Expert Details
Design and Engineering of Chemical Plants and Petroleum Refineries
ID: 726348
Texas, USA
Expert's career industry spans 45 years in design and operation of petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants. As a consultant to the industry he provides services to major firms worldwide. He is often retained to analyze chemical processing issues, provide front-end engineering and design including developing process flow diagrams, P &IDs, heat and material balances, searching for technical information at the library, and developing conceptual design. He is also often retained to provide solutions to existing environmental and product quality problems, assist in purchasing major equipment and services, and to generate general arrangement drawings showing layout for several petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants.
Much of his work originates at executing process simulators: He has used and is familiar with Simscis PROCESS 4.01, ASPEN, HYSYS and HYSIM. He is also familiar with using Design II Winsim (Chemshare) for the last 30 years and has simulated processes in petroleum refining particularly crude distillation, vacuum distillation, reforming, hydrotreating, lube oil fractionation, ethylene, feed preparation, quench, recovery and concentration. He is also familiar with processing fine chemicals specifically mercaptan, formaldehyde, dimethyl ether, chlorinated solvents, ethers, esters. He has experience in reforming processes of hydrogen and ammonia, performing ethanol dehydration using azeotropic distillation, and assessing evaporation and molecular sieve. He has experience in gas processing and turbo-expander, JT, dehydration, compression, and distillation layout.
As of 2016, Expert continues to consult for major petroleum refiners and petrochemical plants. Recent work included consultation to firms like Marathon Oil, Devon Energy, The Williams, Goodyear.
The Expert can perform literature research at university & public libraries and Internet. He has developed process models of a variety of chemical processes by obtaining vapor-liquid-equilibrium data and then developing the thermodynamic information for predicting separation. This v-l-e information is then used to develop complex models for separation and a design basis for new plants.
The Expert has prepared and certified Air Emissions Inventory, Wastewater Permit Applications and represented clients with EPA and state regulatory agencies and is familiar with regulations pertaining to processing, storage and transportation of toxic chemicals. Examples of his Emissions Inventory includes work for Mobil Oil, Chalmette, Murphy Oil, Meraux, Quantum Chemical, Houston, Lyondell Polymers, Pasadena.
His extensive experience in his field of expertise qualifies him to assist on cases and matters regarding Inventory of proposed new point and fugitive emission sources, determining point and fugitive emission rate, preparing concept design and control schemes, verifying emission offsets and banks for EPA, comparing emission to minimize rates, conducting BACT assessments, performing modeling evaluations for any pollutant exceeding, and performing modeling to determine impact on NAAQS.
He can also assist in negotiating reasonable discharge standards where regulatory agencies have established inappropriate limits based on unscientific assumptions. His approach is to review proposed standards and available data to determine if a possibility exists for less stringent limit exists. A meeting with the State or EPA is then held in which the rationale for modified effluent standards is presented. Depending upon the proposed strategy and the agency’s response, he can design overall programs for justifying more appropriate limits.
In addition to NPDES permit negotiations, he is qualified to offer guidance and serve in the following areas: Expert Testimony, Regulatory Agency Testimony, Thermal Studies, Water Quality Modeling, and Baseline Studies in terms of environmental matters.
Over the last 45 years, the Expert has worked around the following chemicals: Crude Oil, Vacuum Oil, Naptha, Diesel, AGO, Ethylene, Propylene, Formaldehyde, Thiols methyl mercaptan, ethyl mercaptan, DMS, thiophene, Chlorinated solvents, methyl chloroform, TCE, Vinyl chloride, Ethyl vinyl alcohol, Cumene, Benzene, Electronic chemicals, echants, Caustic chlorine, Hydrogen and Ammonia.
His extensive experience makes him an expert in fine chemicals (Prefer to previous sections for examples of his legal work related to this specific field of expertise).
For chemical manufacturing projects under $10 MM, the Expert has experience managing entire engineering processes for the job. He has handled project change orders and negotiating cost overruns. Engineering design on one plant was recently completed for producing ethanol in Minnesota. The following two grass root plants were built on engineering by the Expert’s firm under his direct supervision, an Ethanol plant concerning Celeron Oil and a refining plant for the diversified CPC in various parts of the world.
The Expert has over 30 years of consulting experience. The Expert has worked for law firms as an Engineering Consultant. He is also a consultant at his own petroleum engineering industry. He is a consultant for the design and operation of petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants, providing services to major firms worldwide.
Education
Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
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Year: 1971 | Degree: B. S. | Subject: Chemical Engineering | Institution: University of the West Indies |
Work History
Years | Employer | Title | Department |
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Years: 1980 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: President | Department: (Undisclosed) |
Responsibilities:He is founder, owner and operator of a small engineering firm. He provides expert testimony and litigation support in cases involving petrochemical processing, chemicals manufacturing, construction defects, and intellectual property issues and have worked for law firms as an Engineering Consultant. He employs his knowledge of U. S. procedures in engineering and construction.• Chemical engineering service to 90 large U.S. and foreign chemical plants and oil refiners. • Awarded a U.S. patent for the process to refine LPG for use as an aerosol propellant. • Engineered a complete plant to produce aerosol propellant in Shanghai, China. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1977 to 1979 | Employer: Mt. Airy Refining Co. | Title: Plant Engineering Manager | Department: |
Responsibilities:• Manage small refinery's engineering needs: retain consultants, perform engineering on small modifications, environmental compliance – air water with State and Federal Regulatory agencies.• Expansion studies, installation of new equipment. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1975 to 1977 | Employer: Sid Richardson Carbon Company | Title: Process Development Engineer | Department: |
Responsibilities:• Improve product quality and reduce manufacturing costs.• Research on adiabatic flame temperatures. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1974 to 1975 | Employer: Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. | Title: Process Engineer | Department: |
Responsibilities:Provide engineering at their alumina plant. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1971 to 1974 | Employer: Guyana Bauxite Co./Suralco (ALCOA) | Title: Process Engineer | Department: |
Responsibilities:Provide engineering at their alumina plant. |
International Experience
Years | Country / Region | Summary |
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Years: 1971 to 2016 | Country / Region: London; Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire; Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq; Shanghai | Summary: His expertise in chemical processing and petrochemical manufacture has taken him to various global locales. |
Career Accomplishments
Associations / Societies |
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American Institute of Chemical Engineers |
Licenses / Certifications |
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P E. Texas |
Publications and Patents Summary |
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He has one patent on refining liquified petroleum in specific conditions. |
Additional Experience
Expert Witness Experience |
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Provided expert testimony and litigation support in cases involving petrochemical processing, chemical and petrolatum plant design, contract negotiation, support related to vendor charges, second opinions, fault analysis and applying good engineering practices related to process designs. Cases: • Refinery and Chemicals Tax Recovery • Industrial Accident • Bioethanol Plant Study • Intellectual property and chemical manufacturing • Oil and Gas Upstream Plant Analysis • Amine Unit Study • CO2 Cryo process plant revamp from ammonia plant • Process Analysis of Yeast Processing • New Methane plant design • Process study of a lube oil fractionating system • Engineering at plant manufacturing chloromethane, vinyl chloride, ethylene dichloride |
Other Relevant Experience |
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He is familiar with the following processes: Gas Processing: Turbo expander, JT, Amine Treating, De Hy, Mol. Sieves Petroleum Refining: Crude /Vacuum Distillation, Reforming, Hydro-treating, FCCU, TGTU Petrochemicals: Ethylene, propylene; Ethanol (Gasohol); Formaldehyde; De Hy. Sulfide, Methyl Mercaptan, Ethyl Mercaptan, DMS; Caustic Chlorine Other Processes: Hydrogen, Carbon Black, Alumina; Electronic Chemicals & Etchants, Mixing and blending of high purity chemicals Bayer Process (Alumina) |
Language Skills
Language | Proficiency |
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Dutch | Beginner |
Fields of Expertise
chemical engineering, chemical plant, chemical plant design, chemical plant layout, chemical process design, chemical processing system safety, chemical regulation, chemical safety, oil refinery equipment, petrochemical process, petroleum engineering, petroleum industry, petroleum processing, petroleum refinery design review, distillation equipment, environment-related assessment, environmental regulation, environmental liability, environmental chemistry, environmental condition, environmental effect, fine chemical, fine chemical marketing, fine chemical production, project management, engineering project management