Book Presentation | Process Technology in the Netherlands: Past and Future
Speech by Ernst Homburg
For over a century process technology has been of crucial importance for the economic and social development of Western countries such as the Netherlands. The book Een eeuw chemische technologie in Nederland (2021) offers an overview of the development of chemical engineering and other sub-disciplines of process technology up to now. It analyzes how the field gradually acquired a more scientific basis. One after the other new subfields emerged, such as unit operations, chemical machinery and plant design, transport phenomena, catalysis, polymer science, chemical reaction engineering and biotechnology. In the Netherlands, due to an excellent collaboration between large chemical industries and the (technical universities), process technology became internationally leading, with founding fathers like Hans Kramers (transport phenomena), Dirk van Krevelen (chemical reaction engineering) and Jan de Boer (catalysis).
Today the field is not just alive and kicking, but also has to face new challenges, such as reducing CO2-emissions, minimizing waste and becoming more cyclic and sustainable generally. A brief review will be presented of some promising technological options for enabling the energy and raw material transitions required. Examples include: electrification, C1-chemistry, the H2-economy, polymer-recycling, process intensification, the use of membranes, electrochemical conversion and multiple additional technological innovations. There is no doubt that the present societal challenges open up a world of chances and opportunities to future process engineers!
Reference: Ton van Helvoort en Ernst Homburg, Een eeuw chemische technologie in Nederland. In opdracht van Stichting Hoogewerff-Fonds (Delft: Stichting Hoogewerff-Fonds, 2021).
You can follow this lecture at 11:40 hrs in the CIE3 Room on Monday, April 4