 |  The News Pages of the Interchange Working Party |  |
November 2001
 | CAPE-21
CAPE Tools & Techniques for the 21st Century |  |
A major European programme in CAPE and related fields
The primary objectives are:
- radical improvements in the technology to help deliver excellence across the life cycle
- greater technology sharing between the many sub-sectors which comprise the industry, including, for example:
| oil & gas | petrochemicals |
| pulp & paper | metals & minerals processing |
| food & drink | pharmaceuticals & fine chemicals |
| bio-processing | water & waste treatment |
| industrial gases | |
- address the key issues relating to society as a whole, such as sustainability/renewables,
new/better products, energy/global warming issues, improved waste processing/recycling, etc.
The proposed activities including the following elements:
- Networking to continue to identify and exploit potential synergies and to generate new and productive partnerships
- Technology Demonstration & Transfer (including Education & Training) to promote the more widespread adoption of best practice
- A Core Programme of R&D to develop new or radically improved tools & techniques, supported within an integrating infrastructure, as illustrated above.
The proposed new range of CAPE tools & techniques will help deliver significant benefits in many ways, right across the life-cycle:
In R&D:
- Increased product innovation & differentiation.
- More integrated/concurrent development of products & processes: shortened timescales for product/process introduction
- Radically improved new unit processes: innovative integration of thermodynamics and fluid dynamics and of micro- & nano-scale phenomena and sub-processes, to develop novel unit processes which are inherently sustainable, clean, energy-efficient, "intense", etc
- Closer integration between models and experimentation: improved experimental design and measurement analysis
In Engineering:
- More efficient and flexible processes: radically improved integration between processes and their control, safety, environmental and utility systems: better & more balanced processes earlier in the development & design cycle.
- A more concurrent approach: significant reduction in the time taken to develop new process concepts and preliminary flowsheets to achieve greater responsiveness to market opportunities.
- Reduced overdesign, even with more complex processes & materials
- Greater confidence of trouble-free commissioning & operations
- Improved support for QA and the audit trail
In Production:
- Rigorously optimised conversion of raw materials, energy, etc, leading to radically improved operating margins
- Flexibility and responsiveness to market dynamics & supply chains
Advanced measurement, automation and control: consistent production of top-quality products
- Improved capital productivity: reduced inventory & working capital
- Safe & clean, both for the workforce and the surrounding countryside and population
- More reliable and resilient; improved on-stream factors & equipment utilisation
The impact on such criteria as operating margins, productive capacity, innovation, market share, etc, will be substantial and will enable the European process industry sector to maintain and enhance its global competitiveness:
"In this environment, excellence is not optional, but a survival issue. We regard CAPE as a key enabling element in achieving this excellence and in providing us with a tactical and strategic advantage over our competitors in the UK, European and International marketplace." (Air Products)
"... single figure savings in operating costs and double figure savings in fixed and/or working capital ..." (ICI)
"Typical design margins now would be 5 to 10%, compared to 25 to 40% thirty years ago." (BP Chemicals)
"... typically 10-15% and occasionally as much as 25% ..." (DuPont)
"The single technology that has had the biggest impact on our business in the last decade" (Dow Chemical)
"... 10-fold reduction in processing time... reduced inventory... better quality... fewer & better experiments... yield increase 75-95%..." (BRITEST batch processes initiative)
The programme will be implemented via a series of Calls for Proposals. These are expected to begin early in 2002, and will be announced via the CAPE website.
EPISTLE home page | Interchange Online
Editor: Paul Sawyer, PES Associates
Web design and maintenance: PDT Solutions