Fire and Explosion Consultant and Expert Witness: Combustion Equipment, Flue Gas Systems and Process Equipment

Expertise

• Fires and explosions associated with combustion equipment.
• Explosion causation.
• Process equipment failure analysis.
• Air pollution control equipment design, specification and operation.
• Hazard analysis for fume collection systems and air ducts.
• Heat transfer in process equipment and boilers.
• Mechanical equipment control design and troubleshooting.
• Expert witness.
• Insurance investigations, root cause and and probable cause failure analysis.

Experience

Equipment Failure Analysis

• Provide independent analysis of the failure mode for industrial and residential combustion equipment.
• Provide insurance companies with probable cause for combustion and explosion incidents at residential, commercial and industrial locations.

Expert Witness

• Provide expert witness testimony and finding of fact for cases involving combustion, emissions and heat transfer for boilers and process equipment.
• In the insurance industry, review equipment failures due to explosion and fires in air ducts.

Hazardous Waste Incineration

• Provide detailed analysis to correct problems related to thermal, hazardous waste and municipal waste processing.
• Provide analysis and recommendations on combustion and fume collection system modifications, process design calculations, permit development, control design modifications, air pollution control system modifications, ash system redesign, and control system improvement for commercial and captive incinerators and oxidizers.
• Generate the designs for fume collection systems to safely handle organic laden fumes.

Process Heat Transfer

• Designed modifications for process heaters, process vaporizers and steam superheaters to improve system efficiency and increase reliability.

Industrial Incineration Systems

• Provide technical advice to incinerator, kilns and oxidizer manufacturers and operators on the design and operation of their systems.
• Develop the process configuration and control for complex combustion systems and the emissions from these systems.
• Develop hazardous and organic fume collection systems for incinerators and oxidizers.
• Provide start up and trouble shooting assistance for large and small combustion system.

Boiler Modification

• Generate detailed modifications and provide start up assistance for coal and oil fired boiler systems.
• Generate designs that incorporate high BTU liquid injection system.
• Provide evaluation on the impact to the air pollution control system with estimates on system emission changes.

Employers

Independent Consultant, Present

General Electric Company

• Aerodynamic engineer, Thermodynamic Engineer and Solar Energy Engineer.

T-Thermal (Trane Thermal)

• Project Engineer, Project Manager, Major Projects Manager, and Combustion Laboratory Director (RCRA Combustion Facility).

Four Nines Inc., (RMT)

• Project Manager, Engineering Manager, Office Manager, Senior Consultant, Principal.

Honors & Publications

Academic and Professional Affiliations

• American Society of Mechanical Engineers
• ASME Research Committee on Waste, Energy and Environment
• Hazardous Waste Operator Test Development Committee
• Air & Waste Management Association
• National Association of Professional Engineers
• National Academy of Forensic Engineers
• EPA Peer Review

Certifications

• Registered Professional Engineer - Delaware, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Minnesota, Utah, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Wisconsin. Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama.
• National Academy of Forensic Engineers
• Board Certified Forensic Engineer

Publications

• Numerous publications
• Courses and presentations

Education

• M.S. Aerospace Engineering, Penn State University
• B.S. Aerospace Engineering, Penn State University