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After 20 years working for chemical companies expert changed his career to work full-time on chemical plant design. He has worked 15 years for engineering and construction companies doing chemical plant design (chemicals, polymers, pharmaceutical and related fields). He continued with similar projects in his own consulting business on both large and small plant design. He was elevated within the engineering companies from a senior level engineer to the Director of Process Engineering for a major contractor with a peak of 52 direct engineering and design reports. In this position, he had responsibility to oversee technology issues, modernize engineering tools, effect training of staff and oversee quality of all projects for the business unit at that location. At the same time he had a working position as lead process engineer or project manager for at least one project, usually a highly technical project or process study.

Expert became one of the key co-developers of a liquid rubber for Uniroyal Chemical. This liquid rubber is sold by the trade name of Trilene by Uniroyal Chemical, now part of Chemtura. This liquid rubber product was developed using a unique liquid-liquid "slurry" process. The recipe development was done in 8 weeks and 6 weeks later the first commercial samples were shipped to a customer. In time, the pilot unit was scaled-up under Expert's direction into a semi-works commercial facility. Later a new plant was built to increase capacity of this specialize product. The product is an EP copolymer with or without a diene ter-monomer (EPDM). The product is used in several applications: as a reactive plasticizer, and as a direct rubber product were low viscosity at low temperature is required. One special vesion of this product was made using metalocene catalyst about 2 years before this catalyst system became widely commercialized by other large polymer producers. This product remains as the only liquid EPDM rubber on the market.

Over many years expert became familiar with many of the aspects of polymer compounding by his involvement in a multitude of polymer plant operations and polymer plant designs. This includes the feed systems, the compounder itself, the compounder auxiliary systems, the downstream melt handling systems, pelletizing and finished product handling. In the last three years all of this general experience was consolidated into a major design exercise for the world's premier producer of PMMA, Plexiglas. Expert developed the scope of several alternate PMMA compounding facilities. Some of the options developed included very complex feed systems to produce specialized products. This involved plant work observing existing operations and developing a working relationship with many of the key compounding vendors and vendors of auxiliary equipment. Close contacts and a working relationship were established with Coperion (Werner & Pfleiderer) and Berstorff and to a lesser degree Japan Steel Works. Auxiliary equipment vendors were also involved in the scope development and engineering including: loss-in-weight feeders, vacuum pumps, melt pumps, melt filtration, screeners with fines removal, wet and dry pelletizers and pneumatic conveying.

Polymer Devolatilization is his field of highest competency. He is a world-class expert in this field with a multitude of development, operational and engineering experiences. The strength of his knowledge lies in the fact that he has a broad range of experience using many different type unit operations at many different scales. He was directly involved in Monsanto's in-house development and design of wiped film devolatilizers for SAN. The process and equipment developed and commercialized by expert at Monsanto was only equaled by the world's major manufacturer of Wiped Film Devolatilizers sixteen years after expert started up the first commercial plant utilizing the internally developed equipment and technology. He worked in the pilot plant development of this technology as well as managed the startup of the first and second commercial units for this technology. In addition he has extensive experience with "Falling Strand Devolatilizers" with both Monsanto and Fina (now Total) polystyrene technology. He also has worked at several scales with multi-staged devolatilization extruders. For one client he did an extensive study comparing and contrasting more than four options of combined devolatilization equipment to concentrate a low solids block styrene-butadiene copolymer to finished product. For the same client he searched out and proved the leading cause of the major product quality defect in the co-polymer product caused by the existing devolatilization equipment. On a lesser scale, he has provided original designs to several polymer devolatization processes and proved the designs accurate in actual operation. He also has experience with several solid-state polymer devolatilization processes. This is expert's number one technology know-how.

Polymer process engineering is a sub-set of chemical plant design. Polymer plant design is expert's specialty within chemical plant design. He has engineered plants including the equipment specification for the following type polymer plants: PS, HIPS, SAN, ABS, PET, HDPE, PP, LLDPE, PMMA, acrylic elastomers, SBR, PBd, EPDM, PC, PU, PVC, recycled plastics, styrene-butadiene block copolymer, Spandex, and others.

Control systems involved in polymerization reactors has been one of expert's specialties when the need has arisen during the design, start-up and operation of polymer plants. He has tuned and developed BTU controls, Temperature to Pressure cascade loops, temperature profile programs and made them work in real life situations. One especially complex control system involved closed loop gas chromatograph control of two major reactor feeds. His early days at Monsanto were a strong foundation to use in future control problems for polymerization reactors, both batch and continuous.

Expert was a strong force in the start-up of 8 major capital plants for Monsanto and Uniroyal Chemical. By the second of these startups he was put in the position of the primary technical engineer responsible for the success of the plant startup. He demonstrated commercial success (90% of design rate and 95% quality yield) on multiple projects ahead of schedule and under budget. He developed his own systematic approach to startups which served him well and he passed on his methodology to others involved in these startups. Besides being successful, expert finds this work the most rewarding part of capital project execution.

Provided project management and process engineering for a new polycarbonate process technology for plant in China.Provided process engineering for a major PMMA (plexiglas) expansion for Arkema. Project included polymerization area, compounding and offsites. A second project provided for a complex product compounding facility.Provided process and product design input for a new swimming pool chemical delivery system.Involved in the laboratory development of a new specific waste to energy process. All engineering input is being provided to an entrepreneur seeking a solution to a specific waste issue. Co-inventor for two US Patents.Involved in the development of a new consumer product to deal with pet wastes. Co-inventor for one US Patent.Provided scale up assistance for a cannabis derivative production facility involving solvent evaporation and distillation.