Milestone
Separation Technology

At the start of 2020, Gea embarked on a new course — two functional business areas were divided into five divisions, including Liquid & Powder Technologies with the business unit Chemical Technologies (BU CT). Dr. Christopher Braun, who has been managing the business of Gea Wiegand for 19 years, is expecting this to deliver clearer responsibilities. He believes that areas of growth for thermal separation technology will be found particularly in attractive niche markets.

“Go West”: German machines and process equipment manufacturer Gea brings its hygienic pump solutions to US markets. To support user industries right on the spot, Gea has built up the service network and a local assembly. Now, the company wants to bring its proven hygienic Hilge pumps (which are among the market leaders in Europe) to the US dairy, pharmaceutical, food and beverage markets.

Italian company Bracco in Torviscosa, located in the Udine Province, has placed an order with GEA for the supply of a falling film evaporator. This plant is a key component in the concentration of liquids and solutions in the manufacturing process of medical contrast media.

Regardless of whether for distillation, filtration, drying or clarification — without separation technology, nothing goes. After all, most raw ingredients and products of chemical reactions are mixtures of substances that need to be separated for further processing. So it is good to have a partner who is a single provider capable of supplying everything from mechanical separation systems to exhaust air purification.

For the first time in a lithium extraction project, Australia leaves all process steps from ore mining and separation to refining in the country. In this context, Gea has received an order from Albemarle to supply screening and pusher centrifuges, peeler centrifuges and decanter centrifuge plants for the treatment of lithium derivatives in various process stages.

Gea has developed high-temperature filters with ceramic elements that enable the removal of NOx, dioxins, mercury and VOC through an integrated catalyst matrix. Bis Cat ceramic catalyst filters are chemically inert and corrosion-resistant. This means that for many applications only one single system is required instead of three.

Gea has delivered two centrifuges for monoethylene glycol (Meg) purification at BP’s West Nile Delta offshore natural gas field in Egypt.