Seeking Revolutionizing Process Efficiency and Effectiveness through Digital Technologies in Technologies in Chemical Production Processes

Bondalti looks for innovative solutions using digital technologies to boost process efficiency and effectiveness resulting in dramatic gains, operational costs, and product output while minimizing environmental impact and ensuring high safety and cybersecurity standards.

Details of the Challenge

Bondalti is at the forefront of Chloralkali, Aniline, and Derivatives production, striving for continuous process and operational improvements. This approach is to complement existing continuous improvement initiatives, and to equip Bondalti with options with greater impact and return, embracing more distant horizons of innovation.

Bondalti is a reference in Chlor-Alkali, Aniline, and Derivatives production, and is committed to continuously enhancing its processes and operations to achieve excellence. The challenge focuses on leveraging digital technologies to boost process efficiency and effectiveness resulting in dramatic gains, operational costs, and product output while minimizing environmental impact and ensuring high safety and security standards. This initiative is integral to the Bondalti's ongoing efforts in continuous improvement and seeks to provide impactful and innovative solutions that extend the boundaries of current operational excellence.

As a leading chemical industry with a competitive position in the market where it operates, Bondalti's core business is the production of Chlor-Alkalis (PCA), in the inorganic chemical segment, and Aniline and Derivatives (PAD), in the segment of organic chemicals.

Currently, Bondalti is the largest Iberian producer of chlorine and hypochlorite and the European leader in sales of aniline and mononitrobenzene (MNB), as well as one of the world’s leading non-integrated aniline producers. To produce its chemical products, Bondalti relies on several industrial units that are dependent on raw materials such as benzene, salt, ammonia, and hydrogen, as well as utilities such as electricity. The company is a national reference in the hydrogen (H2) value chain, with a strong position as a producer of H2 without direct use of natural gas.

With the evolving market dynamics and emerging new applications of these chemicals, there's an imperative need to explore and implement innovative business models. This will not only enhance Bondalti market presence but also ensure its sustainability and adaptability in the ever-changing industrial landscape.

Understanding the profound impact of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies across various sectors, Bondalti recognize the significance of leveraging these opportunities, especially on the side of radically improving operating costs. Faced with this challenge, Bondalti aims to identify and enhance solutions that not only yield incremental improvements but also deliver transformative results, acknowledging the need for impactful advancements in our ever-evolving landscape.

Innovative strategies or technological solutions that could be applied, the potential for scalability and adaptability to current processes.

The benefits are:

· Increase safety, productivity, and competitiveness;

· Increase production output/flexibility;

· Decrease environmental impact;

· Ensuring high safety standards.

Expected Solution

Find groundbreaking solutions to enhance the operational effectiveness and efficiency of Bondalti production lines, namely, Chloralkali and Aniline production processes, using digital technologies.

The Solver's task is to identify opportunities and develop digital solutions that optimize the Bondalti process. Participants are invited to:

· Propose digital solutions like automation, AI-driven real-time monitoring, optimization, anticipation, or AI-driven process control, to enhance efficiency, and increase output, while maintaining product quality.

· Explore methods to minimize waste and resource consumption.

· Propose productivity increase applications in maintenance operations and safety.

Exclusion criteria:

Proposals that are not environmentally sustainable, require excessive capital investment or do not offer a clear improvement over current operations.

Deadline of the Challenge:

Open Call: 01st February, 2024

Submission Deadline: 18th March, 2024

Pre-selection deadline: 01st April, 2024

Pitch Day: 15th April, 2024

Selected Winners: until 19th April, 2024

Kick-off: During the first semester

Prize:

Bondalti will provide rewards to the winning teams or individuals, including:

i. a financial incentive of 10.000€ and;

ii. the opportunity to collaborate directly with Bondalti R&D and production teams to bring your ideas to life;

iii. a possible collaboration contract with Bondalti.

The prize set by Bondalti of 10.000€ can be distributed among several Solvers if more than one winning solution is selected.

Minimum Requirements

• Innovation: Creativity and originality of proposed digital solutions.
• Efficiency and Effectiveness Impact: Potential to enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, and improve resource management.
• Environmental Impact: Consideration of environmental benefits, like reduced energy consumption and waste reduction.
• Feasibility: Practicality and implementation potential of proposed digital technologies.
• Scalability: Ability to scale the solution across production facilities.
• Solutions must be implementable within the existing infrastructure, comply with all regulatory standards, demonstrate measurable improvements, and should have the following TRL (Technology Readiness Level): 4 – 7.