All topics driving the process industry to be addressed at congress.

Researchers, developers and users will meet to discuss the latest technical developments and solutions for the current challenges in the process industries.

This year, for the first time, ACHEMA will fully integrate the congress into the exhibition programme. All congress sessions will take place either on stages directly in the exhibition halls or in the immediate vicinity of the exhibition groups. Another change to the Congress is that there will be five theme days instead of three this year. Daily highlight sessions within the respective topics will emphasize additional topics, ensuring that all topics driving the process industry are addressed.

"True to the ACHEMA motto 'Inspiring Sustainable Connections', we are bringing together what belongs together," says Dr Andreas Förster, Executive Director of DECHEMA and organizer of ACHEMA. "Application and research go even more hand in hand at ACHEMA 2022 thanks to the closer thematic and spatial integration of the exhibition and congress programme."

• On Monday (22 August 2022), the theme "Hydrogen Economy" will kick off the event: As we move towards a climate neutral future, hydrogen will play a central role in the transformation of the process industry, the transport sector and the energy system The process industry is already the main user of hydrogen. The focus of the first theme day will be how to leverage its further potential in the future.

• Production without the use of fossil raw materials is an important and ambitious goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the process industry. The idea of ​​fossil-free production is simple, but there are still many unanswered questions. These will be addressed by the “Fossil Free Production” theme day on Tuesday (23 August 2022).

• The focus topic of ACHEMA, "The Digital Lab", will be part of the Wednesday (24 August 2022) theme day on "Perspectives in Laboratory & Analytics" : Data from all areas of research and production converge in the laboratory. Modular, automated and fully networked, the digital laboratory is a central component for process development and quality assurance. The Highlight Session on this topic and the Congress will complement the theme day.

• The continuous hot topic of "Digitalisation in Process Industry" can be found as part of the new exhibition group "Digital Hub" (Hall 12.1) and also as a focal point of the Congress program agenda on Thursday (25 August 2022): "Data is the new gold" is a phrase used often enough, but how can this treasure be harnessed? How can data be used in business models? And how can data security be guaranteed?

• The last day of the congress on Friday (26 August 2022) will focus on "Novel Bioprocesses and Technologies": New biopharmaceuticals, bio-based fine chemicals or biotechnological recycling all require new (production) processes. Changes in these processes are especially driven by advances in synthetic biology, automated laboratory technologies, integrated bioprocesses, innovative bioreactor concepts, novel downstream technologies and advanced modeling. ACHEMA 2022 will serve as the global showcase for these developments.

At the ACHEMA Congress, researchers, developers and users will meet to discuss the latest technical developments and solutions for the current challenges in the process industries. In total, the Congress will feature more than 115 sessions. In the five highlight sessions, users, technology providers and thought leaders will discuss where we are today and what the process industry can expect in the future. While the congress sessions will focus on application-oriented research and the development from proof-of-concept to the threshold of market entry, the PRAXISforums will focus on current production issues, best practices and ready-to-use technologies via short presentations – always with application in mind. With the exhibition and the closer integration of the various components.

@ACHEMAworldwide @PresseBox #PAuto

Chemical show highpoint approaches.

The highpoint of ACHEMA Pulse is approaching: on 15 and 16 June 2021, decision-makers, international experts and the more than 950 exhibitors at ACHEMA Pulse will get together during the live days to provide information, inspiration and food for thought for all players in the chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries.

Around 400 hours of programme on three live stages, in 8 congress channels, 8 exhibitor channels and 6 parallel workshop channels await the audience. From visionary discussions on the digital process industry or the hydrogen economy, to practical talks on laboratory automation and recycling, to product presentations, there is everything to interest plant planners and operators, process developers and producers. Numerous company executives and experts from BASF, Bayer, Clariant, Covestro, Ekato, Emerson, Evonik, Excellence United, GEA, Genomatica, Linde, Merck, Microsoft, OPC Foundation, Romaco, Samson, Siemens, Syngenta and many others will share their insight on panels or in interviews. In addition, thought leaders from international research institutions will describe their visions for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries of the future. Live demonstrations will be broadcast on some topics such as the laboratory of the future, 5G or gas leakage. Thanks to the live format, participants can actively contribute to the discussions with their questions.

"The fact that both we as organisers, who are deeply rooted in the community, and the exhibitors and many partner organisations jointly design the program means that we cover the entire range of currently relevant topics," says Dr. Thomas Scheuring, CEO of DECHEMA Ausstellungs-GmbH. Thus, in addition to the highlight sessions, topics such as sustainable pharmaceutical packaging, flow chemistry, modularisation, vaccine development and production, or new raw materials for the chemical industry will be addressed both in high-level panel discussions and in expert presentations by exhibitors or interactive workshops. "No matter how deeply individual participants want to delve into a topic, the many different formats mean there is something for everyone," he explains.

With the Global Insights, ACHEMA Pulse also shines a spotlight on some regions that are currently undergoing transformation processes. These include, for example, the decarbonization of Singapore as a chemical location, the green raw materials wave in Scandinavia or sustainable agrochemicals in South America.

Those who miss parts of the extensive program in real time have the opportunity to watch the recordings in the platform until June 30 and can, of course, still get in touch with the contact persons for the topics. Only the workshops are exclusively live. 

Since May 31, more than 950 exhibitors have already been presenting products and solutions for the process industry on the ACHEMA Pulse platform. "The variety of offerings is really impressive," says Björn Mathes, Member of the Board of DECHEMA Ausstellungs-GmbH and project manager of ACHEMA Pulse. "The exhibitors have quickly settled into the platform and attractively showcased their innovations. We can see from the steadily increasing visitor numbers that this unique opportunity to gain a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art is gladly taken." 

Although there had been some faltering in electronic ticket sales at the very beginning, these difficulties have since been overcome. "Now we are excited about the upcoming live days and are looking forward to full virtual halls," says Björn Mathes.

• See also The pulse of processing (31/5/2021)

@ACHEMAworldwide @Pressebox #PAuto #Pharma

Automation for chemical and life sciences!

A series of presentations at ACHEMA Pulse (June 15-16 2021*) presented by Emerson will outline how advanced automation technologies can help chemical and life sciences companies make step change improvements in operational performance and environmental sustainability. As an exclusive partner of the virtual event Emerson will offer thought-leadership keynotes, customer case studies and technology presentations that inform participants how to successfully digitally transform operations to meet the challenges of decarbonisation, increasing efficiency, improving quality and reducing time-to-market.

Underpinning these sessions will be a range of customer experiences, with Covestro guiding participants through a distributed control system migration project at a batch production plant, BASF explaining the benefits of control system health monitoring, and Dow discussing the importance of applying functional margin, when proof-testing valves, to increase reliability and safety. A presentation by Evonik will provide insight into digital transformation in process plants, Dynea will discuss implementing wireless monitoring solutions, and Applikon will explain how to reduce drug research and development costs and reduce time-to-market.

Roel Van Doren

In the first of two keynote presentations, Roel Van Doren, group president global sales at Emerson, will explain how advanced automation technologies can help industrial companies address their environmental sustainability challenges, such as improving energy efficiency by optimising equipment performance and meeting the demand for clean fuels, such as hydrogen. In a second keynote, Peter Zornio, Emerson’s chief technology officer, will look at how emerging technologies are creating new industrial computing architectures that help to transform operations and drive efficiency improvements.

“Equipment reliability and process availability impact the ability of chemical companies to achieve performance targets,” explained Van Doren. “The presentations we are hosting address this challenge, outlining ways to mitigate process upsets and maximise uptime, digitally transform operations for greater reliability, and safely migrate to modern solutions while maintaining production. For life sciences companies, there is a need to reduce costs and increase the speed from clinical to production with high regulatory compliance. To support this, we will demonstrate how Emerson can help to streamline operations and debottleneck processes, and create effective solutions for data management, real-time product quality, reliability and operating costs.”

A key focus of the Emerson-led sessions will be ways of achieving environmental sustainability goals. This includes implementing solutions that enable the use of alternative fuels and low-carbon power sources, the reduction of energy and material use in production systems, and the management and removal of production emissions. Emerson experts will address the subjects of emissions monitoring, control and optimisation, driving energy and reliability performance through improved control, and accelerating the transition to a hydrogen future.

“Industrial companies must make a strategic shift in environmental sustainability,” said Van Doren. “We are therefore dedicating multiple sessions to addressing this challenge, including presentations that highlight decarbonisation opportunities, examine how optimising control loop performance helps improve energy efficiency, and outline the role of automation in meeting greater demand for hydrogen.”

• See also:  The PULSE of processing!

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The PULSE of processing!

A year without trade fairs does not mean a year without technical innovations - participants at ACHEMA Pulse can get a comprehensive picture of this for themselves starting today. Numerous exhibitors are taking the opportunity to present their new products to the global process industry.

940 exhibitors from 37 countries are taking the opportunity to present their products and solutions for the process industry to interested parties worldwide. At the virtual ACHEMA Pulse, they showcase everything from gas detectors to packaging lines, from materials to IT solutions that the chemical, pharmaceutical or food industries need - including numerous innovations and new products. Until June 30, 2021, participants can find out more and talk directly to the experts.

The offerings also reflect the major trend topics of the industry. For example, many exhibitors are showing components and technology for the hydrogen economy, such as valves, electrolysers, but also entire plants. Digitalization is reflected in a wide range of software and data solutions, from laboratory information systems to artificial intelligence and augmented reality.

Well structured and informative
Of course, ACHEMA Pulse also covers the ACHEMA portfolio beyond that: Whether laboratory equipment, pumps, lightweight materials, bioreactors, simulation software or filling systems, anyone who is planning, building or modernizing a process plant will find what they are looking for here. A wide range of search and filter functions make it easy to find your way around the virtual platform: the extensive range of exhibits can be narrowed down quickly and easily by exhibition group, product category or free-text search. The well-structured exhibitor profiles provide the most important information at a glance; on the product pages, visitors can delve deeper into the details with brochures or videos. Personal contact is always just a click away: in the chat or via video calls, interested parties can get in touch with the right contacts and receive answers to their specific questions.

Preparation pays off
Taking advantage of the information opportunities from May 31 is worthwhile in more ways than one: on June 15 and 16, 2021, participants can look forward to a veritable fireworks display of live lectures, discussions and demonstrations. In addition to the stage program and the congress, exhibitors will offer numerous product presentations, expert talks and interactive workshops. It is therefore advisable to obtain the most important information in advance in order to plan participation in the two live days and make the most of the time.

Those who still can't watch every talk live will have the opportunity to view the recordings afterwards until June 30. The exhibitor profiles will also remain online, so that further questions can be clarified and discussions deepened at any time. 

@ACHEMAworldwide @PresseBox #PAuto #Event

The next meeting point ACHEMA 2022 in Frankfurt/Main (D) - 4-8 April 2022

Digital pharma factory of the future!

Digitization of processes, integration of software and equipment, operating concepts for the pharmaceutical shop floor or big data and analysis – Werum IT Solutions is presenting new answers for the digital pharmaceutical factory of the future.

“A Manufacturing Execution System, MES, is the first and most important step for pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturers on the way to digitizing their production,” says Lars Hornung, Senior Director Global Sales & Marketing, Werum IT Solutions GmbH. “With live demos and interactive presentations*, we will inform customers about the latest innovations around our PAS-X MES and Electronic Batch Recording – for example, KPI/OEE, Track & Trace and Finite Scheduling. A world first is PAS-X as a Service: our market-leading MES as a cloud-based solution. It allows pharmaceutical and biotech companies to save resources for their own IT data center and concentrate on their core business.”

Another highlight is the easy integration of software and equipment using PAS-X MSI Plug & Produce. The machines on the shop floor and Werum’s PAS-X can communicate directly with each other via a standardized, message-based interface. It allows to reduce the integration effort up to 75%. For this solution, Werum was awarded as Best Of at the Industriepreis 2018.

Innovative operating concepts which will improve the pharmaceutical production and increase its efficiency. Together with its partners, Werum is developing solutions to integrate these concepts into its manufacturing IT solutions.

With its solutions for Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence (EMI), Werum demonstrates how pharmaceutical and biotech companies can generate knowledge from their production data. This enables supervisors and factory managers to obtain a deeper insight in the production in real time, as a basis for well-informed decisions and the optimization of processes.

* Werum will be present at Achema both with its own stand (hall 11.1-A75) and at Körber Medipak Systems' stand, together with its sister companies (hall 3.1-J72).

@Werum #PAuto @ACHEMAworldwide #PHarma

Advanced outdoor shelters .

A novel new style of outdoor shelter for process plant applications is being introduced by Intertec. Featuring a cooling system based on a hybrid combination of unpowered passive and active powered technologies, the shelter helps to ensure stable and highly reliable operating environments for control, analyzer and instrumentation electronics. The new shelters can greatly simplify the operation of field equipment in hazardous and remote areas.

A model with LED lighting effects

Passive cooling of field equipment enclosures is an influential weapon in the battle to protect electronics installed in hot and harsh environments. When configuring passive cooling systems there is a need for a fairly large difference between night and day temperatures. This means that passive cooling is usually suited for applications in arid climates. However, by making the passive cooling system hybrid, with the addition of one or more active powered cooling elements, it's possible to create semi-passive shelters that can be used in many different climates - even equatorial regions. If an active cooling element should fail for any reason - because of an electrical power loss for example - the passive cooling system retains enough capacity to keep the shelter cool for days, giving maintenance staff plenty of time to visit.

Passively cooled shelters work by exploiting the temperature swing over the climate's daily cycle. A buffer tank of water or other fluid provides the medium to store the coolness of the night and moderate internal temperatures during the day, via heat exchangers. Hybrid cooling can be achieved by additions such as solar-powered micro pumps to boost water circulation, or if mains electricity is available, by using a water chiller or air conditioner. Passively cooled shelters can also be made significantly smaller and lower cost by making them hybrid.

A model with LED lighting effects (see pic) that illustrate the natural circulation principle of passive cooling systems will be featured at this years Achema in June*. This demonstration model will also illustrate a radical new form of shelter configuration that can dramatically reduce plant building sizes, and greatly simplify construction and installation. Known as the PERI SHELTER, it makes all the system components that are required for normal operation accessible via the building's exterior. Panel-mounting enclosures on the exterior provide access to electrical connection and I/O termination points, and cooling systems. Touchscreen HMI panels can also be fitted to external walls, allowing operators on the ground to monitor a control element such as a PLC or make adjustments to control programs locally via an inspection door.

Among many design problems and costs that can be avoided by the PERI SHELTER's 'inside out' approach to layout are the need to make plant buildings blast proof and fire resistant because personnel might be inside, major reductions in size by eliminating desks, control panels, door opening spaces, aisles/walkways/escape routes etc, and much simpler internal atmospheric control requirements.

Intertec's PERI SHELTER concept meets a growing problem faced on process automation projects. Automation systems are becoming more complex, due in large part to ever more sophisticated safety technology. Adding such equipment into already crowded plant areas - often close to the process in hazardous areas - has become a major challenge and a major contributor to project cost overruns.

"PERI SHELTERS can cut project costs by millions of dollars, and cut months off of project timescales" says Intertec's Silvia Ludewig. "For turnaround projects in existing plants, the unmanned shelters can provide an alternative to installing larger and expensive manned buildings such as satellite instrument houses or remote instrument enclosures. They fit easily in crowded spaces, close to the process in hazardous areas. And, with the benefit of Intertec's unique hybrid cooling technology, they are also ideal for SCADA applications and other remote location applications."

A key contributor to the advanced environmental protection performance of Intertec shelters is construction from GRP (glass reinforced polyester) materials. The GRP panels employ a composite 'sandwich' construction to incorporate a very high degree of insulation, plus surface protection that can survive extreme challenges - including very high levels of UV and dust and sand abrasion. GRP is an inherently inert material that is virtually immune to corrosion and atmospheric pollutants. It is also resistant to a broad range of chemical media. The insulation in Intertec's shelters substantially reduces the total cooling power required compared with shelters fabricated using insulated steel or aluminium, and provides highly stable operating environments for sensitive equipment such as analyzers. Intertec's composite GRP panels use insulation layers bonded between GRP sheets. This style of fabrication eliminates 'thermal short cuts' between shelter interior and exterior that can result from the fixings often used with traditional insulated metal constructions.

*Intertec at ACHEMA, Frankfurt 11-15 June 2018, Hall 11.1, booth F61

#Intertec #ACHEMA18 #PAuto #Pharma

Functional Integration Standard (FDI) for introduction!

The FieldComm Group, formed by combining all assets of the former Fieldbus Foundation and Hart Communication Foundation and dedicated to the integration of intelligent devices in process automation facilities worldwide, announced the first live publically viewable display of functioning FDI Package IDE (development tools) and FDI Common Host Components at this year’s ACHEMA trade fair in Frankfurt (D), from June 15-19th.

As the organisation responsible for delivering and maintaining the tools of this new standard on behalf of the participating industry partners of FDI Cooperation, LLC, (FieldComm Group, FDT Group, OPC Foundation and PROFIBUS & PROFINET International), FieldComm Group is proud to introduce these tools publically for the first time to the market.

Located in Hall 11.0, booth E43, the booth will display not only these new cutting edge development tools for Field Device Integration (FDI) but also FOUNDATION™ Fieldbus and HART® technologies on a massive Technology Wall designed to demonstrate how the Group is ‘connecting the world of process automation’ through a full portfolio of solutions that connect and integrate valuable digital data from intelligent field devices. The multi-vendor display includes nearly 40 leading suppliers and over 70 devices integrated into both new and current systems that provide valuable device and process information leading to improved plant performance.

With the availability of these new development tools for FDI, process automation suppliers and developers can now efficiently implement and test FDI Device Packages for FOUNDATION Fieldbus, HART and PROFIBUS®. In addition, they may also use the FDI Common Host Components to build FDI compatible host systems to ensure full integration and consistency of the FDI standard within device management tools, asset management tools and process interface systems.

The FieldComm Group will welcome all attendees of the fair to visit booth E43 in Hall 11.0 to view the FDI Tools on display that showcase the implementation of FOUNDATION Fieldbus, HART, and PROFIBUS Device Packages in a single development environment utilizing the FDI standard. Visitors will understand how FDI eases development requirements for device and host system suppliers alike while providing plant operators safe, reliable integration by using a single system file, FDI Device Package, for plant systems.