Haver & Boecker picks up on market trends and puts new demands on containers in order to conserve resources.

Whether coal, gas or even biomass will replace petroleum as the chemical raw material of the future is not yet clear. However, one thing is certain. Alternatives will be needed in the long term despite that fact the even pessimists predict that oil will be available for the next forty years. High prices, increasing consumption in Asia and the chaotic political situation in the oil producing countries add an element of urgency to the discussion on diversification of the raw material base. The industry is looking for an intelligent mix and an evolutionary approach to the supply of raw materials.

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.

Evonik is responding to the growing demand for active oxygen by increasing production capacity and providing more efficient and faster delivery to customers. Already in 2018 completed measures are now being complemented by an additional production line in Antwerp.

Site suppliers such as InfraTec Duisburg provide companies with energy and operating resources on a 24/7 basis, for example in the Duisburg industrial park. In order to offer advantages to its customers and to increase its own competitiveness, the service provider installed an energy management system which facilitates the very detailed detection and evaluation of energy flows. Moreover, savings with regard to the EEG levy (German reallocation charge) result in considerable monetary relief.

Today, ammonia is mostly known as an indispensable fertiliser ingredient. A new research project will now explore ammonia’s potential, both as a sustainable fuel and a good solution for ‘storing’ green power from wind and sun.

The change in European Pharmacopoeia (Eur. Ph.) gives more flexibility to the operators of WFI systems — The release of the membrane process for the production of Water for Injection purposes (WFI) in European pharmacopoeia (Eur. Ph.) opens up annual savings potential for pharma enterprises up to several hundred thousand Euro, at min. the same or higher water quality. The article illustrates what exactly was changed and why in Eur. Ph., what effects the change will have in practical terms and what a good plant for cold WFI production must look like.

In contrast to lithium-ion cells currently in use, solid state batteries will consist only of solids and will no longer contain flammable liquid electrolytes. A cooperation between Empa and the Fraunhofer ISC aims to remove the most important technological barriers to the industrial production of solid-state battery cells.

Nouryon and Gasunie will supply green hydrogen to Bio MCN for the production of renewable methanol from CO2. The companies say it marks the next step in the sustainability of processes in the industry.

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.