Expert Details
Gasification & Pyrolysis of Coal, Biomass and Wastes.
ID: 731111
Minnesota, USA
He served for 5 years on a USDOE Committee that met annually to review DOE-funded projects for small scale hydrogen production, to determine which projects show enough promise to justify continued funding. Selection for this committee was based on his years of research in processed to produce hydrogen production from coal and biomass.In 2012, he spent 4 months as a Project Adviser to a major Environmental Engineering firm, to provide technical guidance in preparing a proposal for a large plant to gasify waste coal and conversion to diesel by FT conversion, based on a partially developed process for biomass gasification. He was selected for this assignment, based on his knowledge of gasification process fundamentals, hands-on pilot plant experience and familiarity with the process based on a technical evaluation of the same process in an earlier stage of development, 6 or 7 years previously.For the past 2 years, he is an as-needed consultant to a venture capital firm that is planning to build a plant in the US to convert waste tires to diesel fuel and carbon black, based on a pyrolysis process currently in commercial operation in Malaysia. This involves collection of operating and design data for preparation of reports to investors and request for proposals to US engineering contractors. This is an on-going project.In 1999 and 2000, he served as a consultant to UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) and the Sri Lanka Ministry of Power, to review and quantify all sources of biomass and waste materials and available technologies for their conversion to electric power. This included both commercial and developmental options, and assessment of in-country facilities, infrastructure and organisaitonal capacity for implementation. He then prepared functional specifications for wood gasifiers and other recommendations.For a manufacturer of grinding and solids processing equipment, starting from a patent drawing, he designed a novel, proprietary hammer mill, then supervised fabrication and testing of a full-scale prototype. Selection for this project was based on his earlier research experience with a variety of solid processing equipment, and his skill in mechanical design using AutoCad.
Education
Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
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Year: 1958 | Degree: BS | Subject: Chemical Engineering | Institution: University of California - Berkeley |
Year: 1961 | Degree: MS | Subject: Mechanical Engineering | Institution: University of California - Berkeley |
Year: 1979 | Degree: None | Subject: First year of Law School. - preperation course for CA bar exam. (Then dropped out. Prefer Engineering) | Institution: Western States University, Anaheim, CA. |
Year: 1953 | Degree: None | Subject: International Developmengt & Economics. 2 quarters. | Institution: Universidad de las Amefricas. Mexico DF |
Work History
Years | Employer | Title | Department |
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Years: 1998 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: Owner/Pres./CEO/Etc | Department: (Undisclosed) |
Responsibilities:Independent, individual consulting assignments on contract basis for wide variety of technical areas and clients, primarily dealing primarily with independent evaluation of equipment and process for energy recovery from various wastes. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1980 to 1998 | Employer: (Undisclosed) | Title: Project Manager / Principal Investigator | Department: Energy Reseatrch Center |
Responsibilities:In charge of various research projects - laboratory to large pilot scale process development for coal and biomass gasification and slurry fuel development. Design and testing of novel equipment for processing and material handling. Review and evaluation of various coal and biomass process concepts. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1973 to 1980 | Employer: (Undisclosed) | Title: Senior Engineer | Department: Advanced technology Center (DATEC) |
Responsibilities:Evaluation of process and equipment - primarily energy-related - as candidates for acquisition, Reviewed patents. Preliminary process design and economic analysis. In volved in laboratory demonstration of proprietary process concepts. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1966 to 1973 | Employer: (Undisclosed) | Title: Project Engineer. | Department: (Undisclosed) |
Responsibilities:Specification for misc. process equipment. Development of P&ID and general process design documentation, in petroleum, petrochemical and other areas. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1964 to 1968 | Employer: (Undisclosed) | Title: Project Manager | Department: R&D |
Responsibilities:In charge of small pilot plant for continuous hydrogenation of vegetable oils (cotton and soybean). |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1958 to 1961 | Employer: (Undisclosed) | Title: Plant Engineer | Department: Berkeley CA production plant. |
Responsibilities:All plant engineering for production of sodium silicate and Epsom salts. Developed process for pressure dissolution of silicate briquettes to liquid product. |
Government Experience
Years | Agency | Role | Description |
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Years: 2010 to Present | Agency: FEMA | Role: Project Specialist - Public Assestance. | Description: He is an as-needed Reservist for FEMA, interviewing public agency Applicants for Federal disaster relief, inspecting damage, reviewing cost estimates and processing applications. (This function is in capacity as a Federal employee, rather than as a consultant.) |
International Experience
Years | Country / Region | Summary |
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Years: 2012 to 2012 | Country / Region: Malaysia | Summary: He recently spent one month in Malaysia, at an operating plant to convert waste tires to diesel fuel and carbon black, analyzing operating data and collecting design information, to duplicate plant in a US location. Visited site briefly before and expect to return. This is an on-going project. |
Years: 1999 to 1999 | Country / Region: Sri Lanka | Summary: He spent over 3 months in Sri Lanka, under contract to UNIDO, working with multiple Sri Lankan government agencies, collecting data to optimize selection of processes and equipment for conversion of nation's biomass and waste resources to electric power. |
Years: 1993 to 1999 | Country / Region: Italy | Summary: For 6 years, he spent one month each year as a Visiting Professor at the Universitá di Messdina, participating in research to develop process to concert natural gas and hydrocarbons to hydrogen for use in fuel cells, as a compact, on-board automotive drive system, and of studies on how to covert refusefrom Messina (Sicilia) to electric power. |
Years: 2000 to Present | Country / Region: Mexico | Summary: He briefly provided on-site consulting to a small, Mexican oilfield service company, for the development of a fluidized bed gasifier to recover fuel oil and process heat from oilfield wast pools of oil-water-sand slurries and drilling mud. |
Career Accomplishments
Associations / Societies |
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He is a Senior Member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AICHE) |
Licenses / Certifications |
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Professional Engineering License (PE) |
Publications and Patents Summary |
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He has over 50 technical publications. |
Additional Experience
Training / Seminars |
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He served as sole instructor for 1-day seminars, offered through Aurora Analytics. Course Title: "Pyrolysis and Gasification of Coal and Biomass - Principles and Applications.". Course certified to provide PDUs (Professional Development Units) for renewal of PE licensing in several states. |
Vendor Selection |
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He has spend thousands of hours "Shopping" for equipment - all kinds - as part of essentially all of his jobs. Includes identifying and locating vendors and submitting specifications. |
Other Relevant Experience |
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Detail design and drawings of process equipment. Semi-proficient in AutoCad. Unique, reader-friendly interactive process flow sheets for presentation, SKILLS: Basic computer skills (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) Proficient in AutoCad Languages: Good Spanish. Passable Italian. |
Language Skills
Language | Proficiency |
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Spanish | He speaks good, though not fluent Spaniah, but speaks and writes better than he understands. This skill has proven adequate for bjusiness and technical discussioln. |
Italian | He developed a fair mastering of Italian by month-long emersions in the language, but has not not spken it for 10 years, but could quickly recover this skill if needed. |
German | He once studied it in college, and can molre-or-less manage on tourist level. |
Fields of Expertise
biomass, biomass fuel production, bituminous coal, boiling point, British thermal unit, catalytic hydrogenation, coal analysis, coal gasification, energy-efficient gasification, energy-efficient physical process, fouling, gasification, slagging, Fischer-Tropsch reaction, agglomeration, clean-coal technology, clean coal, fuel, energy-efficient coal gasification, energy-efficient biomass gasification, agricultural-residue gasification, carbonization process, biomass energy system, coal, wood gasification, wood, vaporization, fossil fuel, coal pulverizer, coal (fuel), coal-and-syngas catalysis, carbon monoxide, boiler feedwater, anthracite