News - Pfau-Tech

Pfau-tech at Achema in Frankfurt

We offer a wide range of services to support you in your processes. Pfau-tech has a wealth of knowledge in various technological areas of plant engineering. We want to support our clients to avoid large investments and to make the right decisions. Furthermore, our goal is to coach large suppliers to further increase agility and flexibility.

We offer the following services:

1. Process Engineering in the full scope, i.e. from technology design to basic and detail engineering as well as commissioning.

2. Strategic approaches in Leadership to increase interpersonal communication, coaching in sales and business strategies.

3. Trade marketing plays a major role in business relations, especially when it comes to investments. Pfau-tech is outstanding and excellent when it comes to innovative processes as well as marketing.

4. Recruitment of experts in plant engineering, special chemical, petrochemical and mining industries. We focus strongly on personnel marketing to facilitate a win-win situation. Today’s recruitment agencies focus heavily on big money, without any experience of recruitment in plant engineering. We are here to assist you to the fullest extent and would like to support you as we understand our industry very well.

We look forward to your feedback and, above all, to working with you. Because only together can we grow.

Your
Pfau-tech Team

Membership in the Federal Employers Association of Personnel Service Providers of the E.V.

We are proud to inform you that Pfau-tech is a full member of the BAP Personaldienstleister E.V. registered association. We are very pleased to be working with such an orgendary organisation and would like to provide our clients with the best candidates.

Pfau-tech offers over 10 years of experience in the chemical, petrochemical and mining industries. We have diverse technological experience and know our key contacts who advertise challenging roles with potential. Furthermore, we offer our candidates exciting opportunities with our clients on site to develop professionally and work on your career. Pfau-tech offers an international network, which is an advantage for you. Just contact us, we are looking forward to working with you to be successful together for our customers. Pfau-tech offers a versatile range of knowledge and recruiting from within the company, which makes the difference to the conceptual personnel service providers.

Since we come from the plant engineering sector, we know our candidates very well and offer our customers the best experts at their side. Our employees have a lot of experience in solid-liquid separation, Crystallization and Evaporation Plants, complete Plant Engineering from the technological side to Project Management and Turn-key, Sales and After-Market strategies as well as Business Development for various Technology. Contact us, we will select the best candidate for you and stand strongly by your side. Our employees work directly on your side or from the office.

Recruiting of PhD and Postdoc candidates for various industries
Pfau-tech offers candidates for R&D Projects and PhD Thesis in Europe. We are able to offer you >15,000 candidates for different knowledge areas such as material science, chemistry, Process Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Management, Physics, Economics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Innovation and Sustainability etc.. This can be direct placement, personnel recruitment, Headhunting, contract temporary or even doctoral theses directly in your company. They are very motivated PhD and Postdoc students who are waiting to make a fresh start in your professional life and provide you with strong support.

Opex and Capex Investment with Particle Analytic Technology

In the current economic situation and technologies progress, many companies face challenges. Many investments are made in innovations and technologies that are not foreseeable in the first step.
So the question is, how do we handle operations and how can we cut costs?

Pfau-tech offers you a wide range in plant engineering, including particle morphology in the existing process to save costs. We would like to help you improve your processes by installing in-situ particle sensors in the pipelines, vessels, etc. and performing on-site measurements. Based on that, we can tell you 100% what to do next and how to save money. Here it can be in the cyclones, centrate from the filter press, tank with agitator, optimization of pumps and much more.

All measures are doable in-situ (during production) and in real-time. Results can be used for QA and product development.

1. In-situ real-time measurement substitutes sample testing with a permanent supervision of your production.
2. On step through Industry 4.0 for your company
3. Everything in one place: Results are shown inside of our software which allows easy access to analyzable data.
4. Ensuring a production close to the operational optimum.
5. Return on investment through optimized production with minimized risks of failures in production.
6. Ensuring permanent quality control by using the product specific calibrated measurements.
7. All measurement data may be used for future developing your products.

Contact us to be at your side.
Your Pfau-tech Team

Circular economy of bioenergy and bioproducts

The term ’circular economy’ (CE) refers to the fusion of the circular economy and bioeconomy agendas, with varied degrees of emphasis on bioproducts and bioenergy. Its recent definition in research papers, policy documents, and industrial practices has resulted in the marginalisation of several critical social, ethical, and ecological components, endangering the circular bioeconomy’s viability [28]. The circular economy concept has garnered substantial regional and worldwide appeal. The major obstacles are as follows: (1) significant environmental and social impacts of landfilling operations; (2) national economies’ heavy reliance on extractive industries and resource recovery; and (3) rapid development of business models for the urban population that compete with traditional recycling businesses. The notion of a biowaste refinery has gained considerable interest in recent years as a viable alternative to the biorefinery, utilising biowaste to produce high-value bioproducts and bioenergy [29]. Biomass is critical in a circular economy, both in terms of material outputs and energy provision. To develop a circular bioeconomy, stakeholders across the value chain, from product design to waste management, must understand the practical implications of biomass use.

Environmental tax revenues were found to have a beneficial effect on the model. GDP (gross domestic product) growth is anticipated to increase by 11.69 units with a one-unit increase in environmental tax receipts (EU28). In other words, environmental tax revenues are a critical indication of economic growth because they have a positive and strong correlation with it. Municipal garbage recycling rates were shown to be considerable for the EU28 and had a favourable effect on GDP per capita. This variable was chosen as a proxy for both social and economic consequences. Thus, we established that both the social and economic components of the circular economy are statistically significant and extremely vital for economic growth [31]. The biorefinery circular economy concept has demonstrated enormous significance in the progress of the global economy, with the biowaste circular economy being the most suitable for the impending demand for environmental organic material handling [32]. Bagheri et al. [33] emphasise the importance of biowaste’s high energy content based on its basic makeup. According to Flynn et al. [34], social science commitments to the CE literature are typically relegated to guiding approach disputes. There is certainly a need to bring together the work being done on circular economy administration moves and policies in order to assess how such measures might facilitate a sustainability transition [34,35]. The subjective evaluation was conducted to ascertain the imperatives and impediments to the recognition of a viable supply chain within the territorial bioproducts CE. Certainly, technical novelty, permissible restrictions, funding, and user preferences all contribute to the issues associated with accessible CE benefits and shift the carbon strength of manufacturing processes. Circular economy ethics and policies require the involvement of multiple firms, citizens, and collaborative approaches [36].

The circular economics of biowaste conversion demonstrates that seasonal and local constraints on digestates are becoming significant hurdles to AD intake and digestate utilisation [37]. Additionally, China and other countries continue to face impediments to an efficient and effective transition to a circular economy. Thus, it is worthwhile to investigate the hurdles to implementing bioenergy and bioproducts systems from biowaste [19]. Biofuels (for example, biomethane, cellulose, bioplastics, and biochemicals) can be classified as mixtures of intermediate value. Separately, compost and solid digestate are generated via oxygen-consuming and anaerobic digestion processes. These fundamental perspectives have provided insight into the value of these commodities to the global marketplace, when obtained through a financially viable and environmentally friendly manufacturing process.

Technological statistics demonstrate that anaerobic digestion is the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly method of managing the natural fraction of MSW. It enables the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the elimination of offensive odours and bioaerosol emissions, the reduction of surface use, and the recovery of control powers from a low-cost biogas [3]. Bioenergy produced from biomass is used as a fuel for gasification or combustion gasification and can be used to generate heat, electricity, or chemicals. Additionally, biomass resources can be used to produce biofuels such as biodiesel or bioethanol. Bioethanol has the potential to be an extremely beneficial energy source that can partially replace gasoline [20]. Vaporous outflows of unstable natural molecules such as methane (CH4), nitrogen oxide (N2O), and ammonia (NH3) are regarded as the primary source of the composting process’s consequences, as well as its energy use [38]. Reconsidering financial frameworks and modernising circular asset management frameworks would aid in mitigating the pressing issue of urban biowaste management and limited access to sources. The future will see a rise in resource scarcity. The ability to motivate superiors and manage these assets will become critical for a sustainable global economy [29].

ScienceDirect

CO2 emissions

Where in the world does the average person emit the most carbon dioxide (CO₂) each year?

We can calculate the contribution of the average citizen of each country by dividing its total emissions by its population. This gives us CO₂ emissions per capita. In the visualization we see the differences in per capita emissions across the world.

Here we look at production-based emissions – that is, emissions produced within a country’s boundaries without accounting for how goods are traded across the world. In our post on consumption-based emissions we look at how these figures change when we account for trade. Production figures matter – these are the numbers that are taken into account for climate targets¹ – and thanks to historical reconstructions they are available for the entire world since the mid 18th century.

There are very large inequalities in per capita emissions across the world.

The world’s largest per capita CO₂ emitters are the major oil producing countries; this is particularly true for those with relatively low population size. Most are in the Middle East: In 2017 Qatar had the highest emissions at 49 tonnes (t) per person, followed by Trinidad and Tobago (30t); Kuwait (25t); United Arab Emirates (25t); Brunei (24t); Bahrain (23t) and Saudi Arabia (19t).

However, many of the major oil producers have a relatively small population meaning their total annual emissions are low. More populous countries with some of the highest per capita emissions – and therefore high total emissions – are the United States, Australia, and Canada. Australia has an average per capita footprint of 17 tonnes, followed by the US at 16.2 tonnes, and Canada at 15.6 tonnes.

This is more than 3 times higher than the global average, which in 2017 was 4.8 tonnes per person.

Since there is such a strong relationship between income and per capita CO₂ emissions, we’d expect this to be the case: that countries with high standards of living would have a high carbon footprint. But what becomes clear is that there can be large differences in per capita emissions, even between countries with similar standards of living. Many countries across Europe, for example, have much lower emissions than the US, Canada or Australia.

In fact, some European countries have emissions not far from the global average: In 2017 emissions in Portugal are 5.3 tonnes; 5.5t in France; and 5.8t per person in the UK. This is also much lower than some of their neighbours with similar standards of living, such as Germany, the Netherlands, or Belgium. The choice of energy sources plays a key role here: in the UK, Portugal and France, a much higher share of electricity is produced from nuclear and renewable sources – you can explore this electricity mix by country here. This means a much lower share of electricity is produced from fossil fuels: in 2015, only 6% of France’s electricity came from fossil fuels, compared to 55% in Germany.

Prosperity is a primary driver of CO₂ emissions, but clearly policy and technological choices make a difference.

Many countries in the world still have very low per capita CO₂ emissions. In many of the poorest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa – such as Chad, Niger and the Central African Republic – the average footprint is around 0.1 tonnes per year. That’s more than 160 times lower than the USA, Australia and Canada. In just 2.3 days the average American or Australian emits as much as the average Malian or Nigerien in a year.

This inequality in emissions across the world I explored in more detail in my post, ‘Who emits more than their share of CO₂ emissions?’

Description of the Cement production process

Raw materials such as limestone, marl or chalk which provide calcium carbonate (CaCO3) are extracted from naturally occurring calcareous deposits. Small amounts of ‘corrective’ materials such as iron ore, bauxite, shale, clay or sand are also needed to provide alumina (Al2O3 ) and silica (SiO2) to adapt the chemical composition of the raw mix to the process and product requirements. These raw materials are then fi nely ground which increases the homogeneity of the raw mix and accelerates the clinkering reactions. To further reduce the natural chemical variation in the various
raw materials and reduce the clinker variability, it is also necessary to blend and homogenize the raw material effi ciently. This is done in continuous blending silos.

Finally, raw meal can go through the heating process. The raw meal is first passed through a series of vertical cyclones which preheat the matter with swirling hot kiln exhaust gases moving in the opposite direction. In these cyclones, thermal energy is recovered from the hot flue gases, and the raw meal is preheated before it enters the kiln. Depending on the raw material moisture content, a kiln may have up to six stages of cyclones with increasing heat recovery at each extra stage. After the preheater, modern plants have a precalciner, where limestone is decomposed to lime and carbon dioxide. Here, the chemical decomposition of limestone typically emits 60–65% of total emissions. Fuel combustion generates the rest, 65% of which occur in the precalciner. Gartner has highlighted the fact that the decarbonation process is the most energy-consuming process during the chemical reaction (Gartner, 2004 ).

• Wet rotary kilns are used when the water content of the raw material is within 15–25%. This will make the meal more homogeneous for the kiln, leading to less electrical energy use for the grinding. However, overall energy consumption will be higher to evaporate water in the slurry. This process is still in use in some countries. However, many countries are shifting from wet kilns to dry kilns to reduce the overall energy consumption.
• Semi-wet rotary kilns are used when the wet raw material is processed in a fi lter after homogenizing to reduce moisture content. It is an improved version of the wet process. This is mainly used for retrofi tting existing wet kilns.
• In semi-dry rotary kilns, waste heat recovered from the kiln is used to remove moisture content. Then the dried meal is fed into the kiln.
• Dry kilns with preheater include kilns with 4–6 multistage cyclone preheaters. As one part of the calcination already takes place in the preheater, it is possible to reduce the length of the kiln which will reduce the energy consumption.
• In dry kilns with preheater and precalciner, an additional combustion chamber is installed between the preheater and the kiln. This precalciner chamber consumes about 60% of the fuel used in the kiln, and 80–90% of the calcination takes place here. This reduces energy consumption by 8–11% compared to kilns without precalciner.
• Finally, a number of shaft kilns can be found in China and India. In India their share is 10%, while in China it is over 80% of the capacities. Their usual size is between 20 and 200 tonnes/day, and many of them are operated manually. Clinker quality is highly dependent on the homogenization of pellets and fuel, and on the air supply. Inadequate air supply or uneven air distribution makes combustion incomplete, resulting in low quality clinker and high CO and VOC emissions.

From the kiln, the hot clinker (1,500°C) falls onto a grate cooler where it is cooled to 170°C by incoming combustion air, thereby minimizing energy oss from the system (Zeman, 2009 ). The fi nal step of the cement manufacfturing process is the milling. In this step, the clinker is ground together with additives in a cement mill. All cement types contain around 4–5% gypsum to control the setting time of the product. Chemical compounds are used to improve the particle comminution during the grinding of materials (grinding aids). The most commonly used grinding aids include propylene
glycol, triethanolamine, triethanolamine acetate and tri-isopropylamine. The mechanism of action of grinding aids is not known precisely, even if recent progress has been made (Mishra et al ., 2013 ). Their effi ciency varies with the type of grinder. The toxicity associated with the use of such chemicals must be taken into account (Bensted and Smith, 2009 ). The final productis then homogenized, stored in cement silos and dispatched from there to either a packing station (for bagged cement) or to a silo truck.

Solar technologies and their potential to decarbonise the chemical industry

The decarbonisation of the chemical industry involves the reduction of CO2 emissions across its supply chain by closing and abandoning the current paradigm of relying exclusively on fossil carbon. Diferent roadmaps address the challenges faced to decarbonise the sector [3, 4, 9, 15, 16]. Measures include demand-side actions, energy efciency, electrifcation of heat, hydrogen and biomass as fuel or feedstock, carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCS/CCUS), and other strategies and innovations, such as an increased plastic recycling capacity, or (photo) electrocatalytic processes.

Among the different renewable sources, solar energy is the most abundant source of energy available to humankind. Solar energy equivalent to the total world fossil fuel energy reserves falls on the earth in fewer than 14 days, and 1 h of energy from sunlight (4.3·10^20 J) is almost enough to satisfy the global demand of energy in the planet (4.6·10^20 J) [17]. The impressive supply of solar energy is complemented by its versatility (Fig. 3). Sunlight can be converted into electricity by exciting electrons in a solar cell, generate fuels or chemicals via natural or artifcial photosynthesis or produce heat with concentrated or unconcentrated sunlight. However, the regions where this resource is available for harvesting do not coincide with centres of great energy demand and solar energy is also difuse and intermittent, requiring techniques for its capture, conversion, long-term storage, and long-range distribution. As a result, only 3% of electricity consumption is provided by solar energy [18], 0.02% of industrial heat demand is satisfed by solar thermal [19], and roughly one-tenth of global primary energy is provided by biomass [20, 21].

In consequence, if solar energy is to become a practical alternative to fossil fuels within the chemical sector, we must fnd efcient ways to convert photons into electricity, heat, fuels, and feedstocks. Here, diferent schemes have envisioned the use of solar energy as a source of energy and raw materials within the chemical sector [5, 6, 22–24]. However, despite the progress being made, still several key opportunities, as well as knowledge and capability gaps, remain to be developed. In this section, we present an overview of the progress attained by solar technologies and their potential applications within the chemical sector.

Discover Chemical Engineering; Received: 8 January 2021 / Accepted: 26 April 2021

Components of Business Models

A business model can be articulated around four components (Fig. 1.2):
Taken together, these four components can yield a powerful new way of doing
business and achieving innovation.

1. The Value Proposion

Value propositions are closely related to the JTBD concept. The value proposition is the promise made to users. A value proposition is a good or service enabling user to carry out a JTBD in a more convenient, effective, and/or affordable way (Eyting et al. 2011). It fulfills the job better than all other alternatives and at an appropriate price.
While designing a value proposition, questions from the perspective of the customer – not from the organization – should be addressed:

• Is my JTBD properly and truly addressed?
• What will the good, the service, or a combination of them look like?
• Who is giving me this offer?
• How are they giving it to me?
• If it is a product or good, how do I dispose of it?
• What tradeoffs are imposed on me along with the offering?
• What does the landscape of payment options look like?

2. Profit Formula

The profit formula articulates how an organization creates value for itself, and for its shareholders/stakeholders. Its main components are (1) the revenue model, (2) the cost structure, (3) the margins model, and (4) resource velocity (Johnson et al. 2008). Revenue models establish the price at a given volume of transactions to cover overhead, fixed costs, and desired profit margins. Profit formulas also establish the resource velocity at which the organization turns over assets to achieve adequate returns. Profit formulas need to account for the customer’s willingness to pay.

Do not assume that business models and profit formulas are interchangeable. The profit formula is an element of a business model. The value proposition defines value for the customer, whereas the profit formula establishes value for the organization and its shareholders/stakeholders (Johnson 2010).

3. Key Resources

Key resources are competencies such as human talent, technology, facilities, equipment, channels, reputation, freedom to operate, and brand. They deliver in an effective way the value proposition to end-users. Key elements create value for the user and the organization. An organization needs to understand how those elements interact with each other. Generic elements found in every organization and which do not create competitive differentiation are not considered key resources (Johnson et al. 2008). For retailers such as Amazon, a key resource is its Information Technology infrastructure. Within the agricultural domain, examples of key resources can include the scientific expertise, market understanding, and proprietary knowledge at companies such as Bayer, Benson Hill, Calyxt, Cargill, Corteva, Enko, HZPC, Inari, Indigo, John Deere, KWS, Mosaic, Pairwise, Provivi and Syngenta among others, as their competitors may lack such resources. By leveraging such key resources, these companies increase the value and benefits their users get from the goods and services they offer.

4. Key Processes

Key processes may include training, budgeting, manufacturing, planning, sales, and services. Such processes enable companies to deliver value propositions to users on a recurrent basis which is then able to be scaled up (Johnson 2010). In the case of Hortifrut, a key process is its ability to supply high-quality, fresh berries to customer throughout the whole year because it sources from production fields in different environments, including Chile, Peru, Spain, and Mexico. Building on previous expertise and local partners, it is also producing and commercializing berries in China. In the case of Tuskys, one of the leading supermarket chains in Kenya, which commercializes bread and pastries enriched with vitamin A, a key process is the method of incorporating the puree of vitamin A-enriched sweetpotato into their proprietary bakery operations.

Frugal Innovation

Frugal innovators reduce solutions (i.e. products and/or services) to the core of what is important for specific cost-sensitive customers. Success stories show that robust, highquality designs that appeal to target groups are essential, despite the focus on a low price. This is not an easy task—but a very profitable one if done in the right way. Innovators that manage to capture relevant requirements and translate them into convincing concepts can get a strong grasp of price-sensitive consumer markets. Just consider the enormous increase of market share achieved by budget hotels compared to their highend competitors. Numerous German high-end companies such as BSH and Daimler have introduced frugal innovations to emerging countries in recent years to profit from the growing global entry-level market (see case studies). Weyrauch and Herstatt (2017) have identified three main characteristics of frugal innovations based on a bibliographic analysis:

• substantial cost reductions,
• focus on core functionalities, and
• optimised performance levels.

Substantial cost reductions relate to initial cost or purchase price as well as the total cost of ownership. Focus on core functionalities means targeting aspects with high customer benefits and user-friendliness. Optimized performance levels ensure the fit of a solution to its intended purpose as well as the specific requirements of its environment. Roland Berger (2015 2017) similarly specified six principles as key to frugal innovation: functionality, robustness, user-friendliness, growth, affordability and locality. Fraunhofer IAO (2020a) has set up a definition based on an assessment of case studies that stresses the factors sustainability, modesty, affordability, robustness and targeting (Fig. 1).
Sustainability means paying respect to social and ecological issues while achieving a profitable business model. The modest design of frugal innovations deliberately reduces performance to the needs of specific users, thus achieving a high affordability. While focussing on core functionalities, successful solutions also ensure a high robustness in terms of reliability and ease of use. Frugal innovations do not compromise on quality but keep costs low by targeting the solution to the needs of a specific well-defined group of users.

Service After-Market

The After-Market business has become firmly established for many Suppliers and generate for around 60 % of turnover. The Service business has become one of the important focus areas for many Suppliers today. However, the question arises why the flexibility and agility of many delivery rates to the End-Customer is disregarded? Do the Suppliers focus on larger Orders so that the smaller Requests are not processed? Does the customer have to run after the suppliers and call for every little thing?

In many places, Customers are not satisfied with the Service of the Supplier as well as the Quality. The following points, which are recurrent among suppliers:

1. Focus on larger requests,

2. Education of the Sales and Service Managers,

3. Bad Training within the Company,

4. Poor Leadership in Service,

5. Service Managers should be on the road less,

6. Little Motivation when deployed on site,

7. Company size,

8. and much more.

Suppliers need to serve and support their Customers with strength. Here, the supplier must show Flexibility and Agility towards the Customer in order to deepen trust. As we all know, we talk about Sustainability all the time, but why not in the Service Improvement Business?

More information will follow!

You are welcome to contact us to assist you.

Success Factors

Examples of frugal innovations, including failed ones, stress four main success factors for frugal engineering, see Fig. 2. It is important to keep a good eye on all of them to ensure the success of an initiative.

The first factor is empathy. It is important to get a good understanding for the pains and gains of the target group addressed by the solution, e.g. by means of interviews and observations. Designing suitable methods takes time and local insights. Many question that seem obvious at first may prove to be obsolete once engineers meet potential end consumers. However, some projects suggest that a consulting of people with local expertise such as expats can provide first steps towards this understanding.

The second relevant success factor is creativity. Frugal innovations often profit from cross-industry inspirations, traditional techniques or new inventions. The Wonderbag cooking device, for example, imitates the old pot-in-a-blanket technique people use to simmer food or keep it warm (Wonderbag 2020).

Radicalness means making drastic decisions about needed functionalities. This is especially difficult for companies with an engineering mindset trained for high-end innovation. These companies find it easy to come up with ideas for additional features they could add to a product concept, while struggling with deciding on what to omit and what to do in a new, simpler way. Radicalness also means finding a good balance between price and quality: Some features may need a high performance level to please customers, others may have to be removed to save costs.

An excellent product concept may still fail due to a lack of awareness about critical surrounding factors that impact its ability to scale. A frugal innovation concept should always include the product and the business model. Factors such as insufficient delivery channels, unreliable local partners or a wrong sales pitch can put a stop to an otherwise successful initiative.

Circular Economy in chemical Industry

Circular economy has become a global phenomenon, with Europe as the center point. Recently, the European Union (EU) and China have agreed to collectively take up circular economy initiatives. On the other hand, US has made a goal to recycle and recover, all the plastic packaging material used by 2040.

In the coming years, many opportunities will arise to be strategically prepared for the future. Enclosed are some points listed here:

1. Development of innovative services and products can be facilitated at a fast pace by a digital platform. Chemical manufacturers can collaborate with suppliers, customers, and other relevant groups to develop products that adhere to the principles of circular economy.

2. A digital platform can let manufacturers monitor as well as measure the real time impact of changes in regulatory requirements on their services and products.

3. Develop Sustainability Strategies so that Suppliers, Customers and other relevant Groups interact more closely with each other so that interfaces are eliminated. The innovative service in digitalization is greatly accelerated, Goals are achieved more quickly and interpersonal communication is improved as a result. It helps the environment as well as the common cooperation.