Program

For Professionals

The main theme of the conference is “Energy is Everything” so the goal of the various sessions listed below is to highlight how the various topics relate to Energy.  The sessions are focused first on what is happening now with take-home examples as well as a look over the horizon at oncoming process energy developments. View the Conference Program

Keynotes:
• Thursday, November 10th - Nick Spencer, Business Unit Leader of the BP Whiting Refinery and Modernization Project, will speak about the rich history of this massive refinery in Whiting Indiana. He'll then focus on the reasons for the modernization project and what is actually being built to sustain the refinery for the future.

Nick Spencer’s Bio: Nick Spencer serves as the Whiting Refinery Business Unit Leader since October 2009 coming to BP from ConocoPhillips. Previous to this, Nick held the position of General Man-ager Middle East and North Africa Refinery Marketing and Transportation. In 1980, he joined the Humber refinery in England and worked in process engineering and projects before taking on a series of supervisor roles at the refinery. In 1995, he transferred to Conoco headquarters in Houston to lead the operations optimization team for the company’s refining and marketing activities in Gulf Coast region. He moved to Lake Charles, LA the following year to serve as operations manager at Conoco's refinery in Westlake. After a term at Harvard business School, he moved to Ponca City refinery, Oklahoma, in 1999 as refinery manager. In 2002, he transferred back to the UK as general manager of the Humber refinery. Following this assignment, he relocated to London as general manager of European Refining and in September 2006 he moved to Abu Dhabi to lead two new Refinery development projects, one in Saudi Arabia and one in Fujairah. A native of England, Nick earned a first-class honors degree in chemical engineering at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. He also successfully completed the General Manager Program at Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. Nick and his wife, Angela, reside in Chicago, IL.       

• Friday, November 11th - Narasimha Rao, Division Vice President of R & D, Innovation Marketing for the Nalco Company, will talk about Improving Energy Efficiency in Industrial Use: Why Water Matters.

Summary - Water is the heat transfer medium of choice in industry, thanks to its plentiful availability and excellent thermal properties. Whether through process heating and cooling, or waste water treatment, water is associated with nearly 70% of the energy in an industrial plant. In the industrial world, the parameter of interest is water quality more than quantity. Water quality directly impacts corrosion, scaling and microbial activity which in turn impact energy efficiency, asset integrity, product quality and therefore, capital and operating expenses.  Managing water effectively, is therefore of great importance in managing energy.  Doing this involves a holistic approach involving understanding of the water and energy balance at the plant level, a fundamental understanding of process and how water chemistry impacts the process, and modeling tools to predict how the water and energy balance can be impacted through chemical, operational or mechanical means. While a lot of attention has been paid lately to energy efficiency in non-industrial sectors, there is a significant need and demand for innovations and investments to improve energy efficiency in the industrial space.
 
Narasimha Rao’s Bio: Dr. NM Rao joined Nalco in 1990 after finishing his PhD in chemistry from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Madras University, India and a MS in Chemical Engineering from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He has been involved in innovation related to Water and Energy Optimization throughout his career and has led the development and commercialization of several industry leading offerings including the TRASAR 3000, 3D TRASAR®, and Nalco 360™ Service. Over the years, he has held various R & D and Innovation related positions, including a stint in Asia Pacific and currently serves a multi-faceted role as Division Vice President of R & D, Innovation Marketing, and Automation. His inventions have resulted in 7 patents and he has been widely recognized including the R&D 100 award, the 2008 Presidential Green Chemistry Award, and the 2010 Global Water Award.

 

Planned Energy-Based Technical Sessions are the following topical areas:
• Refining
• Natural Gas
• Food in Chicago
• Water
• Safety
• Bio-Technology
• Energy Industrial Success Stories
 
Additional highlights are the following:

Back to Basics Tutorials
We are pleased to present a series of tutorial sessions that cover various chemical engineering topics. These take-home examples are perfect for Professional Engineering (PE) PDH, or those in operations, wishing to update/upgrade their technical skill-sets:
• Plant Operations
• Unit Operations
• Process Standards
• Energy Integration and Utilities
• Process Control

University Process Research
We are pleased to present a series of sessions highlighting on-going energy related research and development efforts occurring at the universities in the Midwest Area:
• How to identify and create University/Industry R&D
• Program overview of energy related research at Midwestern universities
• Examples of existing Industry/Academia Cooperative Research

In addition to the technical sessions, there will be a poster session featuring topics that graduate and undergraduate students from these universities are currently addressing in their research.

As a part of the registration fee for the conference breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks will be provided.   Following the poster session the Local Chicago Section will be hold their monthly dinner meeting.   This is separate event from the conference and all are welcome to attend. See the registration for more details.
 

For Young Professionals (AIChE-YPAB)
 

For Engineers / University Students 35 and younger, we are please to offering a track for young professionals created by young professionals. Topics include the following:
• Resume / Interview
• Management
• Financial / Money Management
• Controls / Mathematical Modeling
• Technical Writing

An after the program YP event has been planned for Friday by the Chicago YP Committee.

For High School Students
 

This FREE high school outreach program is presented in parallel with the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ (AIChE) Midwest Regional Conference. The goal is to expose students to the profession of chemical engineering and engineering in general, and give students the opportunity to interact with professional engineers, engineering students, and engineering faculty. Students will come away from the program with an understanding of what chemical engineers do, how they touch our lives, and how to pursue a career in engineering.

Schedule:
• NASA Astronaut Al Sacco, the first chemical engineering professor in outer space
• Introduction to engineering and its sub-disciplines
• How chemical engineers change the world
• Lunch and chat with college students and practicing engineers
• Panel discussions with engineering students, professionals

For more information on the high schol outreach program, click on the following link: high school outreach