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Expert has been developing chemical process technology for industrial materials and chemical firms for over 14 years. He has developed several novel chemical processes, including those for synthesis of advanced ceramic powders, pigments, and a wide range of inorganic materials. His work has included the development and evaluation of coal and biomass thermochemical conversion processes, electrochemical, biochemical, and hydrometallurgical processes. His primary focus has been on the development and evaluation of aqueous inorganic processes and the use of high-pressure and -temperature process technology for materials synthesis, organic waste destruction, and recovery of heavy metals. Expert has also done economic and technical feasibility evaluations on lithium recovery technology, ion-exchanging processes, electrochemical energy storage and production, solid oxide fuel cells, biomass conversion, aerogel production technology, and other processes.

Expert has been developing technology for the synthesis, manufacture, and use of fine particle inorganic materials since 1983. He led a program that resulted in a patented manufacturing process for making formulated ceramic powders with sub-micron particle size. The program has shown that the oxide powders can be produced, consisting of single-crystal particles with uniform size and homogeneous composition. The process has been scaled up to several kilograms per hour production and is now being commercialized by a large international materials company.

Expert is currently involved with designing and selecting full-scale production systems for making fine particle materials. He developed a computer model that uses all inputs (such as raw materials, temperature, pressure, unit operation requirements, etc.) to determine plant size, capital equipment costs, operating costs, and return-on-investment for a range of manufacturing capacities. The output of this model has been used to select a viable plant size for powder production and to make decisions on the economic feasibility of the process.

Expert led a team that evaluated novel process technology alternatives using cost and environmental criteria to find the most suitable approaches. He prepared flow sheets, material and energy balances, and capital and operating cost estimates, and made recommendations for implementation of the most attractive process technology. Using sensitivity analyses, Expert has determined the best and worst case scenarios for capital investment and operating costs. He has evaluated wet oxidation, catalytic wet oxidation, and supercritical water oxidation processes. He recently completed a study for a Pacific Rim company seeking to find appropriate niche markets in the US for a new waste treatment process based on catalytic wet oxidation.

Expert has developed process technology for manufacturing sub-micron and nano-scale ceramic powders used in multi-layer ceramic capacitors, actuators, transducers, and varistors. He also developed novel processes for making aluminum nitride precursors, high-temperature ceramic superconducting powders, metals, and a wide range of specialty inorganic chemicals. He developed technology for making bioceramic materials used dental restorative, automotive, paper and polymer pigment, magnetic recording pigment, and super-insulating materials. His work on manufacturing nano-scale materials has included fully- and partially-stabilized zirconia, transparent pigments, transparent antiperspirant active ingredients, piezoelectric materials, and magnetic materials.

A significant portion of Expert's experiences involved developing precipitation technology for controlling the morphology of iron oxides, ferrites, and other metal oxide particles. He has used this technology to make fine particles with platelike, needlelike, spherical, acicular, or cubic shapes. The particle size distribution is narrow and the average size ranges from less than 50 nanometers to greater than 20 microns. He has applied this technology to numerous ceramic and pigment systems, including zirconia, alumina, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, titanates, ferrites, chromates, manganates, tungstates, and others. Expert has produced magnetic oxides with particle sizes less than 20 microns. Applications for these materials include ink-jet printing, toners, transparent and lustrous automotive pigments, and bar code identification systems.

Expert has evaluated technology for hazardous waste destruction using supercritical and subcritical water oxidation. He has prepared flow sheets and made capital and operating cost estimates and recommendations on technology selection. He recently developed a design for a new SCWO reactor that provides superior mixing and heat transfer, efficient heat recovery, and reduced scale. Expert has applied supercritical process technology to the production of aerogels (extremely light, porous, transparent, and reactive materials). He is now applying the technology to the rapid production of fine-scale ceramic powders through the use of a continuous reactor.

Expert designed and oversaw the construction of a pilot facility for producing high-purity inorganic materials by aqueous processes. The facility included several processing stations, such as coprecipitation, centrifugation, thermal treatment in batch and continuous reactor systems, washing, and spray drying. The equipment was computer controlled and monitored and had a maximum throughput of 5 kg/hr. This plant produced barium titanate, lead zirconate titanate, silica-based aerogels, high-purity chromium metal, and specialty clay pigments. Expert provided guidance on laboratory layout, chemical pilot plant design, and cost estimation. He has designed research programs from laboratory through pilot-scale development. Expert's other pilot plant experience includes briquetting facilities and fluidized bed combustion and gasification plants.

Active in the development of ceramic materials used in solid-state ionic devices, Expert has worked with solid oxide fuel cells, batteries, membrane reactors, and oxygen generation systems. He led a commercialization effort for a consortium of national laboratories, industrial manufacturers, gas companies, and universities. Currently, the group is investigating production of oxide materials used in medical oxygen generators and membrane reactors for conversion of natural gas to upgraded fuels and chemicals. Expert is familiar with the techniques of fine particle synthesis, colloidal deposition, extrusion, and other ceramic forming processes.

Expert is an internationally known expert in hydrothermal powder synthesis. He has developed processes based on the technology for dozens of industrial manufacturers in the US, Japan, Korea, and Europe. He has made many invited presentations on the technology to industry, academia, and national laboratories. He authored a chapter in the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology on this subject. He has applied this technology, which involves the use of hot water under pressure, for synthesis of fine particle materials, pigments, ceramics, magnetics, electronic materials, solid-state ionic materials, and catalysts. In addition, the use of this technology for metals recovery and hazardous waste treatment has been tested and evaluated. Expert is knowledgeable of the development, evaluation, and scale-up of this technology, which has been developed for use in either continuous or batch production systems.

Expert has conducted industrial and competitive analyses for several companies. This analysis requires identifying the chief economic characteristics of the industry environment, identifying and assessing key driving forces, evaluating competitive strength, predicting moves of competitors, pin-pointing key success factors, and drawing conclusions on industry attractiveness.