10 Trends for the Process Industry You Should Know

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Energy-efficient processes: Running a chloralkali electrolysis consumes as much energy as a small town, and in the production of some basic chemicals the share of energy in the costs is as high as 60%. These figures alone underline the importance of energy-efficient processes. But there are hardly any small adjustment screws left, since many processes have already been tuned to the limit. BASF chairman Harald Schwager confirmed this recently in a PROCESS interview: “To be honest, much of what is technically realisable has already been done by us at BASF plants.”

The topic energy efficiency has therefore become an issue for top management and a major strategic consideration. Synergies between production plants on the same site have become more important, for example, and chemicals parks, with their centralised infrastructures, are gaining even more significance. In the meantime, the Namur has also declared energy efficiency a trans-sector topic, and the VDMA (German Engineering Federation) is pushing the cause forward with its Blue Competence initiative.

CO₂footprint: It is still anyone’s guess when the plant constructor in the process industry, too, will be obliged to estimate potential climate gas emissions even in the tender documents. Yet the carbon footprint is already putting pressure on management in the sector. This is evident from projects at e.g. Bayer. The corporation is investigating 100 plants worldwide with the help of the Climate Check. The special point here: for the first time, the experts evaluate the entire production process, including all pre-products and energies.

The Climate Check combines two elements: the climate footprint, which indicates the climate-relevant effects of the production of a product, and the energy efficiency check, which works out the potential for reduction. At ACHEMA, Veolia, plant constructor for water plants, will present a method of determining the carbon footprint of water treatment plants.

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Process Industry Trends

10 Trends for the Process Industry You Should Know