ISPT – The Institute for Sustainable Process Technology

A platform where open innovation has a place

We have been hearing it for years now: for a sustainable future we must use less energy, reduce waste and find a way to deal with scarce raw materials. But how do we accomplish this?

ISPT is trying to find a solution through cooperation between industry, universities and research institutes in the area of process technology. Some 50 organizations from the worlds of chemistry, food, oil and gas, pharmacy and water cooperate within ISPT from research through development to implementation.

ISPT director Tjeerd Jongsma and Andrzej Stankiewicz, Professor of Process Intensification at Delft University of Technology explain what it is that makes ISPT successful:

“There is a proliferation of all kinds of platforms in the area of process technology, and ISPT tries to coordinate all these various initiatives”, says Tjeerd Jongsma, who previously worked for FrieslandCampina. “ISPT must be a platform where open innovation can find a place, although we are aware that each stakeholder has his own motives for joining ISPT. We also want an open innovation culture in which researchers can excel in their own field rather than having universities and research institutes do research inexpensively for industry”.

“ISPT is a broad and wide innovation community and is therefore attractive to companies. They come into contact with other technologies and other sectors of industry with expertise in different areas, and so find answers to their problems more quickly. In addition, cross-fertilization takes place: developments within the company accelerate, and so can be implemented more effectively”.

Saving energy and improving efficiency

Within the community, ISPT tries to develop technologies that yield products in an effective and energy-saving manner, without creating waste streams. As Jongsma puts it, “ISPT plans its projects around three basic concepts. In the first place, there is still much to be gained in terms of the energy that we put into our processes. We think that energy savings of 30 to 40% can be obtained by further developing existing processes. Second, we consider how industries can work together better. The waste streams of one industry can be a resource for another. It is important that good technology is developed here, so that companies do not become dependent on each other. A third step at ISPT is to arrive at totally new processes on the basis of renewable, and especially green, raw materials. Turning new raw materials into valuable products also includes developing new equipment, you run into all sorts of problems when you are working towards a bio-based economy, such as when you are trying to use algae as a source of food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics or energy. The algae have to be separated from the water, for example, and traditional equipment is not suitable for that purpose. Therefore new equipment must be developed”.

ISPT researcher developed a resin process for multi-product as part of the ISPT project “Reactive distillation for multi-product continuous plants”.

Vegetable meat

“ISPT is engaged in process intensification, in addition to technologies in the area of separation processes. That means that innovative equipment and technologies are being developed that will greatly improve the efficiency of chemical factories”, says Andrzej Stankiewicz. For instance, reactors will be produced that will result in the desired products with higher efficiency, and with fewer by-products that then need to be discarded”. In 2005, Stankiewicz was closely associated with the founding of the Action Plan Process Intensification (APPI), which in 2010 merged with the Dutch Separation Technology Institute (DSTI) to form ISPT. He hopes the same level of cooperation will develop within ISPT as was the case with APPI. As an example, he mentions the production of meat substitutes. “Producing meat involves the use of large amounts of energy and water. We therefore started a project to develop structured vegetable protein with the Peas Foundation and Wageningen University. This is the beginning of being able to produce vegetable meat substitutes from raw materials such as soy, but with a structure that is similar to meat. We are now developing a continuous production technology for this in Delft”.

Prof. dr. ir. Andrzej Stankiewicz and ISPT Director Tjeerd Jongsma.

Open innovation

Director Tjeerd Jongsma stresses that new solutions often come about through cooperation between different sectors and disciplines. “Companies do not come up with new solutions very quickly if they continue to examine only their own processes. They get stuck in the same way of thinking, which is a problem especially with large companies. SMEs, for instance, are able to implement new developments much more quickly than large companies. If ISPT could use the small companies to demonstrate new technologies, then we could get large companies to make the necessary investment. Only by getting the largest and smaller companies to work together can we make the process industry more sustainable, find realistic, large innovations, and enable energy savings to take place”.

New value chain

Jongsma hopes that, through ISPT, a sustainable future can be created that is based entirely on renewable raw materials. “For that, we have to get away from individual sectors such as food, chemistry or energy. In the new value chain, everybody will have to cooperate. Look at agro-materials, for instance. In the future we will not only grow crops just for the food industry but, for instance, we will also use the waste products in the chemical sector. This way, you create a stable cycle with the best possible use being made of the available land”.

More information

Visit our website www.ispt.eu to find cluster videos, project information, publications and more. ISPT is always looking for new partners to strengthen the process technology ecosystem.

Contact us by e-mail: info@ispt.eu or phone: +31 33 700 9797.