The CAPE-WP

CAPE-WP is a working party of the European Federation of Chemical Engineers on the topic “Computer Aided Process Engineering”. The Working Party was originally established in 1966, under the chairmanship of professor H. Brusset and with the title “Programmes de Calculs de Routines et Emploi des Ordinateurs Electroniques”. After 35 years and an equal number of symposiums, computers are now routinely applied throughout the entire spectrum of process and product engineering activities covering chemical, petrochemical, bio-chemical, pharmaceutical industries and thereby, reflecting the success of the energy and success of the Working Party’s activities.  

In its current form, the Working Party is known as the CAPE-WP and aims to:

• Act as a focal point for discussion forums, in education for interaction within CAPE and related fields with other EFCE Working Parties and with national and international bodies, e.g. IChemE, IFAC and AIChE.
   
• Promote good industrial practice by encouraging the development and use of CAPE methods and tools, by sharing of experience in the application of existing CAPE methods and tools, by providing strategic reviews of the ongoing needs of the profession and by identifying the potential opportunities for beneficial CAPE developments.
   
• Encourage and promote CAPE research by providing a European forum for the presentation and debate of new ideas and developments, by preparing state-of-the-art reviews of CAPE methods and tools, by stimulating new projects to meet identified needs and opportunities, both present and future.  

The above mentioned activities focuses on the application of a systems approach to the study of processes and products from the viewpoints of development, synthesis/design, control/operation and integration of processes, methods and tools.

The organization of the CAPE-WP consists of a chairman, a secretariat and a board consisting of two delegates from each member country. Currently, professor Rafiqul Gani is the chairman of the CAPE-WP and the board consists of 32 delegates from 21 countries. CAPE-WP organizes the well-known yearly European Symposium of Computer Aided Process Engineering, usually attended by more than 200 participants and where the latest developments within CAPE and CAPE-related fields are presented. The CAPE-WP also promotes smaller meetings, CAPE-Forum and workshops such as those organized through EURECHA. The CAPE-WP has been closely linked with EU-projects such as the CAPE-OPEN, Global CAPE-OPEN, CAPE-NET and CAPE-21 projects.