Dear Colleague,
 
It gives me great pleasure to send you the first 2010 issue of the EFCE e-newsletter on recent activities within the Federation. I do hope that the information will be of interest to you. If you have comments on the newsletter please get in touch.

Yours sincerely

John Garside

 

        In this issue:

• From the new president
• Who's Who
• EFCE Awards
• Forthcoming Events
• Science and Technology
• News from the Member Societies/related organisations
• Contact

From the new president

This is an important time in the history of chemical engineering: evidence increasingly suggests that our widespread reliance on fossil fuels is releasing so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that it is affecting the earth's heat balance. Significant changes in our supply and usage of energy will be needed over the next few decades. Other resources are moving into short supply as global population grows, and people demand improved standards of living - for example in some countries we are now passing the point where water supplies can keep pace with demand. Chemical engineering is the profession that deals with the efficient use of resources and conversion of materials in bulk, so we have a crucial role to play in the transition to a much more sustainable future.
One aspect of our work that has grown in importance in recent years is the role of biology, biochemistry and biological systems. At the molecular and micro/macro scale we see more chemical engineers working in the biopharmaceutical industry, and in biomedical engineering. At the scale of ecosystems, we see greater emphasis on environmental protection and the need for sustainability mentioned above. It is important that EFCE and its member societies give attention to this change, and offer mechanisms to support and promote these areas.
Creating wealth and welfare is what the profession does, and does supremely well. So it is important that newly qualified chemical engineers are properly educated in the fundamentals of our subject - topics like heat and mass transfer, reactor technology and fluid mechanics, thermodynamics and mathematics. But chemical engineers must also be aware of the impact of their work on society, and their responsibility to maintain the highest standards of ethical and safe behaviour. Recruiting the brightest young people into the profession and training them in all these aspects, is an important priority for the EFCE and its member societies.
The EFCE exists to promote the exchange of knowledge and ideas between practising chemical engineers, through conferences and other meetings, and the activities of its Working Parties and Sections. The importance of this communal activity needs to be stressed. The EFCE was formed in the very different world of 1953, but the need for international understanding and collaboration remains just as strong as ever. I believe that offering a platform for chemical engineers to meet and discuss different approaches to problems, and to work together, remains the key role of the Federation.
I am delighted and honoured to be following Professor Jiri Drahos as President of the EFCE. We are very grateful to Jiri for all he has done to develop and strengthen our Federation, and I look forward to working with colleagues in the EFCE and its member societies on the challenges before us.

I wish you all a successful and sustainable New Year!

Richard Darton
EFCE President  

Who's Who

 
EFCE Presidency and Vice-Presidency
On 1 January 2010, Prof. Richard Darton and Dr. Wridzer Bakker succeeded Prof. Drahos and Prof. Garside in the position of President and Executive Vice-President of the Federation.
At the same time, Dr. Hermann J. Feise continued in his position of EFCE Scientific Vice-President for a further two years. See also the EFCE press release 1/2010 "New leadership for a new decade"

EFCE General Secretariat
On 1 January 2010, Dr. Willi Meier took over the position of General Secretary of the EFCE Frankfurt office at DECHEMA e.V. from Prof. Dr. Gerhard Kreysa, Chief Executive Officer of DECHEMA and EFCE General Secretary from 1992 until his retirement at the end of 2009.

Section Chairmanship
During their inaugural meeting in September 2009, the new EFCE Section on Process Engineering for Sustainable Energy elected Prof. Sophie Jullian , Solaize, France, as the first Chair of the Section.

EFCE Awards

New EFCE Excellence Award
The EFCE has pleasure in announcing the call for nominations for the first EFCE Excellence Award in Fluid Separations to recognise a PhD thesis published in the preceding four-year period, which demonstrates an outstanding contribution to research and/or practice in Fluid Sepa-rations. The award will be presented during a Plenary Session of the Distillation & Absorption 2010 Symposium to be held in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, from 12 to 15 September 2010. The closing date for nominations is 31 March 2010 .
Further information: http://www.efce.info/ExcellenceAwardFluidSeparations.html

Closing dates for further EFCE Excellence Awards

• Excellence Award in Chemical Reaction Engineering
  PhD thesis or papers published between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2009 may be nominated for evaluation. The closing date for nominations is 1 March 2010 .
  Further information: http://www.efce.info/ExcellenceAwardCRE.html
• Excellence Award in Drying
  PhD thesis or papers published between January 2007 and December 2009 may be nomi-nated for evaluation. The closing date for nominations is 31 March 2010.
  Further information: http://www.efce.info/ExcellenceAwardDrying.html

The EFCE Excellence Awards recognise PhD theses or papers, which demonstrate an outstanding contribution to research and/or practice in the respective fields. Each of the awards consists of a certificate, a cash prize of 1500 euros, a travel grant and fee waiver to attend the event where the award will be presented. Nominations may be submitted by any PhD supervisor at a PhD-awarding institution in an EFCE member country. The nominated PhD thesis and papers must address a topic relevant to the respective field.

Forthcoming Events

 
Molecular Modeling and Simulation for Industrial Applications: Physico-Chemical Properties and Processes
First European workshop jointly organised by the EFCE Working Party "Thermodynamics and Transport Properties" and the ProcessNet Working Party "Molecular Modeling and Simulation for Process and Product Design", Würzburg, Germany, 22-23 March 2010 (EFCE Event No. 687)
The workshop is explicitly dedicated to this rapidly developing interdisciplinary field, in which efforts from natural sciences and engineering are combined. It provides a unique opportunity for getting an overview of the state of research in molecular modeling and simulation for industrial applications and on its applications in developing engineering models. Moreover, it aims at bring-ing together experts from academia and industry, as well as from different scientific communities engaged in applied molecular modeling and simulation.
Workshop website: http://www.processnet.org/mol_eng_methods

Loss Prevention 2010
13th International Symposium on Loss Prevention and Safety Promotion in the Process Indus-tries, Bruges, Belgium, 6 - 9 June 2010 (EFCE Event No. 676)
This Symposium shall be a market place for new scientific result and concepts, exchange of best practice, and learning from experience. Much progress has been seen in the more than thirty years, since safety professionals, scientists and practitioners first met at an EFCE Loss Preven-tion Symposium, but there is still a continuous need for research and development in the field, as new challenges appear. Innovation has led to new processes under yet unknown conditions or involving new materials. Furthermore, new concepts are required in view of new or upcoming regulation. To foster new ideas in the field, the EFCE Excellence Award in Process Safety will be assigned to outstanding PhD research work for the first time on this conference.
Congress website: http://www.lossprevention2010.com

ESCAPE 20
20th European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering, Ischia, Naples, Italy, 6-9 June 2009 (EFCE Event No. 685)
ESCAPE 20 reflects strategic complementary objectives of the CAPE Working Party: to check the status of historically consolidated topics by means of their industrial application and to evaluate their emerging issues. The scientific programme of ESCAPE 20 includes fundamentals in compu-tational and numerical methods, CAPE and society, off-line and on-line systems and CAPE, and new opportunities.
Further information can be obtained from the symposium website at http://www.aidic.it/escape20 

ECCE-7 - CHISA 2010
19th International Congress of Chemical and Process Engineering CHISA 2010 and the 7th European Congress of Chemical Engineering ECCE-7, Prague, Czech Republic, 28 August -1 September 2010 (Please note the new date)
The Congress will cover a wide range of important topics and will offer many interdisciplinary links. The Congress program will include the satellite PRES 2010 Conference as well as the standard sessions and specialized symposia.
Meetings of EFCE Working Parties and special workshops will also be organized.
Congress website: http://www.chisa.cz/2010 

Distillation & Absorption 2010
9th Distillation & Absorption Conference, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 12-15 September 2010 (EFCE Event No. 677)
The conference will showcase the newest and best in Distillation and Absorption technology while celebrating the 50th anniversary of this well-known series of conferences that began in Brighton, UK, in 1960. Distillation & Absorption 2010 will cover a broad range of fundamental and applied aspects of distillation and absorption technology, including Energy Efficiency, Carbon Dioxide Capture, Integrated, Hybrid and Novel Processes, Basic Data, Modelling and Simulation, Control and Operation, Equipment Design and Operation, Process Troubleshooting and Handling Operational Problems. The special theme will be Carbon Dioxide Mitigation by Energy Efficiency and Capture .
Conference website: http://www.da2010.nl 

International Drying Symposium 2010
17th International Drying Symposium, Magdeburg, Germany, 3 - 6 October 2010 (EFCE Event No. 686)
Scope of the 17th International Drying Symposium Symposium, which continues the biennial series founded by Prof. Arun S. Mujumdar in 1978, is to present new results in research, development and applications of drying technologies, bringing together leading researchers and practitioners from the entire world. An exposition of industrial equipment will accompany the symposium.
Symposium website: http://events.dechema.de/ids2010.html

Science and Technology

A new start for the EFCE Working Party Characterization of Particulate Systems
Over several decades the Working Party Characterization of Particulate Systems has been an integral part of the EFCE's scientific activities. However, the past chairman, Prof. John Dodds, had to report that by 2008 the Working Party in its current shape had served its purpose. EFCE leadership has taken his advice and made the respective decision at the EFCE Executive Board meeting in Barcelona in September 2009. Since particle characterization is such an integral part of chemical engineering, the Executive Board not only decided to close the Working Party but also to make a new start in this field. The EFCE appointed Dr. Michael Schäfer (Germany) to lead the effort to restructure the EFCE scientific activities in this field. Dr. Schäfer serves as an expert in online characterisation of particles for BASF at their headquarters in Ludwigshafen. He developed PARTIMAC 3D, the currently only automated true 3D particle counter available based on particle on demand feeding. Dr. Schäfer is well respected within the German "Processnet Fachausschuss Partikelmesstechnik". In 2009 he was promoted to Principal Scientist by BASF in recognition of his outstanding achievements in particle characterisation

In Barcelona, the Executive Board of the EFCE decided to close the EFCE Working Party Quality Management in the Process Industries and Chemical Engineering Design. The Working Party had not been able to attract participation for almost a decade.

The leadership of the EFCE expresses its gratitude to all those who have worked with and for the two working parties and wishes Dr. Schäfer success in the task of building up a new EFCE community in Particle System Characterisation.

News from the Member Societies / related organisations

 
New SFGP President
On 1 January 2010, Mr. Jean-Pierre Dal Pont, Chief Executive Officer of the Société Francaise de Génie des Procédés (SFGP) and General Secretary of the EFCE Paris office succeeded Mr. Jean-Pierre Soufflet in the position of President of SFGP.

Changes at the top level of DECHEMA
Big changes took place at DECHEMA's top level at the beginning of 2010: Dr. Hans Jürgen Wernicke took over as Chairman of the scientific society. He replaces Dr. Alfred Oberholz. Prof. Dr. Ferdi Schüth followed Prof. Dr. Jens Weitkamp as Deputy Chairman. Dr. Kurt Wagemann succeeds Prof. Dr. Gerhard Kreysa as Chief Executive Officer.
Please click here  for detailed information.

Contact

Editor: Ines Honndorf, e-mail: honndorf @dechema.de

The statements and opinions expressed in the e-newsletter are those of the contributors and EFCE assumes no responsibility for them.