Principles and Design Strategies for Ultra‐efficient Production Systems in the Process Industry

Abstract

A sustainable design of production systems, both within and beyond company boundaries, is essential for the future viability of the process industry. In this context, the concept of ultra‐efficiency has recently been developed, aiming at achieving holistic improvements in the fields of action energy and material efficiency, emission reduction, organization, human and staff, with the goal of establishing a positive impact factory. In this paper, the concept developed mainly for the discrete manufacturing industry is transferred to the process industry. It is put into the scientific sub context and elementary approaches, methods and strategies for factory planning and design of production processes in the process industry are summarized.

CHEMampere: Technologies for sustainable chemical production with renewable electricity and CO2, N2, O2, and H2O

“…[ 23,24 ] Thus, the electrification of the chemical industry, in combination with efficient heat recovery, is one of the keys to reach the concept of an ultra‐efficient chemical factory. [ 25 ]…”

“…[23,24] Thus, the electrification of the chemical industry, in combination with efficient heat recovery, is one of the keys to reach the concept of an ultra-efficient chemical factory. [25] Due to the large electricity requirements of industrial processes, those regions of the world with a high potential for wind and solar energy production are preferred to host such ultra-efficient chemical factories. For example, regions with a high potential for solar energy production are the so-called sun-belt regions of the world, namely, the Mediterranean Area, Northern Africa, South Africa, China, India, Latin America, and Australia.…”