Chemical Engineer Products Processes Expert Witness

Expert Witness No.1098

Illinois

Professional Summary

Experienced R&D director at Exxon and Honeywell and presently an expert witness along being a Professor of Chemical Engineering at University of Illinois. Technical expertise in applied chemistry and chemical engineering.

Present Professional

1992-present Consultant and Expert Witness, Private Consulting
Technical consultant to medium-sized chemical companies and national laboratories. Expert witness on patent infringement and process/product liability cases with major law firms.

1992-present, Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois 
Teaching of courses in process and product design. Technical writing and oral communication.

Previous Experience

1982-1992, Allied-Signal, UOP (now Honeywell), Des Plaines, IL
Manager of Chemical Process, Product Technology
Responsible for the commercial development of new products in the areas of petrochemicals, polymers, membranes and films, environmental processes, and chemical processing, and novel process systems.

This work led to new membranes, surface–modified films, ozone-friendly fluorocarbons, extraction processes for treating contaminated soils, conducting polymer resins, carbon molecular sieves, etc.

Managed the advanced technology for UOP division of Honeywell, the process technology affiliate of Honeywell. This included petroleum processes and process technology in the food and related industries.

Led the design effort that identified new commercial applications for oxygen-enrichment membranes and ultrafiltration processes for food processing.

Lead technology manager in the Dow/Honeywell patent infringement suit which resulted in a $30 million award to Honeywell.

Project Manager for a $5 million Department of Energy contract on the development of energy saving membrane processes.  The yield from this contract included the first commercial processes for hydrocarbon separations, and a gas-membrane process for removal of carbon dioxide from natural gas. 

Obtained for Honeywell R&D contracts from NASA and Los Alamos and established joint R&D projects with Kraft and Procter & Gamble.

1973-1982, Corporate Research, Exxon, Linden, NJ
Senior Research Engineer.
Established a new program on the extraction of oil from Canadian tar sands and obtained the key patents. Directed the laboratory studies, developed unique software for process analysis, and built a small-scale demonstration units.

Developed new test methods for the characterization of asphaltenes, lubricating oils, and synthetic fuels.

Served as the principal engineer in the investigation of potential uses of supercritical fluid technology within Exxon’s business units.

Was lead engineer of the engineering/chemistry team that commercialized Exxon’s FLEXSORB process for the use of aqueous tertiary amines for removal of acid gases from natural gas.

1971-1973 Ford Foundation, Chile
Fellow, Established new R&D programs focused on the food and mineral industries within government labs and universities.

Education

1970 Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
1967 B.S., Engineering Science, Yale

Professional Activities

Author of 40 technical papers and 35 presentations at technical meetings, national laboratories and industrial research centers, Author of 6 US patents