Copiride Project

Copiride Project: A Platform for Tomorrow’s Production Solutions

02/03/2011 | Editor: Dr. Jörg Kempf

If you are willing to embrace new process windows, you may be able to cut in half the time it takes to move from product development to the production process. (Picture: Evonik, Fotolia; [M]-Albrecht)

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Evonik Industries AG

How can you accelerate the pace in the Chemical Process Industry (CPI) and reduce time to market? The container concept developed within the framework of the Copiride Project provides some answers.

The contrast could not be more striking. At a time when world-scale plants that resemble the skyline of New York or of Shanghai are under construction at chemical parks in China and the Middle East, European working groups are looking at ways of shrinking chemical production to garage-size format. The question of how European chemical producers (in particularly in Germany) can become faster and more efficient in the face of growing pressure from Asian and Arabian competitors is driving the development of new intelligent production strategies. Which of these new approaches proves to be feasible in practical application remains to be seen.

Copiride Project: Goal is to make chemical production faster

The Copiride Project team, which got together for its kick-off meeting at the Microsystems Technology Institute in Mainz/Germany in October 2009, could well be in the running. 15 European companies and universities are represented in this highly motivated group of experts who over the next three and a half years intend to develop a new platform for continuous-flow production based on process intensification and micro reactor technology. New process windows which Copiride intends to open up play a major role.

The goal is to make chemical production faster, more sustainable and more resource-efficient. “Specifically, we are looking at development of compact container-size systems,” explained Dr. Jürgen Lang (Process Technology and Engineering), who represents the specialty chemical company of Evonik on the project. “We also want to cut in half the time it takes to get through the development process from the product idea to the final production process.”

The team has already taken a big step. Copiride is working from an existing prototype which Evonik calls the Evotrainer (a neologism from “Evonik” and “trainer”).

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“We are not trying to make the whole world happy”

People who try out the Evotrainer will hopefully be satisfied with the results. Professor Volker Hessel (IMM Mainz/Germany) and Dr. Jürgen Lang (Evonik Degussa) do not view the concept in a competitive context but rather as part of an innovation process.

PROCESS: Mr. Lang, there are obvious similarities between the Copiride Project and the F3 Factory Project*. Both use the slogan “factory of the future”. What are the differences?

Lang: We are adding a theoretical system approach for alternative production strategies to the debate. However the conceptual construct of the Copiride Project is not as broad and visionary as is the case with F3. Our approach is container-based, and we are concentrating on infrastructure standardization. Our approach to the chemical process is focused solely on tailoring the production systems. In other words we view the Copiride Project as an enhancement and integral part of the innovation process.

PROCESS:Professor Hessel, what is the real purpose of using microreactor technology on the Copiride Project?

Hessel: We are not interested in demonstrating yet again that microreactors are a very reliable solution in their field of application and that they deliver improved selectivity and higher yields. That has now essentially become trivial. Our goal is to couple microreactors to a production environment that is inherently suitable for them.

PROCESS:The results of many EU projects have vanished into the drawers, because implementation was not feasible. How realistic is Copiride?

Hessel: We are not playing games. We want to come up with a product that we can introduce to the market later on. Failure would put a company like Mythen in serious jeopardy. We are not exploring theoretical possibilities, nor are we revolutionaries who are dreaming about what might be 30 years from now. The containers already exist, and there are people out there who are interested in them.

PROCESS:What changes in process development are likely to follow from concepts like the Evotrainer?

Lang: New technology always creates the need for training and the acquisition of new skills. We are on a learning curve which starts with innovation developed by interdisciplinary teams of chemists and engineers. We want to ensure that the container is used to its full potential. How I plan to run my process in an industrial context should be clarified right at the start, because the expectation is that we will make chemical production faster, leaner and more versatile. This cannot be done with the traditional approach. Instead, chemists and process engineers have to join forces to come up with solutions.

PROCESS:There is often a fair amount of inertia in the plants. How do you plan to overcome that?

Lang: The introduction of a new approach is always an individual decision. We are not trying to make the whole world happy. People who take a serious look at the container understand that the concept works. At the end of the day, you have to overcome the initial reluctance.