ACHEMA 2027: The World's Largest Chemical Engineering Exhibition and What It Means for Fluid Technology Suppliers

Every three years, Frankfurt becomes the centre of the global chemical process industry. ACHEMA — the World Exhibition and Conference for the Process Industries — fills the Frankfurt exhibition grounds with 3,800-plus exhibitors and 145,000-plus visitors from over 100 countries, and the product range it covers spans everything from laboratory analytical instruments to complete distillation column internals, from pharmaceutical containment valves to the high-pressure pump systems that move reactive fluids at process conditions that would destroy lesser equipment. It is, without qualification, the most important single event on the calendar for companies whose products serve the chemical, pharmaceutical, food, water, and energy process industries.

ACHEMA 2027 runs in June at the Frankfurt Messe, carrying forward the triennial format that has defined the show since its first edition in 1920. The 2024 edition confirmed the show's post-pandemic recovery — 2,872 exhibitors and 115,700 visitors, strong international participation from China, the US, India, and across Europe, and a technical programme covering green chemistry, circular economy engineering, hydrogen production technology, and the digitalisation of process plant operations. The 2027 edition will benefit from three more years of development in each of those areas.

The Pump and Fluid Technology Universe at ACHEMA

ACHEMA's fluid technology section is one of the largest in the world for a single show. Every major industrial pump manufacturer exhibits: KSB, Sulzer, Grundfos, Flowserve, ITT, Ebara, SPX Flow, and the specialist chemical process pump makers whose products handle the most aggressive fluids in the process industry. Centrifugal pumps, positive displacement pumps — gear, screw, peristaltic, diaphragm, lobe — and the specialist seal-less magnetic drive and canned motor pumps that dominate hazardous fluid handling all have dedicated exhibitor presence.

Hydraulic components at ACHEMA appear primarily in three contexts. Industrial hydraulic power units for press and actuation systems in heavy chemical plant equipment represent the largest direct hydraulic market at the show. High-pressure reciprocating and plunger pumps for hydrostatic testing, high-pressure cleaning, and process chemical injection operate at pressures that overlap with hydraulic system working pressures and share many component technologies. And the valve actuation systems — hydraulic cylinder and motor actuators for large process valves in difficult service conditions — connect the hydraulic supply chain directly to the valve and instrumentation community that is central to ACHEMA's exhibitor base.

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The Green and Hydrogen Technology Dimension

ACHEMA 2027 will be significantly shaped by the energy transition themes that have been building since the previous edition. Green hydrogen production — through electrolysis — requires high-pressure pumps and compressors that can handle the specific demands of hydrogen service: ultra-high purity, extreme pressure ratings, and compatibility with hydrogen embrittlement at component level. The pump and compression technology for green hydrogen is a commercially active development area that ACHEMA 2027 will cover in depth, both on the exhibition floor and in the associated conference programme.

For hydraulic pump and component manufacturers, the green hydrogen context is relevant because hydraulic test rigs for hydrogen infrastructure components — valves, fittings, storage vessels, and transport systems — require high-pressure hydraulic testing equipment that can demonstrate structural integrity at hydrogen service pressures of 700 bar and above. The ACHEMA buyer community includes the engineering firms and test equipment manufacturers developing this infrastructure, which creates a specific market entry opportunity for hydraulic high-pressure technology suppliers that the show concentrates in a single accessible venue every three years.