Review of Achema 2009 press conference

Nick Denbow, then editor of Processingtalk, provided this review on 25 February 2009 of a press conference arranged by the organising committee of the Achema 2009 exhibition.

Dr Ing Thomas Scheuring of Dechema was recently joined by Dr Aldo Belloni of Linde and Dr Ing Klaus Schneiders of Uhde to explain their current view of the industry and the likely topics that will be of interest at Achema 2009.

This year’s event has been over shadowed by the slump on the market, which was now said to be noticeable, and to have reached the chemical industry.

However, both Uhde and Linde had a strong order book and a project backlog from 2007/8 that would see them through 2009.

German and EU industry has also benefited from the 20 per cent decline in the euro against the US dollar.

The main new technologies likely to be seen in the exhibition were thought to include process intensification systems, including sonic and ultrasonic chemical processing, and energy storage systems.

Energy appears to be the biggest driver for projects overall, with emphasis on electric power generation.

Energy renewal has received a lot of attention, and for example chlorine production has now achieved around a 20 per cent reduction in overall costs.

Renewable energy schemes, for example, making fibres or plastics with renewable or chemical energy, is a major topic.

Engineering plastics on the other hand are seen as being in a phase of over-supply.

Gasification of coal or biomass is an area of growing interest, and climate change topics will both be well represented at Achema 2009.

For the exhibition itself, already it can be seen that the largest sector for exhibitors will be the pumps, valves and compressors, again expected to reach 1,000 exhibiting companies.

This is closely followed by laboratory and analytical techniques, which will be represented by around 700 companies.

Visitors are forecast as 55 per cent from Germany, and 32 per cent from other EU countries, but the main area where Achema is expecting a surge in visitor numbers is from the Middle East, India and Asia.

Indeed there are far more exhibitors from China this year; it is forecast that 100 companies will be present, of which, around 50 per cent will be exhibiting pumps, valves or compressors.

The major Japanese presence will be seen in instrumentation, control, automation and laboratory techniques.

The Achema organisers look forward to the exhibition this year with confidence; the three-year period between these events is seen as the right interval, and means that exhibitors and visitors alike will wish to ensure that they are present to exchange views and see the latest developments and ideas.

Important in this are the conference sessions, and there are now a total of 925 papers accepted for presentation and scheduled during the week.

This conference programme reflects the topics of interest, and includes lectures on white biotechnology, advanced fluids/ionic liquids, microchemical engineering, process intensification and energy generation and supply.

Achema, the 29th International Exhibition-Congress on Chemical Engineering, Environmental Protection and Biotechnology, will be held in Frankfurt/Main from 11-15 May 2009.

Further previews from the many exhibitors will be presented in the Achema preview section on Processingtalk: http://www.processingtalk.com/indexes/categorybrowseew.html.