a clear distinction here. Whereas micro process engineering provides the tools, process intensification is actually a strategy. What really matters is how well we can get the starting materials and the end products to the right place at the right time, and how well we can control heat and material transportation issues.

PROCESS: You state that “to intensify is to revolutionize, not optimize step-by-step”. What do you mean by “revolutionize” in the context of specialty chemicals?

Hahn: For example, it would be “revolutionary” to significantly increase the space-time yields—but by orders of magnitude, not just a few percent. This could be based on highly active catalysts, but it could also be based on special microreactors which enable a more intensive thermal exchange and material exchange. We have definitely raised the bar considerably!

PROCESS: When you presented this new Project House, you said that you were convinced that process intensification would open the door to innovative products that cannot be produced using conventional methods. Can you give us any examples?

Hahn: Take for example water-based hot sealing lacquers—at present, this type of lacquer is only available on the basis of organic solvents. I am sure that many consumers would for example prefer a water-based solution for their yogurt pots, and the manufacturers of the corresponding foil seals would be able to do without the technical measures required for handling solvent-based adhesive systems.

Rudek: We are researching new ways of making plastics more impact-resistant for functional materials. We are also looking at ways to obtain tunable adhesives which unleash their adhesive power at the push of a button and harden at precisely the right moment.

PROCESS: Is process intensification actually restricted to the fields of specialty chemicals, active ingredients etc.? Or are there approaches which would allow it to be applied to commodities as well?

Rudek: Process intensification is not quite so relevant for commodities, because processes in this area have been steadily improved during the past decades. With selectivity already at around 98 to 99 percent for commodities, further improvement will be really difficult to achieve.

Hahn: Nonetheless, there are some noteworthy exceptions. We have noticed for example a quite substantial potential for process intensification in several high-volume applications based on gas phase synthesis.

PROCESS: In the industrial field “Chemical ExplorENG” you are concentrating on modular plant concepts. Can you throw a little more light on this for us?

Hahn: This is a type of building block concept, where various parts of the plant are built at the same time and “fitted together” on site. The advantage is that it considerably reduces the time it takes to set up a plant, which means that new products can reach the market faster. Modular construction methods can also help lower the costs of expanding existing plants, which is a considerable benefit in cases where only low volumes are required initially after the launch of a new product. We can also borrow ideas from the pharmaceutical industry here, where modular principles based on standardized methods have been highly rated and indeed used for quite some time. We have heard that this can enable plant set-up times to be reduced by 30 percent. Plant and apparatus engineering companies are already waiting to go with corresponding package and skid concepts.

PROCESS: Are you expecting any other knock-on effects from process intensification on plant and apparatus engineering, for example in the field of micro process engineering technology?

Rudek: From our point of view, the micro process engineering technology certainly does not mean that plants will become small enough to fit on a desktop. Nevertheless, the intensification of thermal and material exchange processes will of course lead to a dramatic reduction in apparatus and plant sizes. We will then be looking at micromixers etc., not just microreactors. Apparatus construction firms should bear this in mind and engage in the new ideas as soon as possible.

Hahn: Some companies have already been driving forward specialist developments in the fields of mixing and agitation technology. Intelligent solutions are still needed in the area of “fluid distribution”.

PROCESS: The Project House is conceived for a three-year duration, and you have 15 million Euros at your disposal. Are there any specific milestones for you and your team?

Hahn: As a rule, the first milestone is to prove that a project is attractive from a business point of view. Verification of its technical feasibility is the next step. The actual implementation will undoubtedly take place outside the Project House. In terms of specific targets: we aim to make available two or three key new technologies for Degussa and to significantly improve two or three production processes.