Projects

15.09.2015

SIEMENS is demonstrating the digital future with 2 QVF® units

SIEMENS provides digital solutions for the whole live cycle of process plants. This was impressively shown by SIEMENS on ACHEMA 2015. For this purpose the two process plants delivered by us have been the central eye-catcher on their booth. One system is a batch operated syntheses plant as used in the pharmaceutical industry and the other is an extraction plant for the chemical industry. The core components of these plants are made of borosilicate glass 3.3 permitting optimal visual observation of the processes. The main component in the syntheses plant is a special jacketed QVF® glass reactor DN600 which is the biggest of its kind we ever built. The two units demonstrate clearly and colorful the actual possibilities of the digitalization in the process industries and will be used in the training center of SIEMENS in Karlsruhe.

28.07.2014
Rectification Plant for Training Purposes made of Glass – See the Process happen!

For the competence center "Thermal Energy Systems & Process Engineering" of the University of Lucerne, Switzerland, we have supplied a continuously operated QVF® rectification plant DN100 of seven meters height. The transparency of the borosilicate glass allows visual monitoring of the process and has thus been an essential criterion in the selection of the material for the plant for training purposes. The separation process is clearly illustrated by the bubble cap-tray column. The glass plant is equipped with measurement and control instruments to allow an automatic operation supported by the process control system which operates in strict accordance with the Working Safety Regulations. The industrial components allow the installation and operation of the plant in a hazardous area of zone 2 IIB. In the column, both the zone 1 IIB and vacuum conditions may occur. The industrial process can be perfectly traced and trained with this small-scale QVF® glass plant still under realistic conditions.

25.07.2014

De Dietrich Process Systems helps to fight against malaria

Malaria is one of the most deadly infectious diseases in the world. According to the World Health Organization, in 2010 malaria was responsible for 660,000 deaths worldwide. Pregnant women and children under five years of age are the primary victims. According to WHO Global Malaria Programme, World Malaria Report 2012, one child dies of malaria in Africa every minute.

The artemisinin is the drug that possesses the most rapid action of all current drugs against malaria. It´s isolated from a plant mainly cultivated in Asia after a long process lasting 18 months. But thanks to the project initiated by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Institute for One World Health with a “no profit, no loss” cost model for SANOFI artemisinin can now be produced in a synthetic way in only 4 months.

De Dietrich Process Systems takes part of this project by successfully engineering and delivering in the shortest time the central industrial QVF®photo-oxidation reactors for the synthetic-artemisinin production at SANOFI, Italy. This installation is composed of: 

• QVF® Photo Reactor consisting of Mercury vapour UV-lamps made by Peschl Ultraviolet GmbH installed in silver coated jacketed QVF® glass cylinders
• QVF® Reactor design provides turbulent fluid flows and low reaction temperatures
• Structured QVF® DURAPACK® packing provides optimum gas dispersion to ensure
• maximum gas−liquid mass transfer
• Metal free construction of all equipment in contact with the product

This QVF® installation at SANOFI allows the production of artemisinin within a short delay to balance the offer and the prices of drugs against malaria.