Innovation across Regions: Shaping Solutions for Resource Efficiency in Europe

To mark the end of the successful three-year SusChem-inspired FP7 project Chemical Regions for Resource Efficiency (R4R), the project team will be presenting its final findings and recommendations on 30 September in Nice, France. The R4R closing event will be part of the major ECCE10 + ECAB3 + EPIC5 conference.

The combined 10th European Congress of Chemical Engineering, 3rd European Congress of Applied Biotechnology and 5th European Process Intensification Conference is the perfect venue to present the R4R findings.

The R4R workshop will gather policymakers, regional experts, captains of industry and academia to hear the key learnings from the project and provides an excellent discussion forum to exchange and discuss ideas on how chemical and related industries along their various chemical value chains can be transformed into eco-efficient, high-technology solution providers – and a key enabling element of the circular economy.

At the R4R workshop you can:

• Learn about the role of regions in promoting resource efficiency
• Discuss with policy makers, industrial players, entrepreneurs and academia during our networking breaks
• Engage in discussions during dedicated panel debates with mentors from R4R's four flagship initiatives to implement recommendations for a resource efficient Europe
• Hear about resource efficiency success stories with keynote speeches from representatives from R4R's six European regions
• Explore our exhibition space
• Shape future prospects for the R4R flagship initiatives including topics such as industrial symbiosis, education and bio-based SMEs.

A complete overview of the workshop will be available soon, but the draft agenda is available now.

Register now!
To register for the R4R workshop you need to register for the entire ECCE 10 + ECAB 3 + EPIC 5 conference that takes place from 26 September to 1 October. A special Early-Bird rate is offered for the first 150 persons who register at this link! The discount code is: ECCE-CEFIC1

The full ECCE 10 + ECAB 3 + EPIC 5 conference programme can be accessed here.

For more information, please contact Jacques Komornicki, Cefic Innovation Manager. We look forward to seeing you in September in Nice!

About R4R
Under the Chemical Regions for Resource Efficiency (R4R) project, launched in late 2012, six complementary European chemical regions came together to overcome fragmentation and create a platform for international collaboration on resource efficiency. A Joint Action Plan was developed comprising tools and best practise to improve the triple helix collaboration between the participating regions involving industry, academia and public sector.  Find out more at the R4R website.

iTeach: Skills for Chemical Engineers Survey

A frequent issue raised by industrialists across Europe when discussing new chemical engineering graduates is the difficulty in finding candidates with the right skills and competencies as well as knowledge to carry out the job. Universities are trying various approaches to improve this situation, but to date there is no reliable and robust framework that would enable them to measure the relative effectiveness of these approaches. iTeach is an EU funded ERASMUS project bringing together academics, industrialists and professional bodies to develop such a framework. As part of their work they have produced a questionnaire to establish a baseline for required skills and competences – and are asking industrialists to get involved. The deadline for participation in the iTeam survey is 20 July.

The first step in the iTeach programme is to establish what skills, competencies and knowledge industrialists consider important and how they currently measure these in their recruitment processes. The iTeam consortium is seeking views of representatives of as many potential employers of chemical engineering graduates as possible to inform the development of the framework.

Anyone taking part in the project will also have an opportunity to receive the project’s findings and in the longer term to influence the holistic training of chemical engineering graduates and ensure they acquiring the right skills and competencies. Participants will also be able to establish close links with academic institutions across Europe to broaden their pool of high quality candidates for recruitment in the future.

Robust and objective
The iTeach project is working to develop a robust and objective framework for the evaluation of the effectiveness of delivering core chemical engineering knowledge and employability skills to graduates. As a first step, they are gathering information on the current state-of-the-art in measuring effectiveness of teaching and perceptions from academics, employers and recent graduates.

As part of this a short (10 minutes) questionnaire has been developed. The responses received will be invaluable in helping to formulate the framework, which will be disseminated widely and made accessible to all chemical engineering academic institutions.

All responses to the questionnaire will be confidential and only used for the purposes of iTeach project. Within the survey free text boxes allow respondents to expand on any of the issues described. At the start of the questionnaire respondents are asked to provide an e-mail address if they wish to receive the results of this survey and also updates on the development of this very important framework. The email address will be kept separately from any responses to the questionnaires to avoid any breach of anonymity.

The iTeach team will also be happy to share with participants the eventual framework to test in their institution.

Please feel free to pass on news of this survey to other colleagues who may be interested in participating in the questionnaire.

About iTeach
The iTeach consortium is looking to improve the training of the future generations of chemical engineering graduates in Europe. The Improving Teaching Effectiveness in Chemical Engineering Education (iTeach) project brings together six European academic institutions from the UK, France, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Portugal, Slovakia and Germany who provide Chemical Engineering degrees with professional or accreditation bodies. Alongside these academic partners the project also involves a number of employer organisation representatives as associate partners of the consortium.

Over three years the project will develop a framework to support the assessment of teaching effectiveness in delivering not only core Chemical Engineering knowledge, but also core employability competencies. The project runs from October 2013 to the end of September 2016.

For more information contact project coordinator Jarka Glassey at Newcastle University.

EU Chemistry Employment Survey

Update February 2014. The deadline for input for the EU Employment Survey has been extended to 28 February. To access the questionnaire (now available only in English) click here.

For more details on the the survey see below.

In which European country do chemists and chemical engineers enjoy the highest salary? Where are the best prospects for employment? And which of the various chemical sub-disciplines offer the most jobs? Getting answers to these questions is the aim of the first European employment survey for chemists and chemical engineers. The deadline for contributing to the confidential survey is 31 December 2013.

The employment survey has been commissioned by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) to provide details about the current employment situation for chemists and chemical engineers across Europe and to understand future needs for post-secondary education in Europe.

The survey is open to all chemists and chemical engineers in Europe and is supported by Cefic, EuCheMS, the European Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Network (EC2E2N). The project is being coordinated and managed by the European Chemistry Thematic Network Association (ECTNA). And all chemist and chemical engineers in Europe are encouraged to take part in the survey. Chemists who are members of national societies affiliated to EuCheMS should have already received notification of the survey.

However, chemists and engineers from industry are often under represented in national chemical societies so it is important that the survey is accessible to them as well.

24 languages
The questionnaire was available in 24 European languages and all responses are saved anonymously. A valid email address is requested at the start of survey, but this is just a check to prevent misuse. The email is only stored (independently from your responses to the survey) if you want to receive the results of the survey directly when they are published in 2014.

The survey has six general pages (on Personal data, Education, Employment, on Job Training and Salary) all of which provide fields for free-text responses.

You can find the survey at www.chemsurvey.eu. National coordinators for the survey have been nominated and if you have any questions about the survey they should be your first port of call. They can be contacted via the Survey site.

The original deadline for completing the survey was 31 December 2013.

F3 Factory Project: The Case Studies

The SusChem-inspired F³ Factory was a FP7 funded collaborative research project on fast, flexible, modular process technology for the future chemical industry. At the heart of the project were seven industrial case studies that covered a range of processes challenges. Details of these case studies have now been published.

Launched in 2009 the €30 million F³ Factory project was a major public-private sector initiative under FP7 that sought to define and demonstrate a new paradigm in modular sustainable chemical production technology.

At the project’s final presentations to the SusChem Stakeholder event on 14 May SusChem Chairman Dr Klaus Sommer said: "It was a privilege and an honour to be involved with this project that has not only produced excellent new scientific knowledge, but also shown how to bridge the innovation gap and with a consortium including many major companies working very effectively together."

The fruits of this ground-breaking project will feed into future major SusChem programmes such as the SPIRE and BRIDGE 2020 public-private initiatives during Horizon 2020.

Case studies
Seven major European Chemical Companies (Arkema, Astra Zeneca, BASF, Bayer, Evonik, Procter and Gamble and Rhodia-Solvay) worked collaboratively in the project demonstrating that large scale, pre-competitive collaborative research is both manageable and potentially highly fruitful.

The case studies spanned a broad range of process industry sectors including pharmaceuticals, chemical intermediates, specialty polymers and consumer products and aimed to:

·                     demonstrate the F³ Factory modular concept at industrial scale for commercial applications 

·                     realise an open access backbone plant for modular continuous production 

·                     validate new intensified and simplified continuous processes 

·                     design and validate new/enhanced reactor technologies 

·                     establish of design guidelines and standards for modular, container-based production units.

The establishment of standardised modular equipment was a significant achievement for the project. The smallest interchangeable unit is the process equipment assembly (PEA) a number of which would be integrated within the standard process equipment container (PEC): a standard EU 20-foot ISO norm container (see example below).

The seven case studies are:

1. Water Soluble Speciality Polymers
2. Continuous Processing for Pharmaceuticals
3. Continuous Production of Chemical Intermediates
4. High-Volume, Biomass-based Intermediate Chemicals
5. Active Pharmaceutical Intermediates
6. Intensified Reaction Technology for Surfactants
7. Highly Viscous Polymers

Click on the links to find out more about each case study.

Overall results

For business the F³ Factory project demonstrated increased investment flexibility, potential capital expenditure reduction up to 40%, potential operating expenditure reduction up to 20% and the potential to deliver a much faster 'time to market' for new products - a major competitive advantage.

The potential impact of the project could be very significant. Just looking at capital expenditure, it is estimated that such expenditure in the chemical industry ‘in western Europe’ (EU-15 plus Norway and Switzerland) was ~€ 39 billion in 2011.

If the F³ Factory could save up to 40% on capital expenditure for projects that equates to a maximum annual saving of €15.6 billion. Even at a conservative 10% take-up of the project concepts this still represents a potential annual saving of more than € 1.5 billion in Europe in the chemical industry alone.

From an environmental and resource efficiency point of view the project has demonstrated reduced energy consumption up to 30%, solvent reduction up to 100%, footprint reduction up to 50% and the potential to reduce or eliminate transportation by enabling local or point of use production.

In addition the project has successfully validated new intensified and simplified continuous processes that have demonstrated process intensification up to a factor of 500, increased space-time-yield up to a factor greater than 100, increased capacity greater than 20%, increased production yield greater than 20%, reduced equipment need of more than 60%, reduction of reaction/processing time by a factor of 10 and through these simplified processes achieved reduced reaction and processing steps of up to 30%.

And finally, the project has realised an innovative open access backbone plant (INVITE) facility for modular continuous production – a resource for European process development that will have continuing value for many years to come.

F3: the Future for Process is Fast and Flexible!

Today (May 14) the SusChem-inspired F³ Factory project presented some of the results from this FP7 funded collaborative research on fast, flexible, modular production technology for the future chemical industry and beyond. The presentations made in Brussels show that the project can provide a tangible platform for future manufacturing-led growth in Europe.

Launched in 2009 the €30 million F³ Factory project is a major public-private sector initiative that sought to define and demonstrate a new paradigm in modular sustainable chemical production technology. The results of the project could have a major impact on the competitiveness of the European process industries.

The project’s overarching objective was to strengthen the European chemical industry’s global technology leadership through implementation of faster, more flexible production methods. Crossing country and company borders, interdisciplinary teams from 26 partner organisations in nine EU member states have collaborated successfully to:

• deliver radically new ‘plug and play’ modular chemical production technology, capable of widespread implementation throughout the chemical industry and beyond
• deliver holistic process design methodologies, applying process intensification concepts and innovative decision tools

Case studies
Based on seven industrial case studies spanning a broad range of process industry sectors including pharmaceuticals, chemical intermediates, specialty polymers and consumer products, the project has successfully proved the fast, flexible production concept through:

• demonstration of the F³ Factory modular concept at industrial scale for commercial applications 
• realisation of an open access backbone plant for modular continuous production 
• validation of new intensified and simplified continuous processes 
• design and validation of new/enhanced reactor technologies 
• establishment of design guidelines and standards for modular, container based production units.

Positive for profit and planet
Details of the results from the seven individual case studies will be disseminated widely during the summer when data collection is fully completed for all. However, SusChem stakeholders were given an early overview of the overall potential of the project estimated in terms of business and environmental impacts.

For business the project has demonstrated increased investment flexibility, potential capital expenditure reduction up to 40%, potential operating expenditure reduction up to 20% and enabling a much faster 'time to market' for new products - a major competitive advantage.

From an environmental and resource efficiency point of view the project has demonstrated reduced energy consumption up to 30%, solvent reduction up to 100%, footprint reduction up to 50% and the potential to reduce or eliminate transportation by enabling local or point of use production.

In addition the project has successfully validated new intensified and simplified continuous processes that have demonstrated process intensification up to a factor of 500, increased space-time-yield up to a factor >100, increased capacity >20%, increased production yield >20%, reduced equipment need >60%, reduction of reaction/processing time by a factor of 10 and through these simplified processes achieved reduced reaction and processing steps up to 30%.

Successful design and validation of new or enhanced reactor technologies has been achieved and the F³ Factory has established design guidelines and standards for modular, container based production units that have been defined and implemented in different process equipment containers.

The project has realised an innovative open access backbone plant (INVITE) facility for modular continuous production – a resource for European process development that will have continuing value for many years to come.

There is already tangible evidence of exploitation of the project’s results in terms of new, improved scientific knowledge, new decision methodologies, improved production processes and technologies, new standards and design guidelines with more than 15 patents submitted or in progress.

Wide dissemination of F³ Factory learning has seen more than 150 conference presentations, papers or posters already given, more than 30 peer reviewed technical papers submitted or in preparation and open engagement with EU academia and industry through regular Interest Group meetings.

SusChem vision
The event heralded the opening of the SusChem annual stakeholder event 2013. SusChem is pleased to have hosted the official F³ Factory closing session as the project was one of SusChem’s original three visionary projects on future concepts for a sustainable chemical industry.

SusChem Chairman Dr Klaus Sommer said: "It was a privilege and an honour to be involved with this project that has not only produced excellent new scientific knowledge, but also shown how to bridge the innovation gap and with a consortium including many major companies working very effectively together."

Seven major European Chemical Companies (Arkema, Astra Zeneca, BASF, Bayer, Evonik, Procter & Gamble and Rhodia-Solvay) worked collaboratively in the project demonstrating that large scale, pre-competitive collaborative research is both manageable and potentially highly fruitful.

It is hoped that the fruits of the ground-breaking F³ Factory project will feed into future major SusChem programmes such as the SPIRE and BRIDGE 2020 public-private initiatives during Horizon 2020.

SPIRE, BRIDGE Joint Presentation

!UPDATED 12 April 2013! On the opening day of Europe's largest Science and Business Congress on Chemical Engineering and Applied Biotechnology the two proposed Horizon 2020 Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) initiatives, SPIRE and BRIDGE 2020, will be giving a joint lunchtime plenary presentation. The two complementary concepts will also be presented by SusChem board director Marcel Wubbolts of DSM at a latter plenary session of the conference.

This important  European congress has the theme ‘Shaping a Sustainable Future’ - the ultimate objective of both the PPP initiatives - and combines two major scientific and industrial innovation events: the Ninth European Congress of Chemical Engineering (ECCE9) and the Second European Congress of Applied Biotechnology (ECAB2). The event takes place from 21 to 25 April in The Hague, Netherlands.

At lunchtime on Monday 22 April the SPIRE and BRIDGE 2020 PPP initiatives will be presented jointly. This plenary session, which is scheduled to take place in the World Forum Theatre, will see Pádraig Naughton, Innovation Manager - Resource and Energy Efficiency, from Cefic present on the SPIRE initiative and Annita Westenbroek, director of the Dutch Biorefinery Cluster give an overview of BRIDGE 2020.

With no parallel presentations anticipated in the programme at present it is expected that the session will be very popular and an ideal opportunity to get to know more about these two exciting proposals and their synergies. Following the presentations there may be an extended question and answer session.

Relevant and important
The Biobased and Renewable Industries for Development and Growth in Europe (BRIDGE 2020) and Sustainable Process Industries through Resource and Energy Efficiency (SPIRE) initiatives are the most relevant and important European PPP initiatives for this forum as their aims and objectives coincide perfectly with the audience from the chemical engineering and applied biotechnology communities in Europe and worldwide.

“This is a great opportunity to present SPIRE together with BRIDGE,” commented A.SPIRE aisbl Executive Director Loredana Ghinea. “It will allow us to emphasise the synergies between SPIRE and BRIDGE and the importance of both initiatives to future competitiveness and sustainability in Europe.”

SusChem and A.SPIRE aisbl board member Dr. Marcel Wubbolts of DSM will also be including SPIRE and BRIDGE 2020 in his opening plenary lecture ‘Sustainable Solutions for a Changing World’ on Tuesday morning thereby ensuring maximum exposure for these two ‘SusChem inspired’ initiatives at this important conference.

The two PPPs will also be presented together at this year's SusChem Stakeholder event that takes place on 14 and 15 May in Brussels. The two initiatives will feature in the Resource Efficiency stakeholder dialogue session to be held on the morning of the second day. This will be an opportunity for an in-depth discussion on the two programmes.

Registration offer
The 9th European Congress of Chemical Engineering (ECCE9) and Applied Biotechnology (ECAB2) takes place from 21-25 April in The Hague, The Netherlands and the organizers have just announced a ‘last minute’ registration offer.

You can register for the whole four and a half day programme for €650 – 750 or for just one day the fee is €395 Euro.

The theme of the conference ‘Shaping a Sustainable Future’ promises a first-class scientific programme and a special Innovation Track that will deliver cutting-edge examples on “How to drive the bumpy road from science and technology to business”.   Delegates can also visit the high-tech innovation market, career fair, and there are plenty of opportunities for networking.

Registration via the conference website is open until 18 April. After that date only on-site registration in The Hague is possible.