KETs Impact: The SusChem flagship for flexible, continuous chemical production

The recent SusChem White paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’ included a number of success stories highlighting publicly funded innovation involving KETs and the SusChem News blog is featuring a selection of these fruitful 'SusChem inspired' initiatives.

KETs are technologies selected for their ability to address global challenges, support the development of new products, and stimulate economic growth.

Sustainable chemistry is essential to the technological advance of KETs including advanced materials, advanced manufacturing technologies, industrial biotechnology, micro and nanoelectronics, nanotechnology and photonics. SusChem's key enabling technologies provide the critical building blocks for the solutions needed to achieve a sustainable low carbon circular economy. You can find out more here.

Our fifth success story features one of SusChem’s original Flagship projects from FP7 - the F3 Factory – and one of its seven case studies. F3 stood for fast, flexible, future factory. Launched in 2009, the €30 million EU-funded 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. You can find more information on all seven F3 Factory case studies here.

Modularised solutions enabling solvent-free process

Improve the Competitiveness of the European Chemical Industry – F3 Factory

Public funding creates cross-sectorial collaboration, breakthrough technology advancement and fast-track-to-market of new products

BASF was part of the consortium behind the “F3 Factory” project. This consortium – consisting of 26 partners from academia and industry – aimed to develop an approach for radical modular process design. This concept enabled significant process intensification and at least 25% less energy consumption.

How was the breakthrough innovation achieved? 

The concept of modularised solutions was investigated for different industrial processes. Results from academia were transferred in business case studies and were demonstrated at commercial scale in an open access backbone plant for modular continuous production (INVITE Research Centre). BASF together with Bayer Technology Services have collaborated to demonstrate the concept of multi-product, small-to-medium scale production for high viscous polymers in a solvent-free manufacturing process. This collaboration was supported by Technical University Eindhoven and the University of Paderborn.

Impact

• In addition to the technological advancement achieved in this project, the transfer from batch to continuous of a new solvent-free polymerisation process has demonstrated both cost (30% reduction of energy demand) and environmental (100% solvent reduction) impact for the production of highly viscous polymers.
• The modularisation concept investigated in the demonstration plant furthermore allows a reduction of investment cost (up to 40%) compared to conventional processes and reduced time-to-market (up to 50%).

More information
F3 Factory 'Flexible, fast and future production processes' (FP7 GA 228867) 

Read the SusChem White Paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’

KETs Impact: The CONSENS Project

The recent SusChem White paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’ included a number of success stories highlighting publicly funded innovation involving KETs and the SusChem News blog is featuring a selection of these fruitful 'SusChem inspired' initiatives.

KETs are technologies selected for their ability to address global challenges, support the development of new products, and stimulate economic growth.

Sustainable chemistry is essential to the technological advance of KETs including advanced materials, advanced manufacturing technologies, industrial biotechnology, micro and nanoelectronics, nanotechnology and photonics. SusChem's key enabling technologies provide the critical building blocks for the solutions needed to achieve a sustainable low carbon circular economy. You can find out more here.

Our first highlighted success story is on the SPIRE Horizon 2020 project CONSENS (Integrated Control and Sensing for Sustainable Operation of Flexible Intensified Processes) that has paved the way for the factory of the future by developing novel sensors and integrated process control techniques.

Sustainable operation of flexible intensified processes 

Digital technologies enable the migration from batch to flexible continuous intensified processes

Public funding facilitates the fruitful collaboration of seven companies from the chemical industry and eight excellent European partners from academia, research and technology

The future competitiveness of the European chemical industry depends on its ability to deliver high quality and high value products at competitive prices in a sustainable fashion, and to adapt quickly to changing customer needs. The use of flexible intensified continuous processes is a promising strategy towards this goal, because they give access to new and difficult to produce chemical compounds, lead to better product uniformity and reduce the consumption of raw materials and energy drastically. Moreover, it facilitates flexible and mobile production in more efficient and smaller plants and enables companies to bring new products quickly to the market. As an analysis within the former SusChem flagship project F³ Factory has shown, a fully automated process operation is a prerequisite to realise these benefits.

Therefore, the main goal of the CONSENS project was to advance the continuous production of high-value products that meet high quality demands in flexible intensified continuous plants by introducing novel digital technologies such as: new online sensors with capabilities that are not available on the market, novel closed-loop control methods for flexible operation and high-quality levels, as well as data-based and simulation-based methods to ensure optimal operation of the controlled system.

How was the breakthrough innovation achieved? 

The development work was steered by the needs of the industrial partners. Three commercially relevant case studies were selected that reflect the requirements: an intensified pharmaceutical synthesis, a continuous polymerisation process, and the continuous formulation of complex liquids. The key success factor was to consider sensors, closed-loop control, monitoring solutions, soft-sensors, and process dynamics in an integrated approach. This led to holistic control solutions that were validated very successfully in the pilot plants.

KETs

Impact
From the results achieved in the three case studies, we can conclude financial savings of EUR 265 million/year, a reduction of CO2 emissions by more than 490 000 tonnes/year, and less consumption of non-renewable raw materials of 176 000 tonnes/year in the related industries in Europe by enabling the migration from traditional batch processes to flexible intensified continuous processes.

It is expected that the market share of European chemical production plants on the global market will increase by ca. 3% due to better quality, innovative products and higher competitiveness.

More information
CONSENS – Integrated Control and Sensing for Sustainable Operation of Flexible Intensified Processes (Horizon 2020/ SPIRE GA number 636942).

Read the SusChem White Paper ‘Impact: Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) in Horizon Europe’

SusChem F3 Factory shows synergy of EU Funding

The SusChem flagship F3 Factory project was in the spotlight at the European Commission’s Research and Innovation conference on “Shaping our Future” as an example of how to leverage EU research funding with the use of the Structural Funds. This is one of the key recommendations in the report of the High-Level Group led by Pascal Lamy, released at the conference on 3 July, to launch the debate on the next EU Framework Programme, FP9. Entitled ‘LAB – FAB – APP: investing in the European future we want’, the report delivers a strong message that investing in research and innovation is crucial for the future of Europe in a rapidly globalising world.

To shape our future together, we need to imagine, invent and create. We need research (“Labs”), innovation competitive fabrication (“Fabs”) and applications for the benefit of all (“Apps”). Hence the title of the report: Lab, Fab, App: investing in the future we want.

Launching the report European Commissioner for Research and Innovation Carlos Moedas underlined the crucial role of research and innovation for the future by saying: “Without science and innovation there is no growth. Without science and innovation there are no jobs.”

Reacting to the report on behalf of industry, Jean Pierre Clamadieu, CEO of Solvay and President of the Cefic council, told the conference: “Together with Commissioner Moedas, we can imagine a new FP9 that nurtures a European-based research, innovation and science ecosystem linked to industry".

F3 Factory success

The SusChem visionary project ‘The F3 Factory’ was highlighted at the conference by Marc Lemaitre, Director-General the Commission’s DG REGIO, as a success story showing how research and innovation projects can be combined with EU structural and investment funding and thus achieve rationalisation of EU funding schemes. This is one of the key recommendations of the LAB-FAB-APP report, echoed at the conference.

This F3 Factory FP7 initiative showed how it was possible “to leverage all assets in Europe” said Lemaitre (speaking above). The €30 million F3 Factory project, implemented between 2009 and 2013, was conceived and developed by a SusChem working group and looked to create the future of [chemical] production. The project was hugely successful in developing new modular production processes.

The German region of Nordrhein-Westfalen was then able to use money from the EU Regional Development Fund, and through its smart specialisation strategy has been able to form a new project in order to bring the F3 Factory concept closer to commercialisation for pharmaceutical processes.

The MoBiDik project scaled-up and validated the F3 Factory results showing a potential 40% reduction in capital costs and a 30% reduction in energy consumption. The work is continuing through the MoBiDik Pro project funded by Bayer.

Double R&I budget

The LAB-FAB-APP impact report focuses on proposing guiding principles for designing the post-2020 EU programme for research and innovation; provisionally entitled FP9. The 11 recommendations of the report aim to maximise the impact of future EU research and innovation programmes and each is exemplified by a key action.

Amongst the 11 recommendations in the report are proposals to double the budget of the post-2020 EU research and innovation programme, foster ecosystems that will promote and invest in innovative ideas with rapid scale-up potential through a European Innovation Council, and modernise the education and training of people for a creative and innovative Europe. Other actions look to further simplify EU R&I funding schemes and instruments, stimulate the involvement of citizens, and communicate the results and impact of EU R&I funding better.

The high level group that produced the report was led by Pascal Lamy, former European Commissioner and President Emeritus of the Jacques Delors Institut, and comprised 11 eminent personalities from research, innovation and education including Martin Brudermüller, Chief Technology Officer for BASF.

Modular White Paper builds on F3 Factory results

A new Dechema paper on ‘MODULAR PLANTS’ summarises results from some recently finished publicly funded research and innovation projects that successfully demonstrated the economic and technical benefits of the flexible and modular plant concept for the production of fine and specialty chemicals as well as pharmaceuticals pioneered by SusChem's flagship F3 Factory project.

Important project examples. including examples from the results of the FP7-funded ‘F3 Factory’ project, clearly demonstrate the advantages of operating modular continuous plant processes that are more economical and sustainable than current operations and are only possible due to new types of equipment design, advanced digital process control and online process analytics (PAT).

The Dechema paper discusses the need for further developments including work on standardised interfaces and standards for modular automation, the reliability of modules, sensors and performance control systems, new continuous downstream processing units, how to enable new business and service models that take advantage of flexible and modular plant concept and other boundary conditions such as the regulations required to build and operate such units.

Modular progress
Building on the ‘F3 Factory’ project concept, the Horizon 2020-funded SPIRE project ‘CONSENS’ as one example that is advancing the continuous production of high-value products that meet high quality demands in flexible intensified continuous plants. It achieves this by introducing novel online sensing equipment and closed-loop control of the key product parameters.

If these concepts were applied in industry, the outcomes of the projects could result in significant cost savings and reduction of CO2 emissions (estimated at 176,000 tonnes per year), less consumption of solvents in pharmaceutical and specialty chemical sectors, and a significant acceleration in the development of new products (estimated at two-times faster additional innovations and halving the time-to-market).

The European chemical industry is facing increasing market competition from outside Europe and challenges with product launches in new and often volatile markets that means a fast response to market requirements and reduced investment risk for new plants is required. In addition, shorter product life cycles and smaller product volumes due to diversification and increasing specialisation of product ranges due to increased customer-orientated products are a feature of the market.

"SusChem has highlighted the modular plant concept enabled by the latest digital technologies as one of its current core priorities," says Martin Winter, Cefic Innovation Manager with responsibility for SusChem activities in this area. "And we are convinced such developments can make a very high impact in modernising Europe's chemicals production capabilities, introduce significantly higher resource efficiency, and would position the European chemical industry in the lead in the race for competitiveness and sustainability."

White paper discussion
This Dechema white paper was produced by the ProcessNet Temporary Working Group on “Modular Plants” and included industry representatives from BASF, Bayer, Clariant, Evonik, Invite and Merck as well as the universities of Ruhr-Universität Bochum and TU Dortmund.

The paper assessed the results of recently completed public funded projects that had demonstrated successfully the technical and economic benefits of modular plants and their applicability especially for small to medium scale (typically 0.1 – 1000 tonnes per year) continuous production.

The experts from across the chemical industries agreed that such modular plant concepts have significant economic potential. General concepts for modular production and the required enabling technologies for process intensification have been jointly  developed in projects such as the F3 Factory and CoPIRIDE projects or the ENPRO initiative for improved energy efficiency and process intensification in the German chemical industry.

Writing in a preface to the white paper Dr. Thomas Weber, Chairman of the VCI Committee of Experts Research and Education policy group highlights that these projects have also shown that multiple challenges exist including a lack of standardisation for modules on equipment level, as well as on the level of a complete production plant. This means that 'off the shelf' modules cannot simply be bought on the market, even though it is broadly accepted in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries that this would result in significant advantages in investment costs, time to market and flexibility of production assets.

Associated with this issue is the unmet market need for process control and automation concepts for modular plants. In addition, the discussion of centralised (classical) process control systems versus distributed (modular) process control systems has only just begun. The supporters of a completely modular design strategy envision the various plant modules acting fully automated and autonomously, with communication existing only via interfaces and communication protocols. This would enable a giant leap forward towards full ex-changeability and re-usability for the modular concept. Having an appropriate concept for modulations of process control and automation could become one of the key enablers for modular production plant concepts, said Dr Weber.

There is also need for further development in the field of equipment and apparatus design, for example in separation and purification that could be quickly and directly scaled-up from laboratory to production scale at an acceptable risk. A simple and safe solution for production scale, is number-up instead of a classical scale-up. However, limitations exist as numbering up in many cases can increase investment costs and complexity.

You can download the Dechema White paper here.

It is hoped that this white paper will inspire new ideas and encourage a spirit of innovation across the a cross chemical industry for modular production plant concepts.

A Sustainable Future through Catalysis?

Europe is a leading player in terms of research on catalysis as well in the industrial implementation of catalytic technologies, however this leadership is under threat due to fragmentation of effort, insufficient coordination between European and country-based activities, a declining level of funding for fundamental research in some European countries, and a lack of large-scale infrastructures dedicated to catalysis. Now the European Cluster on Catalysis initiative has published its new Roadmap on Catalysis for Europe report ‘Science and Technology Roadmap on Catalysis for Europe’ that outlines a clear path forward. Catalysis has always been seen as a key chemical technology for SusChem and many SusChem members were closely involved in the development of this report.

This roadmap and the activities of the European Cluster on Catalysis have the ambitious objective to define a new path to create a sustainable future through catalysis. The process is bottom-up as it starts with national roadmaps and inputs from all across Europe and develops a common vision and highlights strategies to reach the challenges facing industry and society in a transitional period to a new economic cycle.

The ‘Science and Technology Roadmap on Catalysis for Europe’ report provides that long term vision and an action plan to support catalysis research in the EU and identifies the key actions that must be undertaken at European level in the next ten years in the field of catalysis.

These are:

• Identify the best catalyst/process-related opportunities;
• Accelerate R&D that improves energy efficiency;
• Facilitate R&D on game changers with partners that lower barriers and operating costs;
• Undertake or stimulate academic and national laboratory research on large-volume/high-energy use processes;
• Promote synergies and cohesion between research groups on catalysis through the use of flagship initiatives

Catalysis – a key enabler
Catalysis is one of the key cross-cutting and enabling disciplines for the chemical and other process industries. Catalytic materials are crucial to reducing environmental burdens today and in the future and can help to make products greener and more sustainable, to reduce CO2 emissions and address future energy challenges. The first ‘Science and Technology Roadmap on Catalysis for Europe’ provides valuable input for the elaboration of future research policies in this area.

The report first introduces the vision of the roadmap, based on analysis of a scenario for sustainable production of chemistry and energy vectors and provides some long-term strategic goals. The role and relevance of catalysis is discussed and aspects identified that will dominate the future production of sustainable chemical and energy vectors and other critical areas for catalysis use.

Based on this analysis the report then identifies the grand challenges for catalysis and discusses possible implementation options. These challenges for catalysis, aiming to address societal, environmental and industrial demands, are grouped in three main topic areas:

• Catalysis to address the evolving energy and chemical scenario
• Catalysis for a cleaner and sustainable future
• Addressing catalysis complexity

The following section analyses the strategic research agenda and related implementation action plan for these grand challenges identifying the key aspects, and related challenges and opportunities for catalysis, the main research areas and required outputs.

Catalysis is a key enabling technology for a cleaner and sustainable future, and the report focuses on intensifying research in this areas. Two main directions are identified in the roadmap:

• Catalysis for eco-technologies, from air to water and waste, to address stationary to mobile; this area includes the aspects of photocatalysis related to depollution
• Catalysis to improve sustainability of chemical processes, in terms of atom economy and improved processes to produce the main intermediates and chemical products/monomers

The report proposes that to foster innovation in catalysis impact and address the identified societal challenges requires a knowledge-based approach and enhanced capabilities in four main areas:

• Advanced design of novel catalysts
• Understanding catalysts from molecular to material scale
• Expanding process concepts including catalysis
• A scientific approach to link advanced design to catalyst scale-up and manufacturing

You can download the full report here.

More information
The European Cluster on Catalysis initiative was launched by the European Commission and brings together a number of SusChem inspired and EU-funded projects in the field of catalysis with research organisations and academic institutions as well as industrial and other relevant European stakeholders in the field. For the cluster the term catalysis encompasses many ‘flavours’ of catalysis including heterogeneous, homogeneous, photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, and biocatalysis together with corresponding chemical technologies such as CO2utilisation, artificial photosynthesis, biogenic materials, and water technologies.

For more information on SusChem initiatives in the field of catalysis contact Martin Winter at Cefic.

SPIRE Project Brochures Online

The Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency (SPIRE) PPP has just published two brochures cataloguing the research and innovation projects established under its calls in 2014 and 2015. The two brochures concisely outline the aims of each project and the concepts being used to implement it. A link to each project’s website is also included. 

The 2014 Project Brochure covers the following calls and associated projects:

SPIRE 1 – 2014 on ‘Integrated Process Control’

• RECOBA - Cross-sectorial real-time sensing, advanced control and optimisation of batch processes saving energy and raw materials 
• DISIRE - Integrated Process Control based on Distributed In-Situ Sensors into Raw Material and Energy Feedstock   
• PROPAT - Robust and affordable process control technologies for improving standards and optimising industrial operations 
• CONSENS - Integrated Control and Sensing for Sustainable Operation of Flexible Intensified Processes 
• ICSPEC - In-line Cascade laser spectrometer for process control 

SPIRE 2 – ‘2014 on Adaptable industrial processes allowing the use of renewables as flexible feedstock for chemical and energy applications’

• STEAMBIO - Flexible Superheated Steam Torrefaction and Grinding of Indigenous Biomass from Remote Rural Sources to Produce Stable Densified Feedstocks for Chemical and Energy Applications 
• MEFCO2 - Methanol fuel from CO2 - Synthesis of methanol from captured carbon dioxide using surplus electricity 
• MOBILE FLIP - Mobile and Flexible Industrial Processing of Biomass 

SPIRE 3 – 2014 on ‘Improved downstream processing of mixtures in process industries’

• PRODIAS - PROcessing Diluted Aqueous Systems 

SPIRE 4 – 2014 on ‘Methodologies, tools and indicators for cross-sectorial sustainability assessment of energy and resource efficient solutions in the process industry’

• STYLE - Sustainability Toolkit for easY Life-cycle Evaluation 
• SAMT - Sustainability assessment methods and tools to support decision-making in the process industries 
• MEASURE - Metrics for Sustainability Assessment in European Process Industries 

EE 18 – 2014 on ‘New technologies for utilisation of heat recovery in large industrial systems, considering the whole energy cycle from heat production to transformation, delivery and end use’

• TASIO - Waste Heat Recovery for Power Valorisation with Organic Rankine Cycle Technology in Energy Intensive Industries 

Waste 1 – 2014 on ‘Moving towards a circular economy through industrial symbiosis’

• RESLAG - Turning waste from steel industry into a valuable low cost feedstock for energy intensive industry 
• CABRISS - Implementation of a CirculAr economy Based on Recycled, reused and recovered Indium, Silicon and Silver materials for photovoltaic and other applications 
• FISSAC - Fostering industrial symbiosis for a sustainable resource intensive industry across the extended construction value chain
• BAMB - Buildings as Material Banks: Integrating Materials Passports with Reversible Building Design to Optimise Circular Industrial Value Chains 
• RESYNTEX - A new circular economy concept: from textile waste towards chemical and textile industries feedstock  

The 2015 Project Brochure covers the following calls and associated projects:

SPIRE 5 – 2015 on ‘New adaptable catalytic reactor methodologies for Process Intensification’ 

• ADREM - Adaptable Reactors for Resource- and Energy-Efficient Methane Valorisation 
• MEMERE - MEthane activation via integrated MEmbrane Reactors 
• PRINTCR3DIT - Process Intensification through Adaptable Catalytic Reactors made by 3D Printing 
• ROMEO - Reactor Optimisation by Membrane Enhanced Operation 
• TERRA - Tandem Electrocatalytic Reactor for Energy Resource Efficiency and Process Intensification 

SPIRE 6 – 2015 on ‘Energy and resource management systems for improved efficiency in the process industries’

• EPOS - Enhanced energy and resource Efficiency and Performance in process industry Operations via onsite and cross-sectorial Symbiosis 
• MAESTRI - Total resource and energy efficiency management system for process industries 
• SHAREBOX - Secure Management Platform for Shared Process Resources 
• SYMBIOPTIMA - Human-mimetic approach to the integrated monitoring, management and optimisation of a symbiotic cluster of smart production units 

SPIRE 7 – 2015 on ‘Recovery technologies for metals and other minerals’

• ADIR - Next generation urban mining - Automated disassembly, separation and recovery of valuable materials from electronic equipment 
• REE4EU - Integrated high temperature electrolysis and Ionic Liquid Extraction for a strong and independent European Rare Earth Elements Supply Chain 
• REMAGHIC - New Recovery Processes to produce Rare Earth -Magnesium Alloys of High Performance and Low Cost  

SPIRE 8 – 2015 on ‘Solids handling for intensified process technology’

• IBD - Intensified by Design® for the intensification of processes involving solids handling 

EE 18 – 2015 on ‘New technologies for utilisation of heat recovery in large industrial systems, considering the whole energy cycle from heat production to transformation, delivery and end use’

• INDUS3ES - Industrial Energy and Environment Efficiency 
• I-THERM - Industrial Thermal Energy Recovery Conversion and Management 
• SUSPIRE - Sustainable Production of Industrial Recovered Energy using energy dissipative and storage technologies  

About SPIRE
The Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency (SPIRE) is a contractual Public-Private Partnership (PPP) dedicated to innovation in resource and energy efficiency enabled by the process sector in Europe. The SPIRE Partnership is based on Article 19 of the EU Research and Innovation Framework Programme Horizon 2020 regulation and has been established through a contractual arrangement between the European Commission and A.SPIRE aisbl. SPIRE will be implemented through competitive calls included in the Horizon 2020 work programme. The objective of SPIRE is to develop the enabling technologies and value chain solutions required to reach long-term sustainability for Europe in terms of global competitiveness, ecology and employment.

For more information visit the SPIRE website.

Alternative Energy use highlighted in Horizon 2020 Projects

The results from three Horizon 2020 projects on the use of alternative energy sources for industrial processes will be highlighted at a workshop in Brussels on 2 March 2016. The three projects address process intensification technologies utilising alternative forms of energy, such as microwave, laser or ultrasound, and are very relevant to resource and energy efficiency challenges in chemical processing.

This final industrial workshop is being organised by the InnoREX project and will see also the participation of projects MAPSYN and ALTEREGO.

InnoREX looked at the continuous reactive extrusion of lactide to polyactide (PLA) and online process monitoring of reactive extrusion processes. The project contributes to the fast growing demand for biobased polymers. Current catalysts needed to improve the polymerisation rate of lactones contain metals that pose a hazard to health and the environment.

InnoREX has developed a novel reactor concept using alternative energies for the continuous, highly precise, metal-free polymerisation of PLA in a continuous extrusion line. It has further replaced the metal-containing catalysts by newly developed organic catalysts, and investigated their activity enhancement by use of alternative energy sources laser, ultrasound and microwave. A pilot line including the energy sources and ensuring the polymerization and purification of the polymer from the residual monomer has been built. In addition simulation tools have been developed enabling fast upscaling of the process to industrial scale.

MAPSYN examined chemical reactions like selective hydrogenations and nitrogen fixation, upscaling of microreactors and flow reactors. The project aims to manufacture and scale microreactors and continuous flow reactors in which reactions are carried out assisted by ultrasound, microwaves or plasma energy. MAPSYN focusses on reducing costs and energy consumption of the production, preserving and enhancing high quality, reproducibility and sustainability.

Two different reactions were investigated:

• A novel hydrogenation process incorporating microwave heated microreactors and innovative catalysts has been evaluated
• Use of plasma reactors for nitrogen fixation processes including simulations of this process have been carried out

These reaction systems are important to the pharmaceutical and fertiliser industries. By the end of the project, MAPSYN will build two demonstrators: a plasma reactor for nitrogen fixation and a continuous flow microwave hydrogenation system.

ALTEREGO investigated pharmaceutical, green fuels and bulk chemicals synthesis and development of a generic methodology for upscaling these processes. The project aims for implementation of alternative energy technologies for intensified chemical manufacturing. A new hierarchical methodology to enable highly efficient chemical syntheses with alternative energy forms through reliable process data collection with advanced analytical tools, robust multiscale modelling and design and development of scalable equipment has been established.

The methodology is generic and was demonstrated for three alternative energy technologies: ultrasound, microwave, and non-thermal plasma. These were applied to different industrially relevant case studies in the application areas of advanced pharmaceutical synthesis and green fuels and bulk chemicals synthesis during the project.

More information
The workshop will take place at the Fraunhofer EU office in Brussels. Places at the workshop are limited, but if you are interested in attending, please contact the event organiser Anke Hartmann.

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.

SusChem Spain enabling the Circular Economy

Under the motto ‘Enabling circular economy’, the SusChem España national technology platform is organising the third edition of the Forum Sustainable Chemistry, innovative and competitive companies (3SCICC Forum Sustainable Chemistry), an international meeting aimed to debate and share information on new chemical products and processes that are more efficient, safe and environmentally friendly. This major event takes place in Tarragona, Spain on May 28 and 29. Tarragona is home to the largest chemical cluster in the Mediterranean and Southern Europe.

3SCICC Forum Sustainable Chemistry is sponsored by the Spanish Chemical Industry Federation (FEIQUE) and Expoquimia – the International Chemistry Event of Fira de Barcelona together with industrial sponsors Dow Chemicals and Emerson Process Management.

SusChem chairman Dr Klaus Sommer of Bayer and board member Gernot Klotz of Cefic will be presenting at the meeting. More details of the programme can be accessed here.

Circular
The Circular Economy is an economic model that finds ways to reuse products and components and restore their material and energy inputs. And sustainable chemistry innovation provides the fundamentals for making it possible.

A Circular Economy is an industrial system replaces the ‘end-of-life’ concept with restoration and aims for the elimination of waste through the superior design of materials, products and systems, facilitating component separation and making it feasible for manufacturers to collect, re-manufacture and re-distribute their products, thus generating a circular, cradle-to-cradle system.

Circular Economy has an increasing number of supporters as the essential model needed to face the economic, social and resource challenges of the 21st century. The European Commission has chosen to move to this restorative economic system as part of its strategy for Europe 2020, as it drives substantial and lasting improvements in resource productivity. Sustainable chemistry and engineering innovation provides the fundamental basis that can enable the circular economy (new materials, new production systems, sustainable water management etc.).

Raw materials
Critical Raw Materials reducing, reusing, recycling or substitution; state-of-art and new trends in biobased products and biorefineries; new trends and challenges in process optimization or different ways for by-product valorization, are among the topics to be discussed at the 3SCICC Forum Sustainable Chemistry. Cities and industry symbiosis and the solutions chemistry provides to make this possible will also be addressed.

The day before the conference, May 27, will see the opportunity to visit a variety of industrial facilities and research centres in the Tarragona area to see the exciting sustainable chemistry taking place there.

For more information and registration details visit the 3SCICC Forum Sustainable Chemistry website.

SusChem at Ecochem

The Ecochem Exhibition and Conference on Smart and Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering taking place on 19 – 21 November in Basel, Switzerland will feature an all-day SusChem session. In addition the various conference streams will include presentations from many SusChem personalities.

The SusChem technical session will take place on the first day of Ecochem (Tuesday 19 November) after a plenary opening session by Hubert Mandery, Director-General of Cefic.

SusChem coordinator Jacques Komornicki will open the special day-long session that will include contributions on the two SusChem inspired public private partnership initiatives SPIRE (from Pádraig Naughton of Cefic) and BRIDGE (from Ulrich Kettling of Clariant).

Many other streams across the three-day event will be of interest to SusChem stakeholders including sessions on ‘bio-based chemicals’, ‘clean synthesis and process intensification’, ‘industrial biotechnology’, ‘opportunities and challenges in sustainable chemistry’ and ‘financing sustainable chemistry’ amongst many others.

Eight streams
In total eight session streams are available during each day of Ecochem of which five (including the SusChem session) are free to register for. The other three streams comprise a comprehensive Strategy Summit on Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering that requires separate registration.

For more details on Ecochem visit the event website or download the Event brochure. Details on registration for the event can be found here.

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 Factory Case Study: Highly Viscous Polymers

BASF and Bayer Technology Services (BTS) collaborated to demonstrate the F³ Factory concept for multi-product, small-to-medium scale production of high viscous polymers in a solvent-free manufacturing process. Supported by academic input from the Technical University of Eindhoven and the University of Paderborn, this case study featured the development and demonstration of a new flexible, reactor technology within a modular, continuous production unit.

The transfer of multi-product batch polymerisation of high temperature thermoplastics in organic solvent to a solvent-free process is a challenging task and has so far prevented producers from developing solvent-free processes.

Without reducing viscosity by applying very large amounts of solvents, “difficult processes” like solvent-free polymerisation cannot be carried out in standard mixers. The focus of this F³ Factory case study therefore concentrated on the development of intensified, high-strength mixing equipment. To succeed this approach needed to guarantee material integrity and enable effective supplementary mixing as well as devolatilisation and solidification. Performance at long residence times in continuous mode also needed to be assured.

New reactor technology

A new twin-shaft, high-torque kneader reactor developed by Buss-SMS-Canzler (pictured below) was shown to meet the key requirements of strength and operational flexibility and led to a step-change improvement in viscosity handling up to 10 000 Pascal seconds.

Modular construction and many standardised parts also allow for flexible adaptation to different products and processes, with the ability to switch rapidly between different mixing rotor assemblies.

Collaboration key to success

To realise the full potential of this intensified kneader reactor, its complex geometry required focus on several key durability issues. Their examination has been a classic model of F³ Factory project partnerships.

The University of Paderborn (UPB) investigated the mechanical integrity; modelling of unit processes; radial and axial mixing; micro/macro mixing and axial dispersion. Investigations confirmed the ecological and economic advantages of the kneader from its fast radial mixing and minor back mixing plus well-developed devolatilisation based on reactor partial-fill operation.

Numerical simulations using CFD analysis were performed by Technical University Eindhoven to calculate the velocity and pressure fields within the kneaded material, leading to rotor strength and fatigue computations by Buss-SMS-Cransler (SMS). Online measurement techniques for the high-torque kneaders were then developed by BASF, with technology transfer to UPB and SMS.

BTS derived a mass-balance for the intensified kneader reactor design, providing the liquid filling level as a function of viscosity, throughput and rotational speed. Following validation of the new reactor technology at lab-scale and successful polymerisation trials, the modular plant concept was designed by BTS and demonstrated successfully at the INVITE facility.

Solvent-free, high viscous polymers

Excellent progress on the integration of process and equipment design enabled illustration of the plant concept and contributed to the design and construction of a pilot facility at BASF’s site in Ludwigshafen. The new solvent-free process was subsequently validated with a continuous lab-scale kneader reactor.

The intensified process was then transferred to the F³ Factory modular, continuous plant concept with design of a demonstrator Process Equipment Container and respective Process Equipment Assemblies.

By eliminating the use of solvents, the process has been intensified significantly. It has reduced complexity, energy consumption and facilitated the successful transfer from batch to continuous polymerisation.

The case study was demonstrated successfully at the INVITE facility in Leverkusen, over an extended processing time, confirming both the strength and integrity of the kneader reactor.

In addition to the technological advancement achieved in this project, the transfer from batch to continuous of a new solvent-free polymerisation process has demonstrated both cost (30% reduction in energy demand) and environmental benefits (100% solvent reduction) for the continuous production of high viscous polymers.

More information

For more information visit the F3 Factory Project website or contact Dr. Achim Stammer at BASF.

F3 Factory Case Study: Intensified Reaction Technology for Surfactants

Achieving step-change process intensification in the production of anionic surfactants was the primary goal of the Procter & Gamble (P&G) industrial case study. Working with project partners the Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals (ICPF), Britest and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the project focused on the intensification of two key reactions stages (S0₂ oxidation and sulphonation) using novel reaction technology and modelling of the economic viability of the concepts in the latter stage of the project.

As one of the world’s leading consumer products businesses P&G is one of the largest global manufacturers of surfactants. With no major developments in surfactants production technology for decades, potential gains from the novel F³ Factory approach could be significant.

The current business model is to produce bulk surfactants at large-scale, centralised locations and then ship to finishing sites. A step change in the base technology could lead to differentiated supply chains including more distributed, less transport-intensive scenarios and reduced business risk.

In changing the operating strategy for anionic surfactants, P&G is seeking to unlock the benefits of flexibility, agility and long-term sustainability.

Technological developments

Process intensification is seen as the main lever available to progress the supply chain to a more sustainable and lower cost model. Concentrating on the two unit operations is essential to an overall step change; therefore, the project has focused on SO₂ oxidation and sulphonation.

The size and inertia of current SO₂ oxidation towers negatively impacts on the whole plant agility. In addition, due to limited use of intensification, sulphonation forces the dilution of SO₃ with large amounts of air. This markedly increases the plant’s capital, volumetric and environmental footprint.

Proof-of-concept work focused on:

• obtaining targeted lab scale information on oxidation of SO₂ in micro-channel settings
• identifying technical intensification strategies for sulphonation
• development of two new reactor designs

The project team investigated the concept of a microstructured reactor with an adiabatic section at the beginning of the reactor beginning and one cooling section at the rear of the reactor. Based on experimental measurements of kinetics, simulations of the reaction kinetics and heat transfer; a new reactor design with two parallel microstructured reactors was developed (see below).

The project team also investigated the concept of a new intensified device for sulphonation. The experimental study focused on hydrodynamic behaviour of lab scale equipment in a wide range of operating conditions. The pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient were determined and an adequate correlation developed.

The sulphonation process on the lab scale reactor prototypes, that were designed and manufactured at ICPF in Prague, was tested during the demonstration phase of the project in P&G’s pilot plant facility in Brussels. This intensified sulphonation process developed new learning, which may help in further intensifying current reaction systems.

What, when, where

The F³ Factory programme has been a unique collaborative endeavour that could stimulate the transition to a new business model for the whole chemical sector.  In this new model flexible, modular, continuous and intensified technologies are used to meet the challenge of producing “what’s needed, when needed, where needed” therefore minimising the environmental and economic footprint and reducing business risk.

For the P&G case study, intensification of two key reactions stages (S0₂ oxidation and sulphonation) in the production of anionic surfactants using novel reaction technology was largely proven at the lab scale. The challenge going forward will be to prove the economic viability of modular production technologies on highly optimised, large scale surfactants manufacture.

More information

For more information visit the F3 Factory Project website or contact Diederik Vanhoutte at P&G.

F3 Factory Case Study: Active Pharmaceutical Intermediates

As a F³ Factory Case Study Bayer Technology Services (BTS) investigated the transfer of a multi-step synthetic batch process for pharmaceutical intermediates to a fully continuous manufacturing process in a modular, flexible infrastructure including downstream processing. Working with other industrial and academic partners, Ehrfeld, Britest, TU Dortmund, University of Paderborn, Ruhr-University Bochum and RWTH Aachen, this case study successfully validated and demonstrated a major paradigm shift towards modular, continuous processing of active pharmaceutical intermediates.

The BTS project sought to assess the potential to replicate the cost, quality and efficiency benefits of large-scale continuous production in modular, flexible, small-scale container-based production units. In demonstrating a sequence of synthesis stages in a container environment, BTS also integrated a range of innovative, highly efficient process equipment solutions.

Starting from a five stage reaction sequence with intermediate isolation, key stages of the project included:

• chemical redesign against the paradigm shift of continuous processing
• simultaneous chemical and continuous process development
• integration of reaction and separation steps in the container unit  
• demonstration of the new process in the modular F³ Factory design

Cost and efficiency

Research and development activity in the first phase of the project demonstrated significant savings and efficiency gains with cross-project benefits for the wider F³ Factory programme.

Transfer of the chemical synthesis to an intensified fully continuous process led to a significant reduction in processing steps, reaction time and the amount of solvent used.

BTS operated the process sequence successfully for several days at bench scale, confirming the assumed benefits of the F³ Factory approach in terms of impact on footprint, resource consumption, continuous monitoring and process operability. Key benefits identified to date include:

• reduction in starting material costs (average 15% depending on transformations involved)
• increase in space time yield (up by factors >100)
• significant reduction in both reaction and processing time
• simplified work up processes due to elimination of intermediate isolation and purification stages
• unification of solvents and reduction in consumables
• reduction in equipment size
• reduction in design and installation costs (up to 30% depending on transformations involved)
• reduction in apparatus cost (approximately. 30% depending on intensification of the specific modules)

Modular, flexible production

This was the first industrial case study to be demonstrated in the INVITE backbone facility (see above), and therefore the BTS project led the way in establishing standards for process equipment assemblies (PEAs), the Process Equipment Container (PEC) and its integration with the backbone infrastructure services at INVITE.

To achieve maximum flexibility the standardised and scalable equipment used for the development and production phases enabled a fast and robust transfer from research to production in line with the development time line and with minimal effort.

Modular PECs can provide the required production capacity throughout the full product life-cycle. In addition, standardised chemical and physical processing PEA units can allow faster implementation of new manufacturing strategies in the highly regulated environment of pharmaceutical production.

In the latter stages of the project, BTS successfully demonstrated synthesis steps 1 and 2 in the case study’s PEC at the INVITE backbone facility.

The technological and economic benefits demonstrated through this case study provide a platform for the introduction of new technologies, production concepts and process equipment solutions for the European pharmaceutical manufacturing sector.

More information

For more information visit the F3 Factory Project website.