Success in Budapest
The final joint event organised by SCI, Cefic and ICCA brought delegates from as far away as Taiwan and the US to Hungary’s stunning capital. The SCI’s annual European conference looked at the chemical industry’s energy challenge.
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| The Hungarian parliament in Budapest |
The Hungarian capital, Budapest, recently hosted the fifth, and also final, joint SCI/CEFIC Global Chemical Industry European Convention (4-8 October 2007). The event combined the annual meetings of Cefic (European Chemical Industry Council) and the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA), with the SCI’s Annual European Conference, which for 2007 took the theme: ‘The Chemical Industry Energy Challenge: Imperat ives, sustainabi l it y and Technology’.
SCI Conference chairman, Sven Royall, vice president, customer services and intermediates, Shell Chemicals, opened the SCI conference with an overview of the energy challenge that face the chemical industry, noting that chemistry and the chemical industry will need to play a very significant role in addressing climate change. He highlighted that the chemical industry has been actively improving its energy efficiency for many years, quoting Cefic’s estimate that over the past 15 years, the European industry has achieved a more than 40% decrease in energy use per unit of production. There is still more work to do, he said, adding that revolutionary technological breakthroughs will be needed.
‘European industry has achieved a more than 40% decrease in energy use per unit of production’ |
Kornelis Blok, professor of science, technology and society, Utrecht University, The Netherlands, pointed out that energy presents both a challenge and an opportunity. In his paper, Carbon-constrained chemistry: The quest for opportunities, Blok highlighted that there is substantial short- and long-term potential for energy
efficiency improvement through the development of current and new processes, and approaches covering the whole supply chain. Low carbon energy sources like white biotechnology and carbon capture and storage both also offer potential benefits, but Blok believes that global and governmental policy-making will be a crucial issue. ‘There is a lot of room for the application of technology,’ he said, adding ‘in this respect the US is right. And this is a contribution the chemical industry can make.’
With the introduction of the EU Reach regulations in June, the chemical industry faces a further major challenge of compliance. Geert Dancet, interim executive director of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), outlined the progress that has been made in establishing the ECHA in Helsinki, Finland. The agency is scheduled to be fully operational by 1 June 2008. Reach will change the business environment and its practices, so Dancet suggested how companies can adapt to meet the changes. Firstly they must accept the change, ‘Reach is already here,’ he said, and they must be proactive, and thereby take control of the change process. All sources of information and assistance should be considered, and by networking and participation in associations and consortia, they can share the burden.
Forward to the past
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| SCI Youth Panel: Markus Piepenbrink, Iris (Meng) Tang, Wiebe Schipper, Michael Pell, Jennifer Clark |
The conference was rounded off by a contribution from the SCI Youth Panel in the form of the 2027 annual general meeting of a new company founded in 2007.
The panel comprised Iris (Meng) Tang, Asia Pacific regional marketing manager for Degussa; Wiebe Schipper, biofuels development manager, Lyondell Europe; Markus
Piepenbrink, head of communications and staff for BASF’s global competence center environment, safety and energy; Jennifer Clark, a health, safety and environmental specialist with Eastman Chemical, and SCI Young Ambassador of 2007; and Michael Pell, industrial processes global marketing manager, Rohm & Haas, moderated by Hilfra Tandy, editor, Chemical Matters. In its AGM presentation, the panel, acting as the management team of the company, looked back from the future by presenting the development of an innovative chemical company, backed up by a four-page global newspaper from 8 October 2027.
The company, SEEchem, focused on sustainability and saw climate change as driving its energy strategy, with an energy efficient product pipeline back integrated into both biomass and fossil fuel resources. Among the developments at SEEchem, the team highlighted off-shore biomass generation and refining using algae, microreactor technology and a system to support personal carbon tax credits.
Interestingly the SEEchem management team had adopted a rotating scheme of leadership for the company, with a focus on recruiting the best personnel, functional skill development and cultural diversity, with a leadership development programme to facilitate succession planning. They saw the future leadership challenges as maintaining flexibility, achieving a work-life balance, and retaining talent through the provision of a loose relationship.
Edited versions of these presentations will be published in future editions of C&I.
Hungary and SCI’s future conferences
As SCI chief executive Andrew Ladds noted SCI has engaged with Hungary’s ‘vibrant chemical sector’ for over sixty years. In recent times, SCI’s Hungarian membership has grown with newcomers from both global organisations, and also, from Hungarian SME’s. ‘The growth in Hungary’s bioscience sector and involvement in sustainable biofuels and feedstocks is acting as a barometer for Central Europe,’ he added. However, ‘this is the last time that we shall be combining SCI’s Annual European Conference with the Cefic and ICCA trade associations meetings,’ said Ladds.
‘Over the past five years, we have succeeded in organising a number of fruitful conventions combining the SCI’s annual conference and social events together with the European (Cefic) and international (ICCA) trade association meetings. It has been a privilege to work with the SCI – along with Cefic and the ICCA’. Andrew Ladds went on to add his own appreciation: ‘We have been grateful for this valuable collaboration during recent years and would like to express our appreciation and thanks to our colleagues in both Cefic and ICCA for their professionalism and contribution towards our collaborative success.
‘Just as the chemical industry has to constantly evolve to meet new market conditions and customer needs, then SCI as a membership organisation has to do the same. SCI already has a strong presence in the USA, Canada, Australia and the UK. It has now opened a centre in Frankfurt, created SCI India with its founding centre in Mumbai and a further office in New Delhi, and will be opening SCI China early next year in Beijing.
‘Consequently, to meet its forward strategic objectives, SCI will be holding regular international meetings on a global basis and will be addressing hot topics and the all-important key industry imperatives relating to development and innovation. We look forward to continuing our dialogue with Cefic and ICCA on matters affecting the chemical industry, and hope that our scientific heritage, business perspectives, and independent ground will provide a complementary resource to our association colleagues in the future.’
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