Make it Maastricht for Process Intensification

PI techniques have become established production practice in the chemical industry, driven by business needs and regulatory pressures: a conference in October will discuss these techniques

Organisations throughout the chemical industry have recognised that process intensification (PI) delivers competitive advantage through reduced capital and operating costs, higher yields and better products of consistent quality with reduced waste.

PI techniques have become established production practice, driven by business needs and regulatory pressures.

PI is based on providing ideal conditions to optimise production utilising compact novel and conventional reactors.

Devices are usually employed in-line in a continuous process.

Fluid dynamics are matched to the physical and chemical requirements of the reaction to achieve high efficiency.

Reductions in plant size by a factor of up to 100 help deliver dramatic cost reduction with the potential for novel applications.

But intensive continuous processing is not designed for the sake of being small and is no longer restricted to the production of high volume bulk chemicals.

It is now being applied in the higher added value chemicals and pharmaceutical sectors, replacing inherently inefficient "stirred pot" processes.

Innovation continues to come from equipment providers and academia.

Successful PI often requires redesign of operations such as heat transfer, separation and crystallisation.

It can also lead to improvements in underlying chemistry through changes in operating conditions or catalysis.

Plant flexibility, reconfigurability and agility are vital.

Operational issues such as fouling and reliability need careful consideration.

This presents challenges and opportunities in areas such as control, instrumentation, analysis, design and modelling.

Opportunities exist for new business models such as distributed processing.

Step change PI implementation also has significant implications for human resources and business management.

Building on earlier developments and the success of its predecessors BHR Group's 5th International Conference on Process Intensification for the Chemical Industry takes place at Maastricht, in The Netherlands on 13-15 October 2003.

The conference focuses on successful and innovative industrial applications to provide a forum for information exchange and technology transfer.

Despite the successes there is still huge potential for wider adoption of the technique but this can only be achieved through greater understanding of the subject.

The conference will comprise a number of original presentations focusing on successful applications that have delivered production improvement.

Earl Hutchinson of GSK will deliver a keynote speech on "Drivers For Process Intensification".

Other presentations will cover a wide range of topics: heat transfer; combined unit operations; mass transfer; intensive continuous production; reactors; intensified batch reactors; separation processes; micro reactors; microwaves and ultrasonics; compact heat exchangers; enhanced fields; centrifugal fields; novel chemistry and catalysis; electrochemistry; plant design; distributed processing; flexible plant; laboratory and process development; process control systems; accelerated process development; on line analytics; enabling technologies; novel process technology; managing HR issues.

The organisers have also arranged a special discussion forum to address how implementation of PI can be increased.

The forum will include a special panel of experts drawn from a cross section of interests among suppliers, contractors, technologists and end-users.

The conference is aimed at chemical engineers, academics and other professionals involved with the design and implementation of chemical process plant in industries including: bulk chemicals; fine/specialty chemicals; pharmaceuticals; biotechnology; polymers/plastics; water treatment; minerals/metals; novel materials.

The conference is cosponsored by DSM NV and Novem from the Netherlands and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council from the UK.

Back to top