Process Engineering Expert Witness

My career spans more than 40 years (since 1971) in the design and operation of petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants. As an engineering consultant to industry I provide services to major firms worldwide.  I am retained to analyze chemical processing issues:

• providing Front-End Engineering and Design (FEEDS) service including developing process flow diagrams, P &IDs, heat and material balances;
• searching for technical information at the library; developing conceptual design;
• providing solutions to existing environmental and product quality problems;
• assisting in purchase of major equipment

I also provide expert testimony and litigation support in cases involving petrochemical processing, chemicals manufacturing, construction defects, and intellectual property issues and have worked for law firms as an Engineering Consultant. I have knowledge of U. S. procedures in engineering and construction.

My job is to study technical documents, failed processes and cost overruns.  I will spot weak assumptions and inadequate work.  I will point out favorable and unfavorable facts.  I will develop scientific testing to shed more light on the issue at hand.

Much of my work originates at executing process simulators: I have used Simsci=s PROCESS 4.01, ASPEN, HYSYS and HYSIM.  I have been using Design II Winsim (Chemshare) for the last 35 years and I have simulated processes in:

 

 

• petroleum refining – crude distillation, vacuum distillation, reforming, hydro treating, lube oil fractionation;
• ethylene : feed preparation, quench, recovery and concentration;
• fine chemicals – mercaptan, formaldehyde, dimethyl ether, chlorinated solvents, ethers, esters;
• reforming processes – hydrogen, ammonia;
• ethanol dehydration using azeotropic distillation; evaporation, molecular sieve;
• gas processing – turbo-expander, JT, dehydration, compression, distillation.

For chemical manufacturing projects under $10 MM, I have managed entire engineering for the job.  I have handled project change orders and negotiating overruns.  Engineering on one plant was recently completed for producing ethanol in Minnesota. The following two grass root plants were built on engineering by my firm:

Celeron Oil Ethanol Plant, Jennings, Louisiana, USA  (1985)
Diversified CPC=s, LPG Refining Plant, Pudong, Shanghai, China (1996)

I will perform literature search at university & public libraries and internet.  I have developed process models of a variety of chemical processes by obtaining vapor-liquid-equilibrium data and then developing the thermodynamic information for predicting separation.

I have prepared and certified Air Emissions Inventory, Wastewater Permit Applications and represented clients with EPA and state regulatory agencies. I am familiar with regulations pertaining to processing, storage and transportation of toxic chemicals.

FORMAL EDUCATION

B. S. Ch. E. – University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad (1971)

REGISTRATION

 

 

• Professional Engineer Texas
• Chartered Engineer U. K. – Since 1980 (Elapsed 2008)

 

PERSONAL

 

 

• Born India 1949
• Naturalized US Citizen
• Active Passport
• Willing to Travel
• Speak Some Spanish & Dutch

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

1979 to Present
A PRIVATE ENGINEERING COMPANY, Houston, Texas USA
Consultant/ President/ Engineering Manager/Owner

Through THIS COMPANY which I founded in 1979, I have served about 85 large U.S. and foreign chemical plants and oil refiners.

In 1993 I was awarded a U.S. patent for the process to refine LPG for use as an aerosol propellant.  In 1996, I engineered a complete plant to produce aerosol propellant in Shanghai, China.

Below is a list of some of the jobs done by me:

 

 

2013    Expert Witness: intellectual property and chemical manufacturing
2013    Consultant: Oil and Gas Upstream Plant Analysis
2012    25 MW Power Plant / Gas Processing Study
2011    Amine Unit Study
2011    CO2 Cryo process plant revamp from ammonia plant
2010    Process Analysis of Yeast Processing
2010    New Methane plant design
2010    Instrumentation & SIS for Turbo-expander Plant
2010    Process simulation for CO2 concentration
2009    Expert Witness: Ethanol Plants Arbitration
2008    Expert Witness: Evaporation System
2008    Process development and design to manufacture Tertiary methyl ammonium Chloride
2007    Process design, process simulation, detailed design, for small fuel ethanol plant.
2007    Flow assurance study for a major oil company’s 34 natural gas producing wells,
hydraulic study using Schlumberger’s PIPESIM software.
2007    Expert Witness: Provide process simulation to analyze the performance of a glycol evaporator,
regress v-l-e data.
2006    Process simulation of a turbo-expander system to recover liquids from natural gas.
2005    Process simulation of liquid feed to ethylene furnaces
2005    Process study and process simulation to remove BTX from refinery stream.
2004    Process design of gas plant
2004    Mechanical design of sulfuric acid system
2003    Using PIPEPHASE develop a hydraulic analysis of 24 wells in Equatorial Guinea
2003    Detailed design of a de-propanizer system to recover propane from LPG in Ivory Coast
2002    Process simulation of amine plant for a gas plant
2001    Formaldehyde Plant modifications
2002    Hydrogen plant simulation
2000    Process simulation and vent header study, v-l-e data regression
2000    Process study of a methyl mercaptan plant
1995    Complete design – process design, mechanical design, equipment selection,
purchasing and preparation for export of Aerosol Propellant plant
1994    Process study of a lube oil fractionating system
1994    Process design of a dimethyl ether plant
1993    Process design, engineering at a mercaptan plant in Houston
1992    Heat exchanger trouble shooting for a cryogenic plant
1989    Engineering study of a TE Glycol distillation system
1988    Acrylonitrile plant revamp, process simulation
1985    Process design, mechanical design, equipment selection, purchasing and start-up of a
new fuel ethanol plant
1984    Process design, mechanical design, general arrangement of concentration of alcohols from
OXO process
1982    Process simulation iso-octyl alcohol and isooctyl thio glycolate
1980    Simulation of crude distillation plant, waste heat recovery system.
1980    Engineering at plant manufacturing chloromethane, vinyl chloride, ethylene dichloride

1979 – 1979    Engineer, Good Hope Refinery, Good Hope, Louisiana USA
1977 – 1979    Refinery Engineering Manager , Mt. Airy Refining Co., Mt. Airy, Louisiana, USA
1975 – 1976    Process Development Engineer,  Sid Richardson Carbon Company, Addis, Louisiana, USA
1974 – 1975    Process Engineer, Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp., Gramercy, Louisiana, USA
1974 – 1974    Process Engineer, Guyana Bauxite Company, Linden, Guyana, South America
1970 – 1973    Process Engineer,  Suralco (ALCOA), Suriname, South America

FAMILIAR CHEMICALS

 

 

Acetone
Acetonitrile
Acrylonitrile
Alkyl Benzyl Sulfonates
Alumina
Ammonia
Bisphenol
Butyl Alcohol
Butadiene
Carbon Black
Carbon Tetrachloride
Carbonyl Sulfide
Cumene
Dimethyl Ether
Diethyl Ether
Epoxy Resins
Ethanol, gasohol, neutral spirits, brandy
Ethylene
Ethylene Dichloride
Formaldehyde
Hydroquinone
Nitric Acid
Nitrobenzene
i-propanol
Polyethylene
Polypropylene
Propylene
Thiophene
Toluene
Urea
Vinyl Acetate

FAMILIAR PROCESSES

 

 

Gas Processing:   Turbo expander, JT, Amine Treating, De Hy, Mol. Sieves

Petroleum Refining:  Crude /Vacuum Distillation, Reforming, Hydrotreating, FCCU, TGTU

Petrochemicals:  Ethylene, propylene, Ethanol (Gasohol), Formaldehde, De Hy. Sulfide, Methyl Mercaptan, Ethyl Mercaptan, DMS, Caustic Chlorine

OTHER PROCESSES

 

 

Hydrogen, Carbon Black, Alumina, Electronic Chemicals & Etchants, Mixing and blending of high purity chemicals

 

INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS

 

 

• London, UK
• Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire
• Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq
• Shanghai, China

Examples of Cases I have done:

• Hammon v. Hess “Slip and Fall” (2015)
• Accident Investigation of a fatality on an Evaporator (2015)
• Development of patent application involving chemical processing
• Supporting a Louisiana School Board on tax accruals from a large refinery and chemical processing facility (2016)

Forensic Assignments: Upon Request