BASF Quriosity

Quriosity is the supercomputer started by chemical concern BASF in Ludwigshafen. As of November, 2017, the computing power of a system is 1.75 petaFLOPS.

2017

The first calculations

On November 2, 2017, the chemical concern BASF announced that the supercomputer of BASF is put into operation and works at full capacity, on it already began to make the first calculations.

At this stage it is about use of opportunities for creation of added value, Dr. Stefan Schenk, the project manager explained. According to him, there is a number of projects in which the supercomputer will be used. At the same time the task consists in organizing a set of projects and different computer programs so that as much as possible to use possibilities of Quriosity, the expert emphasized.

Such problems as modeling of industrial catalysts, means of protecting of plants and materials, require considerable computing power and are among those which were started first of all. When using catalysts it is especially important to increase their efficiency and, therefore, stability, by reduction of amount of entrance raw materials and obtaining smaller number of waste. It is also extremely important that means of protecting of plants worked more effectively and more purposefully better to conform to the current and future requirements. For modeling of materials and the systems, for example, of foams and formulas of products, the increased calculating capacity allows to predict more precisely functionality and properties, noted in BASF.

Still we could change only some parameters in the course of modeling and on the basis of it to wait for results. With the supercomputer more difficult combinations allowing to vary much more parameters are possible — Stefan Schenk added. — It can lead to considerable reduction of time of development and also to opening and application of earlier unknown models that opens absolutely new approaches to researches.

Announcement of start

The chemical concern BASF aims to use advantages of a didzhitalization on all chain of creation of added value for maintenance of competitiveness and sustainable development. At a press conference of research department which took place on June 29, 2017 Ludwigshafen BASF told about use of advanced technologies in chemical researches and about how it works at practice.

Important part of work on implementation of digital technologies is start of the Quriosity supercomputer. With a power, equal 1.75 petaFLOPS, it will be 10 times more powerful than the supercomputer which BASF uses for scientific computations till summer of 2017. In a ranking of 500 biggest computer systems in the world the supercomputer of BASF takes the 65th place.

Installation of the supercomputer in Ludwigshafen included:

• process of strengthening of a floor in the server room, consisting in carrying out more than 1000 equipment cables with a total length of 15 km;
• installation and use of a separate water cooling system, through it 60 thousand liters of water pass per hour.

Working at full capacity, the supercomputer consumes about 600 kWh of energy and creates the considerable volume of the fulfilled heat in the course of use.

The complexity consisted not only in creation of necessary infrastructure, but also and in implementation of the supercomputer in the IT-system of BASF. "It would be impossible without the aid of a highly skilled command from different business divisions", – Stefan Schenk comments.

Work with Big Data is the defining factor for future scientific and economic success already now. Digital approach of BASF assumes that virtual modeling and computer simulation supplement physical experiments in laboratory. Simulations help to deliver an experiment and simplify forecasting process while the experiment yields measurable results and assessment of computer models. It leads to deeper understanding of chemical products and processes, therefore, promotes emergence of bigger quantity of innovations in a short space of time.

Didzhitalization gives to researchers more opportunities for implementation of the creative ideas and cooperation with colleagues worldwide. According to experts of BASF, it is especially important to integrate digital technologies into daily operation of research blocks. Direct access to the systems of knowledge opens the new horizons in researches, it is also necessary for effective troubleshooting. For example, using the application which is based on cloud services, it is much simpler to researchers to expand the networks of knowledge.

Projects of BASF research center showed the huge potential of a didzhitalization in researches. Scientists for the first time could carry out exact analysis of properties of catalysts for production of an intermediate product – ethylene oxides. The research revealed communication between structure and properties of catalysts which allowed to predict more precisely and quicker their characteristics and validity period.

Modeling became an integral part of development of formulas. Thanks to means of intelligent data analysis extraction of the necessary information from the huge amount of knowledge became possible. Digital technologies played an important role in creation of new functional polymer for a permanent formula of active ingredient. Using digital technologies experts of BASF selected suitable structure of polymer from more than 10,000 options. The subsequent synthesis allowed to receive a desirable formula of polymer which was used further for creation of the concentrated emulsion. Other example from the field of biotechnologies shows that the accelerated identification of suitable enzymes or bacteria can be applied to new product development or process.

See Also

• Supercomputers of Russia and CIS
• Supercomputers (market of the CIS)
• Supercomputers (market of Russia)
• Supercomputers (world market)
• Quantum computer