Program Highlights at ACHEMA 2012: What Not to Miss at the Green Processes Industry Conference

Green chemistry is a relatively young science in its own respect. Interest in this subject, however, is growing rapidly and, although no concerted agreement has been reached as yet about the exact content and limits of this interdisciplinary field, there appears to be increasing interest in umpteen environmental topics, which are based on chemistry embodied in this subject. To the pleasant surprise of all, this increased understanding of the principles that are the backbone of green chemistry has spurred many outstanding efforts to implement chemical processes and innovative technologies that are incrementally moving society toward more sustainable practices and products that embody and foster environmental stewardship and environmental protection.

Sanjay Sharma and Ackmet Mudhoo express this optimistic conclusion in the preface to their book, “Green Chemistry for Environmental Sustainability”, published a year ago. And they argue that green chemistry now has three characteristics: it is still developing, acceptance of it is rising, and its exact definition is still to be found.

Whether you accept this or not, you should definitely take a look at ACHEMA’s program. From tomorrow on, the world’s biggest show for the green chemical industry unites 4,000 exhibitors in Frankfurt, Germany. The triennial ACHEMA meetings deal with three major fields: chemical engineering, environmental protection, and biotechnology. The event description in the program’s PR is pretty self confident, but not incorrect:

Innovation powerhouse, technology compass and communication hub – with this reputation ACHEMA attracts the complete Who’s Who of the process industry to this technological summit.

Three years ago, after the last ACHEMA, the figures from a survey conducted by the event’s organizers revealed that 53 percent of the exhibitors were from Germany, 47 percent came from other regions, and 81 percent of the visitors said they have good or very good technical competence.

Lectures worth Hearing

Monday morning is “Energy Efficiency by Integrated Processes” time. If, instead, you find yourself at Harmonie 1, CMF, there are several lectures on chemical and biotechnological processes that are worth a look – even though the competition in Harmonie 3 on electrochemical energy storage seems promising, too. At the same time, the ICOSSE will take place at Illusion 3, CMF. That is the International Congress on Sustainability Science and Engineering, where some illustrious figures will be lecturing.

Tuesday morning offers a second chance to hear some “Energy Efficiency by Integrated Processes” lectures, this time on environmental applications. Wednesday and Thursday have the whole day reserved for related lectures, all taking place at Harmonie 1, CMF.

On Tuesday afternoon, don’t miss the activity at Illusion 2, CMF. From 2:00 p.m. on, “Resource Productivity & Energy in the Chemical Industry” is the topic. Martina Prox will start with a general overview of “From Environmental Protection to Resource Productivity”. Nicolas Thissen follows with “Strategic Recommendations for the Chemical Industry” concerning efficiency and environmental protection (see related Process Optimization article on know the flow). At 3:30 P.M., Martin Schottler will be showing what flow visualization is capable of. If you want to get your own picture of material flow management software, check out the ifu Hamburg stand, number E 62 in Hall 9.1.

What’s more, on Thursday, June 21, 13:30, CMF room Harmonie 1, J.C. Schouten from TU Eindhoven will be giving some insight into the “Future scope of Chemical Engineering in a Rapidly Changing World”.

Hoping to have given you some inspiration for this event, I look forward to reading one or two comments next week on what it was like!

Article picture by Moritz Buehner, using this sign picture by SeattleRay