Intellex Acquires Expert by Big Village

We're thrilled to announce that Intellex has acquired Expert by Big Village, effective March 22, 2024. This strategic move enhances our capabilities and strengthens our commitment to delivering exceptional solutions to our customers.

Stay tuned for more updates on how this acquisition will benefit our clients and experts.

For inquiries or more information, please contact us at info@intellex.com.

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Expert Details

Engineering Cokeless Furnaces, Slurry Pipelines, Slurry Hydrocracking, Oilsand Engineering, and Tailings

ID: 727785 Washington, USA

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Expert is a specialist in the design of gas-fired furnaces for melting of metals. He received in 2017 a grant from the National Science Foundation for the design of a cokeless melting system for ferrous castings.

Expert is the author of an influential book on the engineering of slurry systems. He has close to 30 years of experience and has worked on a large number of mining as well as oil projects. He participated in the development of a slurry hydrocracking process for a major petroleum company and is listed as the inventor for the recovery of catalysts. He has also participated in projects in Canada for the extraction of tar sands, also called oil sands. He has engineering a number of slurry pipelines for construction of tailings dam as well as long distance concentrate transportation. He has a number of publications on smelting lances, lake de-silting and froth pumping. In the last two years expert has lead the effort to get an air permit for the first commercial cokeless foundry for iron melting in the United States.

Expert has also devoted a portion of his career to catalyst recovery through his work on slurry hydrocracking. He is the principal inventor of a patent A PROCESS FOR RECOVERING ULTRAFINE SOLIDS FROM A HYDROCARBON LIQUID. Preparation of packages for purchase of fixed and rotating equipment for refinery expansion and revamp to ASME and API codes. Corrosion engineering for various units of a refinery.

Examples
- Shell refinery in Anacortes, Washington
- Sinclair refinery, Wyoming
- Chevron Richmond refinery, California
- Irving Oil refinery, New Brunswick, Canada
- BP Arco, Blaine, Washington
Splitvane Engineers Foundry Directed air permit application and construction for first commercial cokeless natural gas fired foundry for melting iron in the United States.

Expert has conducted research and published a paper on extracting gas hydrates from deep ocean and transporting in a slurry form.

A small foundry wanted to improve on the cokeless reverberatory cupola to melt iron with natural gas rather than coke but could not find an expert in the USA - since no commercial cokeless foundry was ever built. Expert was hired and led the process of design, obtaining the necessary air permit and order of construction from local authority for a 9000 tons per year plant.Advisor to Chevron for the development of a new process called "slurry hydrocracking" - Advised on appropriate levels of catalyst, and methods to recycle spent catalyst. Research lead to a patent.Lead engineer for the design of a tailings pipeline for Shell Canada/Albian Sands 150,000 barrels per day plant.Engineer for Fluor - participated over 5 years to the commissioning of copper concentrators, solvent extraction plants or design of slurry systems.A major gold producer had identified a site in the Andes at an altitude of 3900 m where gold was found in large quantity. However to access the ore body it was necessary to dredge a bog completely and transport water, gravel, silt and chopped up grass to a water storage pond at a higher altitude. The owner hired a geotechnical expert to conduct a feasibility study. The study initially focused on the top layers that consisted of grass, water and about 10% silt but then extrapolated to the bottom layers that contained sand and gravel up to 20 mm in diameter. The study had proposed to use 8 hydraulic excavators that were deemed very dangerous in the bog, and therefore required highly trained operators who could swim out of the bog. The 8 excavators were connected by hoses to a common pipeline to a sump on the shore feeding three pumps in series. The geotechnical consultant had assumed that the dredged material could be transported at the weight concentration of 40% while the submersible pumps typically dredged at the maximum weight concentration of 30%.

ORC provided peer review but indicated that the lower layers of the bog would require more pumping power as well as operation at higher velocity than the top layers due to a much coarser particle size distribution. ORC also expressed some concern that the hydraulic excavators had experienced in some other sites accidents tipping off and leading to accidental death of an operator. The peer review recommended using an air cushion platform that exerts a minimum pressure of 1 psi to navigate the bog. This also would have allowed the use two larger hydraulic driven submersibles to reduce the number of operators, hoses to the pipeline. An air cushion dredging platform was identified in Singapore for lease as well as another one in Vancouver, British Columbia. The peer review also recommended an increase of the number of booster pumps to four in series to handle the gravel at the deepest layers. The peer reviewer also identified the risk of formation of balls of clay with chopped grass that clog the pipeline in certain points and proposed a number of solutions such as proper design of booster pump station sump, discharge approach into the storage pond. The reviewer also recommended that the reclaim pumps in the storage pond be horizontal slurry pumps rather than vertical turbine pumps.

Outcome: The peer review resulted in a series of recommendations for a more stable dredging and pumping system while proposing a safer technology to avoid accidents associated with hydraulic excavators. The proposed single air cushion platform with large excavator and two large submersible pumps is also likely to reduce the number of operators and auxiliary refueling vehicles for the system proposed by the Geotechnical consultant.
Expert assisted a very large firm extracting oils and in Canada with very difficult disposal of mature fine tailings. Technology is currently subject to a patent application. Expert assisted a defendant in a 60 mile long phosphate pipeline to settle a difficult claim out of court.Prepared packages for a refinery's shut down replacing heat exchangers, pressure vessels and fired heaters.

Expert recently won a large monetary prize for his solutions for removing sediment from reservoirs. He and one other person won the top two positions for this competition. Reclamation launched this competition looking for new and improved techniques in order to remove sediment and transportation of that sediment in a cost-effective manner. Out of the 40 potential solutions entered, 6 were chosen for the cash prize, the 6 winners sharing $75,000 for their efforts. Being a significant problem for our countries reservoirs, sediments are an ever growing issue. The Bureau of Reclamation teamed up with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Natural Resource Conservation Service and American Rivers on various aspects for this competition.

Education

Year Degree Subject Institution
Year: 1986 Degree: Master of Science Subject: Materials Engineering Institution: American University in Cairo
Year: 1984 Degree: Diplome (Equivalent to Masters) Subject: Economic Development Studies Institution: Institut Universitaire d'Etudes de Developpement, Universite de Geneve
Year: 1980 Degree: Bachelor of Science (Engineering) Subject: Aeronautical Engineering Institution: Queen Mary College, University of London, United Kingdom

Work History

Years Employer Title Department
Years: 2015 to Present Employer: Undisclosed Title: Principal Investigator Department: Engineering
Responsibilities:
Expert currently handles the following:

Review of slurry pipelines for mines,
Development of equipment for hydraulic capsule pipeline,
Development of equipment for deep dredging,
Consulting on the construction of the first cokeless foundry in the U.S. for melting iron and steel,
Conversion of coke fired cupola to operation on natural gas, and
Confidential expert witness for failure of a phosphate pipeline.

Expert has received a grant from the National Science Foundation in this capacity.

He consults to oils and extraction firms for the disposal of mature fine tailings.

As a fixed and rotating equipment engineer, Expert has undertaken the revamping of an oil refinery for a confidential client in Wyoming.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 2013 to 2014 Employer: Fluor Title: Technical Director Department:
Responsibilities:
Expert served as Technical Director for the York Polyhalite Pipeline in the UK. He conducted research on moving gas hydrates in a slurry form.

He also served as Subject Matter Expert for a number of peer reviews for tailings and concentrate pipelines.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 2007 to 2013 Employer: Fluor Title: Principal Design Engineer Department: Metals and Mining
Responsibilities:
Expert managed the engineering of tailings pipelines for Barrick Pascua Lama, Barrick Goldstrike, Baja Mining El Boleo, Rio Tinto Kennecott, Rio Tinto Eagle Mining, and PetroCanada Fort Hills.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 2004 to 2007 Employer: Chevron Title: Technical Adviser Department: Energy Technology
Responsibilities:
Expert conducted research for the development of a slurry hydrocracking process.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 2003 to 2004 Employer: SNC Lavalin and COLT Engineering (now Worley Parson) Title: Field Project Engineer Department:
Responsibilities:
He was responsible for Field Support for the start-up of the Albian Sands Energy plant in Ft McMurray. The project consisted of a 155,000-barrels-per-day oil sand extraction plant. Expert was employed through ATS Reliance in this role.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 2001 to 2003 Employer: Anvil Corporation Title: Rotating Equipment and Pressure Vessel Engineer Department: Mechanical
Responsibilities:
Expert was responsible for sizing and preparing RFQ's for pressure vessels, as well as rotating equipment for local refineries.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 2000 to 2001 Employer: Hatch Engineering, Canada and Rescan Engineering Title: Consulting Department: Consultant Engineer
Responsibilities:
He undertook contract work to Hatch and Associates, Rescan Environmental, and Kilborn. He handled the design of slurry and tailings systems for mining.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 1996 to 2000 Employer: Fluor Canada Title: Senior Mechanical Engineer Department:
Responsibilities:
Expert's responsibilities included the engineering of Southern Peru Cuajone expansion and the Gibraltar SX-EW plant.

He served as Lead Rotating Engineer for the Irving Oil Expansion. His achievements included engineering the Muskeg River Oil Sands Extraction Plant.

Government Experience

Years Agency Role Description
Years: 1980 to 1982 Agency: Role: Engineer Description: Military
Years: 1988 to 1990 Agency: CSIRO Australia Role: Scientist Description: He was in charge of the development of a new lance for the Sirosmelt process to smelt non-ferrous metal ores

International Experience

Years Country / Region Summary
Years: 1988 to 1990 Country / Region: Australia Summary: He was employed as a scientist by the CSIRO - developing smelting processes.
Years: 1990 to 1992 Country / Region: Australia Summary: He worked as design engineer for Warman International, a leading manufacturer of slurry pumps.
Years: 1991 to 1995 Country / Region: Canada Summary: Worked for a number of EPCMs such as ERM, Bateman Engineering, Fluor on diamonds mines, gold and copper mines including the design of a 100 km long pipeline for Chile
Years: 2004 to 2007 Country / Region: USA Summary: He was hired as an Advisor to Chevron on a new process for slurry hydrocracking.
Years: 1983 to 1988 Country / Region: Egypt Summary: Volunteered to Bassaisa Rural Technology center building wind mills and solar energy systems

Career Accomplishments

Licenses / Certifications
Professional Engineer
Registered in States of Washington and California, the U.S., and British Columbia Canada
Awards / Recognition
Expert's business received a grant from the National Science Foundation for the development of a new process for melting iron in foundries using natural gas, leading to important reduction of emissions.

Expert was top double winner for sediments removal in the last four years.

He was also winner of USACE in a competition for deep dredging.
Publications and Patents Summary
Expert has 20 papers published, as well as 4 patents -- including one held by Chevron for slurry hydrocracking.

He has authored a slurry systems handbook.

Patents include:
- An internal combustion engine featuring the use of an oscillating liquid column and a hydraulic turbine to convert the energy of fuels
- Centrifugal Separation Bowl with Material Accelerator
- Cokeless Reverberatory Furnace with Separate Hearth and Melting Chamber
- A process for recovering ultrafine solids from a hydrocarbon liquid

Additional Experience

Expert Witness Experience
Expert witness on the dredging of a hydro-electric reservoir in Colorado working for the defendant. Defendant won the case.

Expert Witness on a phosphate slurry pipeline on the side of the defendant. Defendant and Plaintiff settled out of court.
Training / Seminars
He has taught courses in Slurry Engineering.
Slurry course at the Vancouver Conference Tailings and Mine Waste
Vendor Selection
He has selected mining equipment, prepared RFQs for a number of projects in South America.

He has selected pressure vessels prepared RFQs for steam turbines, API 610 pumps for refineries
Other Relevant Experience
Expert has led the efforts for the first cokeless foundry in the U.S. to melt iron and steel. He has been a design engineer for a number of manufacturers of centrifugal petroleum and slurry pumps. Expert's witness won a $225K grant from the National Science Foundation in 2017 to measure emissions from this new invention.

He has engineered many slurry pipelines. He has participated recently in technical audits of two phosphate mines, as well as mud drilling.

Language Skills

Language Proficiency
English Fluent
French Fluent
Arabic Fluent
Spanish

Fields of Expertise

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