Production‐integrated environmental protection – commitment of the chemical industry. Production‐integrated environmental protection represents the optimum goal in attempts to reduce the amount of non‐utilisable substances to a minimum by chemical, physical, biological, and chemical engineering improvements in the overall process. This ranges from avoidance and reduction of residues in individual processes to the utilisation of residual substances in other production processes, also outside the perimeter fence. Combustion of organic by‐products with a high calorific value is also included in this concept as thermal utilisation. Only those waste products should be dumped on disposal sites which have no other use and cannot be disposed of by combustion. It is important to note that chemical production cannot exist without emission; it can only approach this ideal more or less closely.

Clean water – technical possibilities and economic consequences. Water pollution by industrial effluent is becoming more and more of a political warcry which creates a fear of technology – precisely that technology which is largely responsible for the present quality of life. It has so far gone largely unrecognized by the public that industry and municipal authorities have accomplished a great amount in the area of waste water purification. The versatile techniques developed in recent years are summarized, and biological purification is treated in somewhat greater detail. Annual investment in waste water treatment runs at several thousand million DM, and represent a considerable financial burden on industry and municipal authorities. The thesis that economic considerations should play no role in environmental protection is not acceptable in that unqualified form, and would mean that German industry would no longer be competitive in an international arena. Ecological demands cannot be separated from economic considerations. All participants will have to make some compromises on our way to our desired goal of a flourishing economy in an almost intact environment.

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Strukturwandel in der lngenieurtechnikVortrag zeigt die Situation auf, wie sie sich derzeit darstellt. Der anschlie-Bende Vortrag Jege zum Partner und Unternehmer" behandelt die Antwort auf die in diesem Vortrag aufgeworfenen Fragen.

Development of thermal process technology within the chemical industry. The paper reviews the historical development of thermal process technology within the chemical industry and in particular its rapidly increasing utilization during the last 20 years. A decisive factor in this development was the establishment of thermal process technology as an exact science. Emil Kirschbaum is regarded as one of the principal founders of this science. The paper portrays the importance of thermal process technology by examining a series of processes, utilizing investment figures and energy consumption data. Future development efforts in this area will be concentrated on the supply of the chemical industry with energy and raw materials, on process cost reduction, and on environmental protection.