solvay_live243_p02a04 somEdito

Dossier
105061
44
VIRTUAL SERVER PROJECT SAVES TIME
AND MONEY FOR INTERNAL CUSTOMERS
AT SOLVAY PHARMACEUTICALS
A VIRTUAL SERVER
FOR TANGIBLE GAINS
SolvayInnovationTrophy2006
As a general rule, the development
of a new IT application implies the
acquisition and configuration of new servers
(up to three in fact: development, test,
production) in order to guarantee the total
isolation of the existing application so
as not to threaten its integrity. The
innovation consists of “virtualising” part of
an existing server, that is, isolating one part
and endowing it with all the functions of a
completely autonomous server, for the
applications or development. This operation
has been applied at Marietta (US),
with runaway success. The virtualisation
of servers allows the creation of an IT
environment for a new application within
hours, rather than weeks, for a fraction
of the cost of real servers.
At Marietta alone, 91 virtual servers are
in operation on only 8 real machines, which
amounts to a reduction factor of 11.
The setting up of virtual servers is now in
progress in other Solvay Pharmaceuticals
sites, Weesp (Netherlands), Hanover
(Germany) and for the 3S project.
> Scott Fouche; Ron Criswell; Mike Gerety;
Earl Hartsell; Bruce Mc Millan; Fabian Gonzalez;
Ruben Gabbarrini.
> PHARMACEUTICALS SECTOR
105043
IMPROVED PROCESS TO TAB
USING “GREEN CHEMISTRY”
PRODUCE TAB CHEAPER
AND WITHOUT RESIDUES
TAB (tert-amylbenzene) is the basic raw
material that goes into the production
of amylantraquinone (AQ), itself an
intermediary material for the production
of Hydrogen Peroxyde (H202). Solvay, the
world-wide leader in the production of TAB,
AQ and H202, produces the TAB and AQ
in its Linne Herten plant in the Netherlands.
The demand for TAB is growing, in fact, it
will double in five years’ time following the
construction of new H202 production units,
but the capacity at Linne Herten is saturated.
The current TAB process suffers from several
weaknesses: the use of hazardous
substances, complexity and a large quantity
of waste. The aim of the Solvay team, with
the help of the KUL university of Louvain,
was to develop a new organic synthesis
of TAB without using nor benzene
(carcinogenic) nor BF3 (highly toxic) but
instead using ordinary raw materials, with
a minimum of waste, a simplified reactor
and more effective catalyst. The results are
excellent: the new process uses green
chemistry and is much more economical.
The innovation is based on a new organic
synthesis method and a “super basic
“catalyser. It will reinforce Solvay’s cost
leadership position with regard to its Chinese
competitors. The installation will be up and
running in September 2006 in Jemeppe
(Belgium). In the meantime, a major contract
for the sale of TAB has already been
concluded with a Japanese company that will
buy 100% of its needs from Solvay during
a five years period.
> Armin Liebens; Cyril Ausloos; Stephenhamer
Bloomfield; Gilles Darago; Paul Deschrijver; Bernard
Douillet; Jean-Pierre Ganhy; Bart Vercruysse.
> SBU H 2 O 2
105132
HELLAS – ELECTRONIC LABORATORY NOTEBOOK
THE USER-FRIENDLINESS
OF PAPER, THE POWER
OF ELECTRONICS
The traditional paper laboratory notebooks
are reaching to their limits: the difficulty
of finding detailed information again,
of rereading it, loss of information as a result
of staff rotation, wasted duplication
of experiments, etc.
The “Chemical Development” departments
in Weesp (Netherlands) have found an ideal
solution, an electronic management system
for chemical experiments in laboratories.
By recording everything electronically in the
same format, HELLAS (Human-friendly
Electronic Laboratory Application System)
pools all the information, all the knowledge
on the projects underway, from the basic
organic data, the analytical data,
the molecular structures, to the experimental
details, thus creating a “chemical memory”,
accessible to all researchers. HELLAS is an
internal development, based on software
designed for the field of chemistry
and that puts the emphasis on user-friendliness,
both for data capture and for the
information search via multiple keys. HELLAS
contributes not only to the quality
and reliability of data, but also to the improved
management of all the projects, with,
for example, the automatic generation of the
experiment numbers, experiment reviews,
project reviews... HELLAS has even brought
about an improvement in multifunctional
teamwork. The setting up of HELLAS has
proved to be easy and fast. Four weeks was
all it took. This system is already attracting
interest from other departments, which have
taken steps in this same direction.
> Marcel Vanaar; Kees Bakker; Niek Buizer;
Dick Doesburg; Jan Hoogendoorn; Hans Troost;
Jacques Vanmelis.
> PHARMACEUTICALS SECTOR