Efficiency Enhancement in the Chemical Industry: CHT Utilizes Digital Twins to Optimize Production | CHT
Increased efficiency and significant cost savings through digital simulations and tailored solutions.
-50%
85%
-66%
Cylinder Head Temperature
The CHT Group optimized their chemical production processes through the use of IANUS's AI-powered FlowSpace® simulation, achieving significant efficiency gains and a sustainable improvement in product quality.
Solution
By utilizing the StrömungsRaum® platform, CHT was able to optimize mixing and evaporation processes, reduce resource usage, and significantly enhance production efficiency.
Company size
2,500 employees
Revenue
>600 million EUR
Challenge
In chemical production, CHT faced a demanding task: precisely modeling the behavior of particles when mixing salt particles in a large-volume stirred tank with silicone oil. The objective was to design the reaction processes efficiently and to accurately simulate the behavior of the particles. Furthermore, a solution had to be developed to optimize the evaporation process in a thin-film evaporator to satisfactorily reduce the residual concentration of volatile components.
Result
With the digital twin, CHT leverages a pioneering solution from IANUS that accurately simulates and optimizes the complex mixing behavior of salt particles in silicone oil within the stirred tank. By using an adapted MRF approach and specially developed computational codes, the flow behavior and particle movements are detailed, enabling thorough process optimization and more precise mixing. Additionally, IANUS developed a proprietary solver for the thin film evaporator, which examines the evaporation process thermodynamically, supporting resource-saving and efficient production.
Optimized Process Times: The cleaning time within the production process was significantly reduced, greatly enhancing efficiency and resource utilization.
Sustainable Material Usage: Through more precise control of mixing and residence times, the use of recyclates was enabled without compromising product quality.
"The company IANUS offers the ideal solution for process optimization with the partner package. We do not need to license expensive software and hire simulation experts, but address the issues together with experienced engineers who understand our problems." - Thilo Rönspieß, Plant Manager CHT Group
Process
The simulation developed by IANUS is impressive with its fully automated CFD simulations and precise evaluations that can be applied without requiring in-depth simulation knowledge. Thanks to scalable cluster connectivity, the solution offers nearly unlimited computing capacities, thereby enabling flexible and efficient use for the demanding processes in the chemical industry.
These advances strengthen CHT's position as an innovative player in the chemical industry. The goal of the collaboration with IANUS is to develop a fully automated and AI-supported process simulation for complex mixing and evaporation processes. The combination of artificial intelligence, precise simulation technology, and deep process knowledge is intended to allow CHT to provide its customers with an optimal solution with minimal development effort.
Efficiency Improvement: Significant reduction in the need for manual adjustments, resulting in faster production times and lower resource consumption.
Cost Reduction: Optimization of the development process leads to lower costs in product prototyping and more efficient material usage.
Sustainability: By reducing material consumption and waste, the technology contributes to more environmentally friendly production processes.
Accessibility: StrömungsRaum® features a user-friendly interface, enabling people without extensive simulation experience to use it.
Market Advantages: Production optimization helps CHT accelerate the market introduction of new products and strengthen competitiveness.
Conclusion
Through the partnership with IANUS Simulation, CHT has implemented an effective solution for optimizing chemical production processes. The digital twin enables precise analysis and simulation of particle movement in stirred tanks, leading to better control and quality of mixing processes.
This solution enhances CHT's efficiency in specialty chemicals and supports the goal of making processes more sustainable and resource-efficient. The continuous collaboration with IANUS lays the foundation for further digitalization, which will strategically improve production processes at CHT in the long term.
“The collaboration with IANUS gives us additional insight into our own processes. We have validated the used models with our experiments. The results obtained help reduce costly experiments, increase the performance of production facilities, while maintaining the high quality of our products. The partner package includes both the calculations and discussions with IANUS experts.” - Dr. Sven Müller, Research & Development CHT Group
