Ensuring the design team and stakeholders work together is crucial at the start on any large capital project. Collaboration is essential when it comes to working with many different groups, partners, subcontractors, and inter-departmental personnel, as they work with multiple information sources and make numerous design changes as part of the review process. Failure in any of these work processes can result in costly mistakes once handover is complete as the project moves into construction – and even more so as it moves into operations.

Leaders from the process automation industry came together at the recently organized Namur meeting which was once again held as a virtual event this year. MTP, NOA, APL, and robots were the core topics discussed at the meeting. PROCESS has summarized the exciting two-day event.

The cost of natural gas for industrial heating processes, electric power and HVAC is rising while emissions controls also grow more stringent. Engineers must adapt and learn how to better control the calorific value of their gas feeds to optimize industrial heating processes. Controlling your burn reduces consumption, costs and emissions.

Digital twins ensure competitiveness. This is the experience of numerous users in the process industry who are working with a solution developed by Siemens and Bentley Systems. Bart Moors from Siemens and Alistair Stubbs from Bentley Systems describe what makes this platform unique and, furthermore, how they can help customers to advance their digital maturity.

Stand in many an oil field and you will feel yourself transported back to the early 1970s. Despite past price crises and predictions of “peak oil”, little has changed in terms of measurement data acquisition, monitoring, and automation. Employees travel long distances every day; their most important tools are pen and clipboard. Yet efficiency can be significantly increased simply by equipping the measuring points with radio systems. This is the first step on the road to the digital oilfield, at the end of which lies greater added value. The principle of Open Process Automation provides future-proofing.

Coal chemistry has "great potential" in China, says China's president. Xi Jinping makes this statement - which makes climate activists around the world sit up and take notice - during a visit to one of the traditional coal provinces of the People's Republic. The most powerful politician in the country, which consumes the most coal in the world, visited coal chemical companies at the Yangjiagou Revolutionary Base in Yulin, Shaanxi province. PROCESS' China Market Insider explains what these statements mean.

Both Germany and Europe have set the goal of becoming greenhouse gas neutral by 2050 at the latest. This means that energy consumption throughout the economy must be switched to carbon-free sources. Hydrogen will play an important role here, especially in activities that are otherwise impossible or difficult to decarbonize - for example, in the steel and chemical industries, aviation, ships or parts of the transportation sector. One of the crucial factors for rapid conversion is the question of how the production costs for green hydrogen can be reduced to a competitive level.

Ima and Intertape Polymer Group have partnered together to develop a new solution – the E-co Flex1 for the packaging industry. Termed as the ‘Pack Station of the Future,’ the solution has been specifically designed to streamline the packaging process in the e-fulfillment industry.

Climate-neutral transportation, chemicals, heating and basic industries – hydrogen is supposed to do the trick. But the light gas is making it difficult for plant manufacturers. Can material storage offer an alternative and save the energy transition?

Providing functional turnkey solutions for demanding industry projects based on innovative technology and process know-how: The EPC group transitioned itself beyond an engineering company. The key to their success? Strategic partnerships, a strong focus on technology and offering the right solution in the right place at the right time.