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Having 10 years of experience with alpha olefins, Expert has a thorough understanding of all aspects of the product, including technology, process, manufacturing, economics, applications, and markets. Expert was intimately involved in process improvement, troubleshooting, operations, new process development, cost improvement, capacity expansion, business assessment, competitive technology, new downstream derivatives development, purchasing, marketing, and sales of an entire range of alpha olefin products. His experience includes working for a major alpha olefin producer; with an alpha olefin formulations, marketing, and distribution company; and with a downstream user of alpha olefins. Additionally, Expert supervised a process technology group responsible for technology, quality, safety, environmental improvement, and cost reduction for a large alpha olefin plant. He participated in the start-up and later the expansion of a large alpha olefin plant. Two process patents on the technology of alpha olefin manufacture have been granted to Expert.

Along with his experience in synthetic fatty alcohols, he has obtained considerable knowledge of the manufacture, quality issues, markets, and applications of hexyl alcohol. As a process technology group manager for the unit manufacturing of hexyl alcohol (among other fatty alcohol products), Expert was responsible for a project to increase the flexibility in production rates of the hexyl alcohol relative to co-manufactured products as well as to improve its quality and purity. More recently, he helped develop a different, more cost-effective route to on-purpose production of hexyl alcohol. As a result of his work in these projects, Expert gained a solid understanding of the markets and quality requirements for hexyl alcohol.

During his work in the development, formulation, marketing, and sales of a number of products for drilling mud and completion fluid companies, Expert gained a thorough knowledge of chemicals used in the oil field. Specific products with which he is familiar include synthetic and refined drilling mud base fluid, glycol carrier fluids, shale stabilizers, surfactants, and bromine-based completion fluids. Expert led the development and commercialization of the first large-scale PolyAlphaOlefin (PAO) base fluid for a synthetic mud program. As the performance and cost pressure moved the market to a number of other synthetic basestocks, he participated in the development, testing, marketing, and sales of alpha olefins, internal olefins, and blends. He helped develop technology for the manufacture of a unique branched olefin base fluid with remarkable low temperature characteristics. Other studies in the area included one on suitable synthetic mud basestock availability from petrochemical manufacturers and another on supply/demand balance of the currently used basestocks.

Expert's extensive understanding of synthetic lubricant technology, manufacturing, application, and markets was gained through his work in PolyAlphaOlefins (PAO), polyol esters, and dibasic esters. He led a process technology group engaged in process improvement, capacity expansion, and cost reduction of a PAO plant. He aided in applications development and testing of commercially manufactured synthetic lubricant basestocks including PAO and esters. Additionally, he led several successful efforts to develop novel synthetic lubricants, including a major project involving market research, technology development, plant design, and commercialization of a new highly stable PAO-based synthetic lubricant for automotive and industrial applications. He participated in a research effort to identify and develop a novel polyol ester lubricant, and he helped identify cost-effective sources of short-chain synthetic acids worldwide for polyol ester basestock manufacturing. In his studies, Expert compared the performance and application cost characteristics of synthetic lubricants with highly refined mineral oils, and he has obtained an excellent appreciation of the processes, economics, and applications of the VHVI and UHVI basestocks. He presented a paper entitled "Isoparaffins:

Expert has extensive knowledge of the technology, manufacture, process, and economics of synthetic fatty alcohols via a fifteen-year involvement with the product. While working for a major manufacturer of fatty alcohols, Expert gained expertise in process improvement, troubleshooting, operations, new process development, cost improvement, and business assessments. He supervised a process technology group responsible for technology, quality, safety, environmental improvement, and cost reduction. He received a patent for a major improvement of the alcohol plant process technology. Synthesis vs. Refining" at the Spring '96 AIChE meeting in New Orleans.

Expert has had 15 years of experience with the manufacture, properties, applications and markets of synthetic primary linear alcohols, of which 1-decanol is one. Expert has had approximately 7 years of experience in studying the oleochemical route to 1-decanol. The synthetic and the oleo route to 1-decanol are the only two commercially significant routes to 1-decanol.

Along with his experience in synthetic fatty alcohols, Expert has obtained considerable knowledge of the manufacture, quality issues, markets, and applications of 1-octanol. As a process technology group manager for the unit manufacturing of 1-octanol (among other fatty alcohol products), Expert was responsible for all phases of technology involving 1-octanol.

Expert has had a distinguished career as a chemical engineer. After graduating third in his class, Expert quickly rose on the technical ladder with Ethyl Corporation, becoming the youngest Manager, R&D in the corporate history. Innovation in solving technical problems, troubleshooting and creative design solutions has helped Expert become one of the best chemical engineers in the company. After leaving Albemarle Corporation, Expert improved his economic and business grasp of the discipline, but continued the practice by inventing a new process for production of Linear Internal Olefins.

In his career with Ethyl and Albemarle Corporations, Expert was called upon to perform facility evaluation a number of times. In his subsequent consulting practice, Expert was involved in a number of large projects involving facility evaluation, where he was the top technical expert.

As a young engineer with about four years of experience, Expert was given a project to investigate the possibility of making a specific internal olefin molecule via metathesis. Expert concluded at the time that the project would not be justified, but the technology is so flexible and elegant, that he has continued working on it for the last eleven years, studying all possible applications and all aspects of the technology.

Expert has studied the oxo process as a method for derivatizing alpha and internal olefins to aldehydes, and subsequent conversion of aldehydes to carboxylic acids or alcohols. The process is an important one in the alpha olefin downstream derivatives. Expert has spent 4 or 5 years studying the process and how the feedstock affects it.

Expert performed process technology assessment, product cost analysis and developed retrofit options for a fatty alcohol plant in Asia. Expert led an engineering team in a plant and technology assessment effort as a part of a due diligence study. This was conducted on two natural fatty alcohol plants and an ethoxylate plant in Southeast Asia and a specialty oleochemical plant in Germany. Expert invented new technology for production of linear internal olefins. This was used to manufacture polymer additives, surfactants, lubricants and lubricant additives. He coordinated the technology development program with a sponsor. He also performed 1st and 2nd Stage market research and process evaluation studies for the technology. Expert completed a performance comparison study for high-reactive and conventional polyisobutylenes (PIB). The applications studied included lubricant and fuel additives, synthetic lubricant basestocks, detergent intermediates, specialty chemicals and solvents. The project also included a comparative study of capital and production costs. Expert completed a number of smaller technology and application studies on specialty and fine chemicals, fluorinated polymers, pharmaceutical intermediates, paper sizing chemicals, aluminum extrusions, organo-sulfide intermediates and ester lubricant basestocks.