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June 08, 2009: Britest is to play a key role in a major new EU-funded project that aims to strengthen the European chemical industry`s global technological leadership via faster and more flexible production methods.
Launched today at Bayer Technology Services headquarters in Leverkusen, the F3 Factory (Flexible, Fast, Future - Factory) is a €30 million collaborative project with €18 million of funding from the European Union’s 7th Framework Programme (FP7). Key goals for the four year project are to:
§ design and develop a modular continuous plant (the F3 plant)
§ standardise processes and their interfaces
§ demonstrate the capabilities of the F3 Factory with existing products.
The F3 Factory consortium consists of 25 leading companies and research institutions from nine EU Member states that are crossing competitive boundaries to collaborate both on new technologies for process intensification and innovative new production concepts. Consortium members calculate that the European chemical industry could reduce costs by up to €4 billion euros by switching existing production facilities over to the F3 Factory concept.
Under the project, the efficiency and scalability of continuous plants are to be combined with the versatility of batch-wise operating plants. Holistic strategies for process intensification will be developed such that raw materials and energy (which represent between 70 to 80 percent of manufacturing costs) are employed more economically.
The F3 Factory will also focus on the development of products such as solvent-free polymers, custom-tailored surfactants, high value-added building blocks and intermediates for pharmaceuticals and innovative products based on renewable materials. A supporting demonstration and development center will also be constructed in CHEMPARK Leverkusen, Germany with work scheduled to begin in late 2009/early 2010 and completed in early 2011.
Building on its experiences from previous EU collaborative projects such as IMPULSE and PILLs, Britest will lead two key work packages:
WP3 Integrated Development and Design Methodologies. Sushma Davison will lead work to ensure:
§ the development of generic methodology for the appropriate selection of F3chemical and process routes, incorporating appropriate work-up and isolation technologies
§ the application of methodologies, modelling and optimisation techniques for F3 equipment selection
§ the validation of these new methodologies by industrial consortium partners on specific F3 demonstrator processes.
WP9 Exploitation and Dissemination. Mark Talford will lead work to ensure rapid and effective knowledge transfer amongst the consortium and key interest groups throughout Europe.
Sue Fleet, Britest CEO said: The F3 Factory is one of the visionary projects described in the EU Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem) Implementation Action Plan. Innovative process design and collaboration are a key focus of Britest’s activity and I am therefore delighted that we are able participate in this major project. We look forward to working with the consortium partners in delivering value to our members/collaborators through participation in the project.
The F3 Factory consortium consists of: Arkema, AstraZeneca, BASF, Bayer Technology Services, Britest, Buss-SMS-Canzler, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Coatex, Technical University of Denmark, Ehrfeld Mikrotechnik BTS, Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine - ENSIC, Evonik Degussa, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Institute of Catalysis & Surface Chemistry PAS, Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Process Design Center, Rhodia, RWTH Aachen University, Technische Universität Dortmund, Eindhoven University of Technology, University of Newcastle, University of Paderborn, Procter & Gamble, Ruhr-University Bochum. Its members stem from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the UK
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