Advancing Electrified Chemical Processes: EMPHATICaL at the Netherlands Process Technology Symposium

From November 3–4, 2025, the 20th Netherlands Process Technology Symposium (NPS20) took place in Eindhoven, bringing together academia, industry, and society to showcase the latest achievements in chemical engineering. The program included plenary talks, keynotes, and oral and poster presentations covering topics such as renewable carbon conversion, process engineering, electrochemical engineering, and separation technology.

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EMPHATICaL was represented by Lucas Poker, from our consortium partner Delft University of Technology, who presented his work on discretely heat integrated distillation columns (D-HIDiC). His poster highlighted a process control strategy that enables flexible operation while ensuring safe compressor performance. D-HIDiC technology can achieve up to 80% energy savings compared to conventional distillation and supports fully electric operation. The work demonstrates a 50% turndown ratio, marking an important step toward integrating D-HIDiC into flexible, low-emission production systems.

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This research is part of the EMPHATICaL project, which aims to design and operate a pilot plant producing e-methanol from captured CO₂ from the metallurgical industry, moving toward net-zero emissions. Special thanks to the entire TU Delft team for their contributions.

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We also extend our gratitude to the NPS20 organizers for providing EMPHATICaL with visibility and a platform for engaging discussions.