For years, the manufacture of active ingredients has been considered highly profitable, posting annual double-digit growth in the sector. However, this situation has now changed. The rise in regulatory requirements, the increasing market power of customers, and the growing number of substitutes have led to a change in the market characterized above all by more intensive competition. The changing environment leads to a rising importance of operational excellence. The university of St. Gallen benchmarked the operational excellence of 21 API plants.

Claimed to be the largest-ever oil and gas acreage to use cloud technology, the move is expected to generate billions of dollars in value over the next decade and improve capital efficiency. By 2025, production is also anticipated to grow by 50,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day.

The efficiency programme aims to increase the production capacity of soda ash by 500 kt and of sodium bicarbonate by 100 kt in the next two years. It will also ensure security of supply for the company’s soda ash and sodium bicarbonate customers.

K2016, the leading fair and expo for plastics and polymers wants to set the industry’s new course between shale gas, feedstock fluctuations and the internet of things — New raw materials. Energy prices. Demand fluctuation: Business as usual is no option for the global plastics industry. The branche is nevertheless cautiously optimistic at the sector fair K — Industry 4.0, light-weight construction and recycling management still promise new perspectives.

At Achema 2012, Krohne introduced the new Optimass 6400 twin bent tube Coriolis mass flowmeter. The unit is well suited for standard liquid and gas applications in the chemical and petrochemical, oil & gas, pharmaceutical as well as food & beverage industries, the manufacturer states.

Expectations from the Namur Annual General Meeting are understandably high - and once again, no one was disappointed. Many exciting and future-oriented lectures and discussions on subjects like Remote Operation, Industry 4.0, modularized automation and plant performance illustrated on the very first day the direction in which users and suppliers in process automation are being forced. The sector must overcome its limits in order to embrace new solutions...

While consumer and commercial wireless technology has grown rapidly in functionality and availability, the adoption of wireless for process control has been a little slower. Reliability and security remain primary concerns in critical production applications, including flow measurement. The industrial landscape is changing, however, as wireless control systems, networking products and field devices become more widely available and industry standards crystallize.

A modular solution for continuous processing: Coperion K-Tron's new gravimetric K3-PH feeders shall provide a flexible solution with small footprint and short changeovers.

A new Hart Loop Converter converts up to three digital Hart variables that could include the 4…20mA transmitter current signal and makes them available to the host control system. These three variables enable not only the actual measured result but also process-related parameters such as reaction-time and temperature to be determined and used selectively to control the process — using the same cable and incurring no extra cost.

In February 2019, BASF has founded the new company BASF Digital Solutions located in Madrid, Spain to drive forward the digital transformation of the group and develop innovative IT solutions. The company plans to grow the center to more than 300 digital specialists within the next years.