Schneider Electric demonstrates how it is driving process innovation and sustainability in chemicals at ACHEMA 2024

• Together with AVEVA, the company highlights the importance of digital at its #ACHEMA24 booth (Hall 11.1, Booth C85)
• During the event, Schneider Electric Sustainability Research Institute will publish their latest research on lowering the cost and emissions in the production of e-ammonia
• Company wins Gold Award for electrodynamic controller that enables process operators to better control power loads
• AVEVA unveils new sustainability report and industry intelligence findings

Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, is showcasing how it is reshaping operations across the process and chemicals sectors at ACHEMA 2024, the world’s leading trade fair for the process industry, currently taking place in Frankfurt, Germany (June 10-14).

At the event, the company will demonstrate how its software-defined, open automation solutions, coupled with digitalization, can drive both growth and sustainability – for established chemical markets and emerging ones like plastic recycling and green hydrogen.

“Companies that embrace digitalization have seen an average 30% reduction in unplanned downtime, a 20% increase in overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), and a 15% reduction in energy consumption,” said Jessica Bethune, VP Industrial and Process Automation, Schneider Electric DACH region. “At Schneider Electric, digital encompasses automation, software and advanced technologies such as AI, and together with AVEVA we leverage data to enable intelligent decision making that optimizes performance and builds an ecosystem of connectivity.”

Making e-ammonia production economically viable

Aligned with ACHEMA’s vision of inspiring sustainable connections, Schneider Electric Sustainability Research Institute will unveil a groundbreaking study on e-ammonia production. “Optimizing Renewable Energy Integration and Grid Costs for Electrified  Ammonia Production” highlights innovative strategies to integrate new energy systems for the production of e-ammonia, minimizing the capital cost and operating expenses of production.This paper will provide insights into the production of competitively priced e-ammonia by combining renewable energy, hydrogen storage, energy storage, and advanced process operations. The study will also detail how cost and carbon intensity from the electrical grid impacts the configuration and operation of a e-ammonia plant to reduce cost.

“Our research highlights that integrating new energy systems such as renewable energy, energy storage, and hydrogen storage is crucial for achieving cost-effective and resilient e-ammonia production,” said Dr. Thomas Kwan, Vice President, Sustainability Research Institute.  “This approach not only enhances economic viability but also aligns with global sustainability goals and new paradigms in chemical manufacturing.”

Bringing together power and process information to reduce emissions

As an energy intensive industry, there remains enormous pressure for process and chemicals industries to reduce energy consumption, capital project costs and operating expenses, whilst accelerating sustainability targets. With this in mind, Schneider Electric has brought together electrical power management and process automation via its EcoStruxure™ Power and Process solution. Acting as a catalyst for operational resilience and improved sustainability across the lifecycle of the plant, this integrated, energy plus automation, digitalized approach drives electrical, instrumentation and control (EI&C) CAPEX reductions up to 20% and OPEX efficiencies, including improving energy process usage by up to 10% leading to carbon footprint reductions of between 7 – 12%.  At the center of the EcoStruxure Power and Process Control System, is the EcoStruxure Electrodynamic Controller, the first controller to facilitate the integration of power systems and intelligent electronic devices to the distributed control system. Voted among the best new products of 2023 by Control Engineering, the controller enables process operators to access and control major low voltage and medium voltage loads for improved operational efficiency and uptime.

Visitors to ACHEMA can find out more about the EcoStruxure Power and Process at the Schneider Electric booth.

Driving availability and scalability with EcoStruxure Automation Expert

The company has released its latest version of EcoStruxure™ Automation Expert, the world’s first open, software defined automation control platform, that breaks the proprietary constraints of traditional systems for more agile, resilient, and efficient operations.

The updated solution offers an increased Input/Output (I/O) capacity of up to 5000 I/O per solution, with the objective of supporting larger plant architectures across key markets including energy and chemicals, life sciences, water and wastewater, food and beverage, logistics, and mineral, metals, mining.

Other foundational improvements include enhanced IT and device integration with support of MQTT, OPC-UA and Profinet protocols, easier navigation, the ability to update the industrial controller maintaining high availability and enhanced cyber security posture. AI has also been integrated into native runtimes to simplify advanced use cases such as visual inspections.  

Visitors to the Schneider Electric booth can see a demonstration of EcoStruxure Automation Expert in action.

AVEVA insights and research on Sustainability and Industrial Intelligence

Aligning with ACHEMA 2024’s emphasis on sustainable transformation within the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors, AVEVA representatives plan to share fresh insights from the company’s recently published 2024 sustainability report.

Beyond this, and continuing their focus on industry transformation, the company will also unveil AVEVA’s Industrial Intelligence Index at ACHEMA. This first-of-its-kind report leverages insights from 500 global executives, providing attendees with invaluable, actionable data on digitalization within the chemical industry. The Index dives deep into the top concerns of digital leaders, exploring everything from the speed of AI adoption to how digitalization is being utilized to tackle critical sustainability challenges.

At ACHEMA listen to Schneider Electric experts discussing:

• Enabling the future of a fossil-free Chemical industry by energy-automation-software triad​: Yasmine McColl​, Global Business Development Leader – Chemicals and Maksim Ageev​, Regional Segment Leader – Energy and Chemicals​ Monday, 6/10 4:00-4:30pm CET #Green | Hall 6​
• SCADAPack 47xi Remote Smart RTU and Controller with Integrated Edge Platform: Amir Amini, Global Remote Operations Business Development Manager Monday, 6/10 11:00-11:30am CET, #Digital | Hall 11
• The Critical Role of Digital and Automation Solutions for a Competitive Scale up of Hydrogen Production​: Roxann West​, New Segments Manager – Process Automation​ and Jana Herrmann​, Business Development Manager – Hydrogen on Tuesday, 6/11 11:00-11:30am CET, #Hydrogen | Hall 6​
• Closing the Plastics Loop by Embracing Digitalization – Panel: Delphine Largeteau, Sustainability Consulting Director – Energies and Chemicals​ and customer/partner panelists on Tuesday, 6/11 4:30-5:00pm CET, #Process | Hall 9​
• Industrial Intelligence in the Connected Ecosystem​: AVEVA Speakers: Thomas McCarthy​, Industry Principal - Life Sciences and Tilo Kaschubek​, Director, Cloud Ecosystem​on Wednesday, 6/12 12:30am-1:00pm CET, #Pharma | Hall 4​
• Paperless Production (EBR) facilitated by operator guidance for regulated industries​: ProLeiT Speaker: Verena Mersmann​, Chemical/Life Sciences Business Leader – DACH ​on Thursday, 6/13 12:00-12:30am CET​, #Pharma | Hall 4​

Key demonstrations on the booth include (Hall 11.1, C85):

• EcoStruxure Triconex Safety: EcoStruxure Triconex Safety Instrumented Systems are an integral element of EcoStruxure for Industry, our open IoT-enabled architecture for actionable business insight. With over 40 years of continuous safe operation, EcoStruxure Triconex Safety Instrumented Systems has delivered more than one billion safe operating hours. 
• UniversalAutomation.org: For far too long proprietary automation systems have been restricting innovation. Being a member of UniversalAutomation.org means becoming part of a one-of-a-kind organization sharing a common technology that will unleash innovation by enabling application portability. UniversalAutomation.org members develop interoperable and portable automation software – based on the IEC 61499 standard – that can run with almost any hardware, creating an entirely vendor-agnostic ecosystem for automation software development.
• ProLeiT: Product lifecycles are becoming shorter; the increasing number of new product launches demands ever greater operational flexibility. Accordingly, much production data must be collected, contextualized, and analyzed. This, however, can only be achieved with scalable and modular production plants. In this case, intelligent batch automation is indispensable to prevent losing sight of what is important.to enable business transformations across the entire project and asset lifecycle. More information about ProLeiT’s focus topics and trade show appearances can be found here.
• AVEVA: the global leader in industrial software will show how plant design can contribute to shape a more sustainable world. Achema visitors will discover how to plan, design and simulate new facilities with sustainability in mind, using AVEVA E3D Design and AVEVA Process Simulation, with connectivity into AVEVA PI System. The company will also address how to enable a safe and efficient workforce while combatting recruitment and retirement challenges using CONNECT. AVEVA experts will be available to explain how to unlock the full potential of AVEVA industrial software in today’s connected industrial economy, using the examples of companies such as WACKER Chemie, EVONIK, COVESTRO and BASF.