Chemical Gas Processing Expert Witness

EDUCATION
Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, M.S, 1985
Chemical Engineering, University of Missouri-Rolla, B.S, 1983

PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATION

Registered Professional Engineer, Texas

TEACHING AND SEMINARS

University of Houston Asian American Studies Instructor – Instructed Chinese business
professionals on various chemical processing topics.

Operator & Foreman Refinery Training – Developed training material and taught process
specific classes for operators and foremen.

Engineering Training – Taught pressure relief systems analysis workshop to refinery
engineers.

Industrial Influent Water Systems Seminar Instructor – Developed training material and
taught Hydraulics to a class of engineers.

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE

• Refinery, Chemical and Gas Processes Design and Troubleshooting
• Analysis of Deficiency in Design
• Process Hazard Analysis
• Instrumentation Design
• Process and Control Troubleshooting
• Hazard and Operability Analysis
• Process Safety Equipment
• Mechanical Integrity Analysis
• Project Process

TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE

As a process engineering, process safety and project management expert Experthas been involved in numerous projects.  Representative projects include the following:

• Alkylation Units – Unit expansion and deluge system pump upgrade.
• Ammonia Plants – Plant optimization, ammonia storage, PSV study.
• Aromatics – Solvent regeneration design, SRC column study, fractionation feasibility study, extraction column revamp, unit optimization.
• Cogeneration – Viability study.
• Coker – Coker fractionators debottlenecking study.
• Crude and Vacuum Units – Grass roots crude unit design, numerous revamps, crude oil stabilizer
• grass roots design, furnace process design, Kerosene stripper process design, preheat train
• evaluations and revamps, depropanizer vessel spec and reboiler design, process control
• optimization and tuning, alternate crude studies and numerous projects involving crude unit
• design.
• Deasphalting – Furnace specification, production plant support, ROSE unit study.
• Ethylene – Grass-roots process design, crude cracking, steam air decoke system design, furnace upgrade, pitch system revamp, various design and operating reviews.
• Propylene – C-3 splitter revamp, C3 splitter relief study, C3 splitter grass roots study, cumene propylene supply optimization.
• C4-Olefins – 1,3-BD emissions reduction process design and project management, C-4 import systems.
• Isoprene – Purification process support, C5 import systems.
• Benzene – Benzene emissions reduction process design and project management.
• FCCU – Reactor/Regen revamp, Reactor/Regen debottlenecking, Catalyst cooler addition, Replacement FCC main frac design, FCC primary abs chiller revamp.
• Furnace – Refinery furnace emergency system process design.
• Hydrocracker – Debottleneck, additional reactor and fractionation modifications.
• Hydrotreater – Lube oil hydrotreater catalyst change, C5 selective hydrogenation catalyst change, unit relief capacity evaluation, hydrogenation catalyst change, Diesel hydrotreater debottleneck, reactor design, Kerosene hydrotreater simulation, Cat Gas hydrotreating study.
• Treating – Treater outlet settler replacement, fuel gas treater design, C3 treating troubleshooting, C3 treater replacement study, amine system balance and troubleshooting.
• LPG – Deisobutanizer/Debutanizer revamp, propane treating design, deethanizer troubleshooting and optimization, EP drier design, depropanizer support, gas plant restart, gas plant capacity study and expansion, depropanizer capacity expansion process design, grass roots depropanizer study, fuel gas injection.
• Lube Oil – Advance control project manager, manufacturing support.
• Natural Gas – Grass-roots dehydration design, start-up and trouble shooting.
• Environmental – Air emissions inventory system development manager, continuous emission monitoring design.
• Reformer – Reformate splitter design, simulation, heat and material balance.
• Sat Gas Plant – Saturated Gas plant study.
• Utilities – Deaerator design, cooling water systems design, fuel gas knock out drum design, potable water system study, GOHT spare H2 compressor, air system studies, and cooling water tower specification.
• Vacuum Stripper – System revamp design.
• Waste Water Treating – Waste water treatment plant upgrade design, effluent filters system analysis and upgrade.
• Water Treating – Raw water treatment plant design, PTU clarifier upgrade, raw water clarifier upgrade.
• Training – Flare gas recovery operator training, refinery operation operator training.
• Hydrogen – PSA reliability work, PSA alternative study, H2 system balance and optimization.
• General – Power failure studies, air failure studies.
• Turnaround Planning – Turnaround planning and support efforts including develop work list, manpower schedule, bid packages, and bid/procured major equipment.
• Information System development – Designed and implemented an information-gathering package for managing several complex-wide systems including: Hydrogen, Fuel Gas, Natural Gas, Sour Gas, Sulfur Plants.
• Safety Incident Investigations – Supported clients in on scene investigation of catastrophic incidents and plant emergency shutdown incidents.
• Litigation Consultant – Supplied expert analysis of transcripts and procedures for firms involved in industrial lawsuits.
• Hazard and Operability Analysis – 25 years of experience with HAZOP analysis on existing and new facilities. Assisted with HAZOP follow up work.
• Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) – 25 years of experience with process hazard analysis on existing and new facilities.
• Gas Processing Mechanical Integrity System – Assisted in establishing mechanical integrity systems to comply with requirements set by OSHA’S 29 CFR 1910.119. The purpose of the Mechanical Integrity Process was to eliminate the potential for a catastrophic release of flammable or highly hazardous chemicals from processing equipment and to mitigate the effectsof such releases on plant personnel and the public.
• Process Safety Valves Studies – Performed numerous process safety studies including Ammonia plants, Crude Units, Chemical batch reactors, Gas Oil Hydrotreaters, Hydrocarbon storage, reactors and plant wide studies.
• Flare Systems – Flare Gas Recovery systems grass roots design, project management support, training and start up assistance, flare load studies, and flare hydraulics studies.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Houston, TX (January 1996 to Present)
Founder and President of Private Company, specializes in process design, process safety management, project management and litigation support. He has performed numerous projects in the refining, chemical and gas processing industries. His project work has included process design, equipment specification, and project management. He has been involved in many unit safety hazard analysis and hazard and operability studies. He has provided incident investigation services and litigation expert support.

Houston, TX (July 1994 to Jan. 1996)
As Engineering Consultant, he was responsible for process design of many units including Crude Unit Revamps, FCC Gas Plant Debottlenecking, and LPG/Butamer Plant Revamp. He has also conducted numerous Hazard and Operability Reviews.

Houston, TX (Dec. 1992 to July 1994)
As Senior Process Engineer, his responsibilities included process design of Olefin plants, Crude Units, FCCU Reactors, and Diesel HDS. He also conducted many Hazard and Operability Reviews and Process Hazard Analysis.

Deer Park, TX (June 1985 to Dec. 1992)
As Process Engineer, he was responsible for supporting the Lubrication plant and the Olefins plant. He also functioned as Project Manager for various multi-million dollar projects including a large DCS project. As the Process Engineering Supervisor for his unit he was responsible for leading a team of engineers and paraprofessionals.

COMPUTER SKILLS

ProII, Aspen and Hysys process simulators. Developed and marketed engineering software products. Knowledgeable in all MS Office products, Visio, AutoCAD, and Web Page Development.

PUBLICATIONS

Available upon request