Wolfgang Ernhofer

The innovation champions of Achema 2018 have been crowned. The eleven most innovative products have received the coveted Innovation Award out of around 100 entries. At the award ceremony, the prize winners and shortlist candidates celebrated with about 250 other guests.

German chemicals behemoth BASF has been the victim of scam accounts and billing frauds: Four employees of the chemical company are said to have cooperated with external firms to settle services that were never provided. This caused damage in the tens of millions.

Next bombshell at Ineos: The Swiss chemical company delivered plans to expand its business in Europe strongly and with high investments. Planned are a new world-scale unit and massive capacity increases at two sites.

From September 1, 2015, Bayer Material Science will be known as Covestro. Now the Supervisory Board of Bayer Material Science – in future: Covestro – has named the members of the future Board of Management. Known managers will be in on it, like newcomers. Their aim: Stock market launch of the new independent company by midyear 2016.

Say goodbye to the Lump-Sum-Turnkey-Project: Engineering of the future has to be networked, cooperative and transparent — The necessity to re-think the way EPC companies do business in the digital age is one of the key findings of a recent benchmark study. This requires a completely new work from technology-loving plant engineers. The hunt for new ideas and competent minds is in full swing...

German chemicals behemoth BASF has been the victim of scam accounts and billing frauds: Four employees of the chemical company are said to have cooperated with external firms to settle services that were never provided. This caused damage in the tens of millions.

China holds a strong position in the global chemical industry and with the recent market happenings in the country; the Asian country is keen on upgrading its game plan.

The system leak-tightness is a basic prerequisite for a safe reaction in chemical synthesis under pressure. The design is as critical as the selection of suitable components in this context.

The innovation champions of Achema 2018 have been crowned. The eleven most innovative products have received the coveted Innovation Award out of around 100 entries. At the award ceremony, the prize winners and shortlist candidates celebrated with about 250 other guests.

The India-based project is expected to process 1.2 million barrels of crude oil per day and will produce a range of refined petroleum as well as petrochemical products. Expected to be commissioned in 2022, the project aims to meet India’s fast-growing fuels and petrochemicals demand. Read more about the engineering mega project in the article.

KBR, the American-owned global engineering concern, pulled in two major projects in July. Buidling owner is the petrochemistry group Total and the russian Togliattiazot Corporation.

At Sohar, the petrochemical hub of Oman, a new petrochemical complex will be build. Till 2018 new plants for petroleum processing should arise at Sohar and Fahud.

For many industries that produce, process, or handle bulk solids, the screw heat exchanger is a well-known piece of equipment for heating, drying and cooling. With the same working principle as a conventional screw conveyor, however, most screw heat exchangers rely on the flowability of the bulk solid for good mixing and to keep their heat transfer surfaces clean. As a result, these standard screw heat exchangers cannot be used for sticky, pasty or adhesive materials or slurries.

Chemical giant BASF reports the spillage of several hundred kilogramm of chemicals into the river Rhine.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the leading international trade medium PROCESS awarded the "Milestone Award in Chemical, Pharma and Process Engineering“ to 16 supplier companies that served as industry pioneers and innovators.

From September 1, 2015, Bayer Material Science will be known as Covestro. Now the Supervisory Board of Bayer Material Science – in future: Covestro – has named the members of the future Board of Management. Known managers will be in on it, like newcomers. Their aim: Stock market launch of the new independent company by midyear 2016.

Transfer pumps form a key part of any chemical plant. These pumps must operate reliably, often around the clock and handling a variety of corrosive or otherwise difficult materials. This article explains how to plan and carry out routine maintenance of centrifugal chemical pumps so as to avoid pump downtime and consequent lost production.

Both the Chinese chemical companies Sinochem and Chemchina are planning a fusion. With an annual turnover of around 100 billion Dollars, the recently emerged chemical giant would supersede the present industry leader BASF.

Next bombshell at Ineos: The Swiss chemical company delivered plans to expand its business in Europe strongly and with high investments. Planned are a new world-scale unit and massive capacity increases at two sites.

Bentley Systems, a leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing infrastructure, announced a new Global Framework Agreement with Shell. The agreement serves to improve Shell’s capital project construction execution through automated 4D/5D construction management solutions provided by Bentley as a managed service.

Pharmaceutical giant Roche relies on Almatec AODD pumps to handle waste solvents safely—Air-operated double-diaphragm pumps from German manufacturer Almatec have proved an ideal solution for Roche, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturers, in handling waste solvents, many of which are flammable, toxic, or both. A relationship spanning 25 years was first built on Almatec’s A-Series pumps, and now continues thanks to the company’s economic and efficient E-Series models.

The Siemens presentation focuses on issues revolving around plant life cycle management.

GF Biochemicals, the largest producer of levulinic acid directly from biomass and at an industrial scale, acquires the assets and intellectual property of Segetis, the main levulinic acid derivatives producer in the US market.

Darleen Caron will be joining the company from October 30, 2017 and has previously led HR functions along with environment, safety and health.

Covestro board member Klaus Schäfer takes over the chairmanship of Dechema in January. The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) was unanimously elected to office at the board meeting on 30 November. Schäfer succeeds Prof. Rainer Diercks, who has held this position since 2013.

The system of CO.RA. is composed of two parts with different functions: One part reduces the size of the product; the other allows to further reduce the size to be able to be crushed by a common mill.

Following a detailed appraisal, the Cologne district authority has granted Bayer Material Science the permit to build and operate the new high-tech facility for the production of the chemical TDI (toluene diisocyanate) at Chempark Dormagen.

Linn High Therm, a manufacturer of industrial and lab furnaces, presents new chamber furnaces with gastight muffle for heat treatment processes under protective gas atmosphere up to 1050 °C.

US-Engineering Group Jacobs wins a contract for the construction of a Mono Ethylene Glycol plant. Reliance Industries selected Jacobs to construct the facility in Gujarat, India.

Air Liquide, one of the world's biggest air separation companies, has lined up an investment of about US $2 billion to ramp up production in India over the next 10 years. The investment would be pumped in through the company's Indian subsidiary, Air Liquide India located in Delhi.

The dream of plastic from waste gas continues: The pan-European research project Carbon4PUR takes the next step in investigating how waste gas from the steel industry can be turned into chemicals for valuable plastics. Now, the consortium starts evaluation of the ideal conditions for industrial-scale testing in southern France where a steel mill of Arcelor Mittal and a chemical plant of material producer Covestro are close neighbours.

Since the establishment of the Periodic Table of Elements (PSE) 150 years ago, not only the number of known elements has increased, but new technologies have also emerged: Chemical pesticides to protect the harvest, batteries for energy on the move and plastics in every form, color, and function. The current focus is on the sustainability aspect. But here, too, chemistry offers new solutions. The 10 most promising technologies for a more sustainable world have been selected by the chemical association IUPAC.

SP Olefins, a subsidiary of SP Chemicals, one of the largest ion-membrane chlor-alkali and aniline producers in China, is constructing the first gas cracking ethylene plant in China. Technip entered into a contract to support the construction of the Greenfield grassroots gas cracker with a capacity of 650,000 t/a in Taixing, Jiangsu Province.

Continuous documentation, qualified vehicles, staff training: the EU guidelines on “Good Distribution Practice” (GDP), amended in 2013, impose significantly greater obligations on manufacturers and freight forwarding companies dealing with pharmaceutical products. They transfer the already familiar principles of the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) from pharmaceutical manufacturing onto the streets.

Industrial valves in textile chemistry—A variety of different valves lead to widely differentiated overhaul expenditure and is associated with an extensive stock of spare parts. In case of a textile producer it was possible to focus essentially on compact ball valves and V–port segment ball valves.

Speciality chemicals company Lanxess launches new reverse osmosis elements on the market. By the use of this elements the company expect dwell times to be extended.

The freeze drying method is a process used in the production of pharmaceutical products, medication, as well as in food, and has proved itself to be very successful. This process is the most expensive and is thus used in the production of valuable substances, sometimes products which are sensitive to temperature. They may be stored at room temperature and may be used immediately if needed. Within the process the shut-off-valves have to be particularly effective.

How modern insulation systems increase energy efficiency—What works for people, also works in this particular case for chemical plants as well: Without the right clothing, energy consumption for heating or cooling to the ideal temperature increases. Potential annual savings of 16124 GWh are there for the taking in the energy-intensive chemical industry. What do companies need to do? PROCESS finds out from insulation manufacturers, industry associations and the chemical industry.

For key heat exchangers in large-scale ethylene and LNG plants Engineering Company Technip and Wieland work together. The two companies offer customised solutions for high-performance heat transfer.

The company has begun production at its new 20 kilotonne per year polypropylene (PP) compounding plant and is eyeing to serve numerous automotive players in North China.

The largest production line for the Keltan-branded EPDM synthetic rubber at the Lanxess’ site of Sittard, Geleen, The Netherlands, has been successfully converted to the company’s ACE technology

Visoka has increased its production output of high efficiency finned tubes. They have commissioned a new CNC rolling plant. Their high fin tubes production is now better controlled through this development.

The horizontal centrifugal pumps MOS and UMOS work reliably with the dry running magnetic drive or with the non-contact hydrodynamic shaft seal developed by Bungartz.

On October 31, a fire occurred during the startup of the Citral plant in Ludwigshafen. Consequently, BASF had to shut down the plant and had to declare Force Majeure for its Citral and Isoprenol based aroma ingredients.

Time and again, the media sets its sights on pipelines. Nord Stream, which now is in operation, provided a score of headlines. Construction of South Stream has also started, a triumph for Russia. The USA is experiencing a gas boom, yet exports are trailing behind – at least for the moment. Whatever the case, valve makers always are in the winning team.

Once the global explosion protection is achieved, a piece of equipment approved in one country will automatically be recognised as safe in the rest of the world. An increasing number of certificates shows that many market players wish to move ahead towards that goal. Reason enough to take a closer look at the IECEx system's unique approach.

Solvent cementing is an ideal and proven jointing method for numerous applications in industrial pipeline engineering, one example in particular being pipelines used to transport aggressive chemical media. Two examples in the article demonstrate the advantages of this method.

Solid metal connections are rugged, boast long lifetimes, and are easy to clean. Read more about safe connections that fulfil stringent hygienic requirements of the food industry in this article.

Synbra Technology in the Netherlands had put a PLA (polylactic acid) plant into service. The plant can produce up to 5000 tons PLA per year and Synbra plans to further expand the capacity. Furthermore Sulzer decided to built its own 1000 tons a year PLA production plant to support customers in the development of new applications.

High-Performance FFKM Sealing Technology for Pharmaceutical, Food and Beverage Industries —Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Food and Beverage industry processes can be mighty tough on seals. Their rough conditions and exacting regulations keep scientists on their toes looking for solutions to meet even more difficult demands. Perfluoroelastomers, also known as FFKMs, are establishing themselves as very useful materials in these fields.

LANXESS is progressing according to plan with the construction of its world-scale EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) plant in Changzhou (Jiangsu Province), China. The German specialty chemicals company is investing EUR 235 million in the plant - the largest investment the company has made in China to date. Some 45 percent of the investment total will be spent by the end of 2013.

Jacobs Receives Contract from Ferring Pharmaceuticals for Research and Development Headquarters in Copenhagen. The Denmark-based facility when completed is expected to identify and develop innovative products in numerous segments.

A new electronic position transmitter designed to simplify end position adjustments for actuators has been developed by Auma. The EWG is compatible with its predecessor, the RWG, which ensures rapid replacements and retrofits.

ePTFE gasket tapes for high chemical resistance—The connections to shell and tube heat exchangers pose immense challenges for the seals that are used because of both the chemically aggressive media and the frequent temperature load changes. Despite its excellent chemical resistance, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is not typically suitable as a sealing material in this case because the creep tendency of this material jeopardizes a reliable seal.