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Expert has over 20 years of experience with a leading petrochemical company (Amoco) that includes participation on design teams for four polypropylene projects, two manufacturing plants for Ziegler-Natta supported catalyst, and a polystyrene project. He is co-designer of the original Amoco gas-phase polypropylene plant.

Expert's skills in mathematical modeling and computer programming have been used to develop theoretical and empirical models for both polymer solutions and for the Ziegler-Natta catalyzed polymerization of propylene to manufacture PP commercially. One key to the success of this model has been the quantitative description of the powder flow patterns through a horizontal stirred gas-powder reactor. Another key has the calculation of solvent and slurry viscosity in liquid-based polyreactors.

Expert has been a part of the team offering the new polypropylene (PP) technology for licensing in the international arena. This entailed making presentations of the technical information in numerous places such as Japan, China, Mexico, and the U.S.

Much of Expert's time has been devoted to economic studies of polyolefin projects (virgin and recycle polymer and catalyst) and a detailed comparison of capital investment and manufacturing costs between the leading industrial competitors. He has completed several scoping evaluations (for SPO '93 and Metcon '94 to '97) of the metallocene catalyst systems for polyolefins.

Expert's research has included theoretical studies and laboratory measurements of the transport (rate) processes in polymers and polymer solutions. His research also includes studies of the thermodynamic equilibrium between polymers and solvents. Recently, the Design Institute for Physical Property Data (DIPPR) of AIChE completed a Polymer Solution Handbook under the guidance of a committee headed by Expert.

While much of his career has focused on the design and economics of polymer processes, Expert has recently broadened his work to include the use of new, single-site catalysis to make unique polyolefins. As a result of this interest, Expert was invited to speak at the Schotland SPO '93 and the Catalyst Consultants Metcon '94 to '97 conferences.

Expert has evaluated the design and economic challenges of recovering plastic from automobile shredder residue and from shredded refrigerator "whitegoods."

Expert is a chemical engineer and has served petrochemical companies since 1995. His special focus is polyolefin process design and economics, recently in the field of metallocene catalysis, with many publications in these areas. A registered professional engineer, he was codesigner of the first Amoco gas-phase manufacturing process for homopolymer PP resin, and was part of the design team for a new gas-phase ethylene-propylene copolymer plant in Texas. He has served as a member of the team assembled to promote and license this new PP technology. He has taught the capstone senior design course at The Ohio State University, and much earlier, taught for five years at the University of Texas at Austin. He has over 30 years of industrial experience. He also works in the Process Evaluation Section of the Energy Systems Division at Argonne National Lab, where he has a major responsibility in computer process simulation.