Selection and configuration of centrifugal pumps — Even though it doesn’t make happy reading for manufacturers of displacement pumps, centrifugal pumps are generally regarded as the workhorse of the process industry — with an estimated market share of around 80 %. And workhorses need to be properly looked after, meaning that operators can reduce trouble down the line with a more careful selection and configuration of centrifugal pumps. Here are some ideas and suggestions for this …

From the Elcad CAD system to Engineering Base, the cooperative engineering tool, the German software designer Aucotec has often set trends in software development — and it wants to maintain this trailblazing position in the age of digitalization, too. The SME's recipe for success is based on constantly thinking outside the box, picking up on industry trends and a cooperative management structure and culture that put the emphasis on flexible, agile teams.

A lot of development work has gone into the expansion of Engineering Base — and now Aucotec is reaping the rewards. Having often been pioneers, the developers at software designer Aucotec have pulled off a masterstroke with the revamp of the EB platform. The team around Uwe Vogt is seeing something of a boom in orders at the moment, but the Hanover company is keeping its feet firmly on the ground.

With Nayaki Nayyar’s appointment, Corteva will have 13 members in its Board of Directors. At present, Nayyar holds the position of President – Digital Service and Operations Management at BMC Software.

The cause of the UK’s high-profile Buncefield oil storage depot explosion in 2005? Overflow during remote filling of a storage tank. Disasters like this led to process industries adopting strict safety and environmental regulations, which you are likely quite familiar with. But some problems in the life of a plant manager aren’t always severe enough to reach international news headlines. However, even overfilling a tank with a fairly benign material can cause major headaches for a company.

Eco-friendly, limitless and CO2-neutral: Can synthetic fuel become the future of mobility? Power-to-X projects could be used to convert surplus electricity from renewable resources into clean synthetic fuels. While decision makers and politicians are still discussing the concepts feasibility, German engineering experts from Chemieanlagenbau Chemnitz (CAC) show what can be done …

The specialty chemicals group Altana has completed the acquisition of the overprint varnish specialist Schmid Rhyner.

Brabender Technologie is intentionally focusing on a feeder specially designed to tackle recycling tasks at the Solids trade fair in Dortmund, Germany which will be held from April 1–2, 2020.

At Achema, GEA hosted a joint press conference with key suppliers to the pharmaceutical industries to highlight collaborative efforts aimed at promoting the advancement of continuous manufacturing technologies.

In many chemical industry plants, a safety controller ensures the required level of safety — in the event of danger, it switches off. In order to do justice to this task, it decides, like a watchman, which signals from the field level may be forwarded to higher-level systems and which not. Field device diagnostics for maintenance and optimization have so far been left out of the scope. For the first time, a solution jointly developed by Endress+Hauser and Hima also grants access to advanced diagnostics from instruments applied in safety loops.