On the road to Rio and sustainability
15 Jan 2000
The 1992 Rio Declaration committed its signatories `to integrate conservation of natural resources into the economic and social aims of further development'. Sustainable development - in other words - was a declared theme of this year's Achema, featuring a dedicated symposium and a special show where industry and academia presented ideas and innovations for sustainable development of the world's resources.
At a plenary conference session Jan Mulderink, of the Delft Programme for Sustainable Development, cited the cooperation between Eastman Chemicals and Air Products - on a methanol production process that also incorporates power generation - as an example. Other process engineering contributions to the concept were aired at a special `Sustech' conference.
Started in 1993 with the backing of CEFIC, Sustech brings together disparate developments such as advanced catalysis, process intensification, and improved solids processing, all under the common goal of sustainable development.
