Fluid Catalytic Cracking Units (FCCU) Process Engineering Expert

Expertise

• Over Thirty years of experience in process engineering in the petroleum refining industry, based on a long-term career with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company.
• Focused on fluidized bed catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) design, start-up, operations, troubleshooting, and optimization.

Experience

Undisclosed Company, Senior Advisor, Present

• Providing consulting in the FCC units design, operation, optimization, and troubleshooting for the petrochemical industries.

ExxonMobile

• FCCU troubleshooting and operation problems including catalyst losses, catalyst circulation.
• Developed FCC unit operating procedures, including start-up, shutdown, and emergency procedures.
• Contributed to FCC risk assessment analyses.
• Participated in FCC reliability assessments, recommend means for improving run lengths.
• Developed and presented FCC operator training courses.
• Performed FCC turnaround inspections and develop requirements for necessary equipment repair/modifications.
• Provided onsite FCC unit start-up coverage.
• Established equipment design criteria, procedures, and standards for fluidized solids.
• Developed FCC equipment designs to improve unit performance, expanded capacity, and adapted to changes in feedstocks, and in operating objectives.
• Conducted process improvement studies considering unit equipment constraints, alternate equipment or operating procedures required to meet objectives, and development of incentives for project justification.
• Reviewed FCC equipment designs for compatibility with expected future operations.
• Developed research and development programs, budgets, resource needs, and schedules for FCC improvements.
• Developed FCCU yield performance predictions including assessment of feedstock impacts and adequacy of existing equipment to achieve desired objectives.
• Supervised FCC process engineers covering a full range of engineering services, including:
• Research and Development of new and innovative design modifications for unit profit improvement.
• Improvement and standardization of yield prediction models for changing operating conditions, feed rates, and fee quality.
• Improvement of yield prediction tools to incorporate prediction correlations for trace components.
• Developed proposals for potential licensing of FCCU technology.
• Prepared Design Bases for new FCC designs or unit modifications.
• Provided consulting services for third parties assessing the development of new fluid solids processes, including Flexicokers, covering scale up concerns and solutions.
• Equipment design recommendations to translate laboratory, bench, and cold flow model data into a viable commercial unit.
• Permit optimizing equipment cost and yield effects vs. catalyst losses guidance.

Education

• M.S. Chemical Engineering, Newark College of Engineering, Newark, NJ
• B.S. Chemical Engineering, Lafayette College, Easton, PA