It’s back after three years and the ACHEMA 2018 show at the Messe Frankfurt exhibition halls from 11-15 June will be packed with nearly 4,000 exhibitors and 170,000 visitors.
Few industry shows in any sector can match the significance of ACHEMA’s, say organisers. The foremost event for process engineering, chemical engineering and biotechnology, it is staged once every three years.
ACHEMA supports the work of DECHEMA, the Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, in promoting chemical technology, biotechnology and environmental protection worldwide.
On previous occasions it has managed to attract vast numbers of professionals in all three areas, thanks to the opportunity to network, knowledge share and sell to practitioners from a growing number of countries across the world.
We see significant growth in some exhibition fields such as automation, pharmaceutical, packaging and storage technologies, but also in the mechanical processes group
Thomas Scheuring, CEO, DECHEMA
An exhibition with thousands of stands presents the chance to experience a vast range of cutting edge technologies from laboratory equipment, pumps and analytical devices to packaging machinery, boilers and stirrers, through to safety technology, materials and software, spanning the chemical, pharmaceutical and food production industries.
There is also a great variety of scientific lectures addressing the most pressing problems and issues in the marketplace with numerous guest and partner events sponsored by leading companies.
The list of leading brands and top industry names participating in forums and sessions perhaps reflects the strong performance of many sectors of the process and other industries –something that the CEO of DECHEMA Thomas Scheuring also noted earlier this year when commenting on the expected strong turnout for the trade show.
“We are usually reluctant about forecasts. However, we see significant growth in some exhibition fields such as automation, pharmaceutical, packaging and storage technologies, but also in the mechanical processes group, and this certainly gives reason to [have] positive expectations.”
At the last count, the statistics suggest this year’s show will be one of the largest, with:
- Over 100 countries represented – half the world’s nations
- A total of 3,800 exhibitors
- A total of 167,000 attendees
Here’s a day to day run-down of some of the Monday to Thursday highlights of this year’s event.
MONDAY 11 JUNE
Flow Chemistry: Challenges and opportunities of micro reaction technologies
Adopted by the pharmaceutical industry in recent years, flow chemistry or micro reaction technology (MRT) is a technology with enormous advantages for many process engineering applications.
The MRT notion of transforming process engineering production from the batch principle to continuous flow processes based on micro- and milli-reactors is not always easy for production staff to accept – even though in many cases it would offer great advantages.
After a session on the emerging topic of modern flow chemistry and its important connection to sustainable chemistry, an expert panel of researchers and industry specialists will discuss challenges and opportunities of continuous processing in chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing. They will evaluate the efficiency of flow technologies and their impact on the overall efficiency and sustainability of a chemical process.
Sustainability – renew, resource and rethink
The Young Chemists’ Forum (JCF), the Young Business Chemists (JuWiChem), both part of the German Chemical Society (GDCh), and the European Young Chemists’ Network (EYCN) host this event that includes a range of distinguished speakers. Among them are Brenda Koekkoek of the UN Environmental Programme, James Clark of the University of York’s Green Chemistry Centre, BASF’s sustainability strategy expert Christian Kruger, RWTH Aachen’s Regina Palkovits and LXP-Group’s CTO Friedrich Streffer. The chairman is BCNP Consultants’ Holger Bengs.
TUESDAY 12 JUNE
International Power and Nanotechnology Forum
The forum is for the exchange of ideas between industry and academia and a platform for interdisciplinary cooperation in the field of powder technology. This event at ACHEMA is organised with the joint support of the Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan (SCEJ) and DECHEMA.
It gives an opportunity to learn about the latest developments in the field of powder technology, in particular about innovations and technological trends in Japan.
The forum will present cutting-edge technology – key themes being materials, nanotechnology/biotechnology, crystallisation, pharmaceutical science and technology and also simulation and modeling.
These themes reflect not only strengths specific to the Japanese process industry, but also issues of concern to sectors of the process industries in general – from the chemical and pharmaceutical industry to the energy sector through to environmental technology.
WEDNESDAY 13 JUNE
International Power and Nanotechnology Forum
The second day of the IPNF2018 forum includes a session on pharmaceutical science and technology, with another on crystallisation.
Forum for Heat Exchangers and Accumulators
The session delivers a series of short reports on heat storage and heat exchangers (note: this event will be presented in German).
THURSDAY 14 JUNE
Cyber security – how and why
Industry 4.0 combined with IoT has been pushed very hard by governments and manufacturers, highlighting the benefits and advantages of an even more digitalised world – but what are the pros and cons?
It is clear now why we need to increase the level of protection but how is this to be achieved? It needs a systemic approach.
These workshops organised by the International Society of Automation’s Italian section with the support of Rockwell, explain how you can achieve this target. Help is on hand from the likes of Cisco, Microsoft, Honeywell, Rockwell and other globally renowned experts.
Their themes are:
- Cyber attack continuum: prevent, detect and respond
- Delivering business value through the trustworthy cloud
- Security between IT and OT: protecting the promise of IoT
- Industrial network infrastructure, your future business foundation
- Value of anomaly and threat detection in industrial control systems
- Monitoring ICS and measuring risk
- The cyber security for the protection of integrated ICT and SCADA systems
- No safety without security – no security without safety
WaterVent – Corporate Venturing Forum in the water tech nexus
WaterVent is a platform dedicated to showcasing water technology innovations. It will examine the two main challenges with which water technology innovators have to cope: funding (by corporates, charities and foundations, private individuals, public grants and loans) and detecting/convincing clients to trial new and often disruptive technologies.
For more information, click here.
