Agenda

Head of Nitrogen Analysis,  CRU
Doug Hoadley is Head of the Nitrogen team at CRU. He was previously Director of Agri Business Analysis at CF Industries for five years, where his team produced forecasts for the Nitrogen market. Prior to that, he was a Director of Marketing and VP of investor relations with Mosaic for ten years. Mr Hoadley also worked as VP Phosphates at CRU between 1990-2002.

Chairman of the Board,  Tamin Petroleum & Petrochemical Investment Company (TAPPICO)
Mohammad Hasan Peivandi Entered the Iranian petrochemical industry in 1978 as supervisor of shift operation in Bandar-Emam petrochemical complex. He has been extensively involved in the development of the Iranian petrochemical industry over the past 40 years. His early experience included cooperation with the Ministry of Energy to launch Ramin power plant for 9 months during the imposed war in 1984; and responsibility for the development of the Arak Petrochemical olefin unit to produce polymer grade ethylene and propylene for the first time.

Mr Peivandi then transferred to Tehran as head of the coordination and production of the National Petrochemical Company, where he went on to hold roles as Deputy Director from 1998-1999 and Director of Planning and Development from 199-2011.

He was a member of the planning and the industry committee in the “Second Development Plan of the Country” and Head of the third five-year plan designed to develop the petrochemical industry.

My Peivandi has also held the Chairmanship and board positions of several organisations including Arya Sasol Polymer Company and Khuzestan Petrochemical, National Petrochemical Company and Member of the board of directors, pension funds, savings and prosperity of the oil industry employees.

More recently he has served as Vice Chairman and CEO of Tamin Petroleum & Petrochemical Investment co. (TAPPICO) before taking his current role as Chairman of the Board, Tamin Petroleum & Petrochemical Investment Company (TAPPICO).

Mr Peivandi has delivered More than 40 lectures at international conferences in the field of petrochemical and energy. He is Director of the Iran Petrochemical Conference (IPC), a member of the National Committee of World Petroleum Congress and has been listed as a key figure in the list of 40 power players in the global petrochemical industry for 2 continuous years.

He holds a BS in Chemistry from Ferdowsi University of Mahshhad; a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Abadan Oil University and an MA in EMBA from Industrial Management Institute.

Senior Analyst – US Chemicals,  Bernstein Research
Jonas Oxgaard, PhD, is the Senior Analyst at Bernstein covering North American Chemicals. Prior to joining Bernstein in 2014, Mr Oxgaard spent six years at McKinsey & Company, serving companies in petrochemicals and energy. Before McKinsey, he worked as a Senior Scientist at the California Institute of Technology in a collaboration with Chevron, developing catalysts for the conversion of natural gas to chemicals. Mr Oxgaard earned BSc and MSc degrees in Chemical Engineering from Chalmers University of Technology in his native Sweden, and moved to the US to earn a PhD in Chemistry from Notre Dame.

Technical Director,  Fertilizers Europe
Antoine Hoxha joined Fertilizers Europe in 2010, after 8 years in the fertilizers industry at Prayon SA where he held positions in R&D and the technology licensing. He has hands-on experience in production and technology in many countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Israel, China, India, Senegal etc.) and holds 2 patents on novel technologies for producing phosphoric acid.
Previously he had worked at the University of Liège as teaching assistant and at Warwick University in pharmaceutical related research.
Mr Hoxha holds a PhD in Chemistry from University of Liège and an Executive MBA from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium.
He was also President of the International Fertiliser Society and external lecturer at the University of Liege.

CEO,  Methanol Institute
Greg Dolan has held a variety of senior management positions with the Methanol Institute over the past 21 years. In June 2014, he was appointed as permanent CEO of the global methanol industry trade association, after serving as Acting CEO for four years. Mr Dolan manages MI's offices in Washington, Singapore, Brussels and Beijing, while directing international governmental relations, media relations, public education and outreach efforts. Mr Dolan came to MI after spending a decade in a variety of public information positions in New York State, with the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Energy Research and Development Authority and the Department of Transportation. Mr Dolan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Boston University, and did extensive post graduate work in Political Communication at the State University of New York-Albany.

Senior Innovation Manager,  Yara International ASA

Responsibility:

Responsible for the nitrogen technology innovation platform, which is a portfolio of projects and activities focusing on how nitrogen fertilizer and chemicals can be produced and sold to the market in the future.

Background:

25 years in the chemicals industry, most of the time in Norsk Hydro and later Yara, working in various positions, mostly in the cross section between technology and business, with product development, R&D, application development, and business development.

Head of Ammonia / Urea Process Department,  thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions
Klaus Noelker graduated at the Technical University of Aachen, Germany, with a PhD in Chemical Engineering. He joined Uhde in 1998 and since then worked in process engineering for ammonia plants. He took part in commissioning of ammonia plants and was commissioning team leader of SAFCO IV in Saudi Arabia, the largest ammonia plant of the world (2006 to 2007). He was promoted to the head of the process department in the ammonia and urea division in 2009.

Fellow, Senior Proposal Manager,  Haldor Topsoe
Svend Erik Nielsen graduated as an M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark (Copenhagen) in 1985. Employed with Haldor Topsøe A/S since 1988, he worked in the Engineering Division, working as Process Engineer for various ammonia plants until 1995. From 1996 to 2005, he was Ammonia Technology Supervisor in the Technology Division, being responsible for technology development and technical proposal work for ammonia plants. From 2005, he was Ammonia Proposal Manager in the Technology Division. Early 2017 Mr Nielsen was appointed to be Topsoe Fellow and is currently Senior Proposal Manager for Ammonia, MeOH, DME in the Chemical Business Unit.

Process Manager, Syngas Process Dept.,  Casale SA
Sergio Panza graduated in Chemical Engineering from Polytechnic University of Milan in 1998. He worked over one year in the research field at ETH of Zurich. Since 2001 he is part of CASALE GROUP. His current position is Process Manager in the Syngas Process Department mainly responsible for ammonia and methanol revamping projects.

Director - Process and Operations,  KPI (Kinetics Process Improvements, Inc.)
VK Arora has been leading process, project development and execution with Kinetics Process Improvements (KPI) in Houston & Bahrain offices. He is also the co-founder of KPI with over 30 years of diversified experience in various process technologies & engineering - including licensing, project feasibility, process improvements, design/start-up, troubleshooting and training in syngas, petrochemicals & derivatives - with a focus in ammonia, methanol, steam cracking and PDH facilities. Prior to KPI, he held several management & technical positions at CB&I/Lummus, KBR, Technip, Reliance & SABIC. He is a Chemical Engineer from IIT, Delhi with professional license in Texas.

Director of Optograf™ Business Development,  SpectraSensors, Inc.
Dr. Peter van Vuuren has been involved with process analysis for 30+ years. His experience with on-line process analyzers includes advanced gas chromatographic systems but also many different optical techniques. These include FTNIR, FTIR and laser based systems like Tunable Diode Laser (TDL) technology and process Raman spectroscopy. At ExxonMobil Chemical he was responsible for the global support of major analyzer projects and the evaluation and deployment of new process analysis technologies. Since retirement from ExxonMobil Chemical he was involved at Kaiser Optical Systems Inc. with the development of the on-line gas phase process Raman spectrometer which became known as the OptografTM. Since Kaiser Optical Systems Inc. and SpectraSensors Inc. were bought by Endress+Hauser, he was appointed as Director of Business Development within the SpectraSensors’ Marketing and Sales group responsible for the Optograf product line.

MSc, PhD, Senior Process and Catalyst Specialist, Syngas Technologies,  Haldor Topsoe A/S
Nikolai Musko holds Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Chemical Engineering from the Russian State University of Oil and Gas, Moscow, Russia. He also has a PhD degree in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen. Mr Musko has industrial experience within hydroprocessing of oil fractions and oil refining. He has also worked several years within academic research in heterogeneous catalysis. In 2012, Mr Musko joined Haldor Topsoe A/S as a Catalyst Engineer in the Technical Services Department, and has grown to the position of a Senior Process and Catalyst Specialist within syngas technologies (H2, MeOH, NH3, etc.). In his current position, he is responsible for the development and execution of new technical services, as well as being a key account manager responsible for a number of large customers and partners.

Global Ammonia Technology Manager,  Incitec Pivot Ltd
Venkat Pattabathula has been working in the ammonia industry for more than 30 years. He is involved in the project management, commissioning and troubleshooting of world scale ammonia plants in India, the Middle East, North America and Australia. Mr Pattabathula is a member of the Institution of Engineers, Australia and American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and presented many industry related papers at international symposiums and also published papers in Nitrogen industry magazines. Currently, he is a member of the AIChE Ammonia Safety Committee that organizes annual safety symposium which attracts delegates from global fertilizer industry. Mr Pattabathula earned a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in Chemical Engineering from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India and a Master of Technology (M.Tech) in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur. He holds a certificate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA.

Vice President Syngas Technology,  KBR
Avinash Malhotra is Vice President Syngas Technology for KBR. He has been with KBR Houston for 26 years and is responsible for the technical and commercial aspects of KBR’s Syngas and Ammonia Technology business worldwide.
Mr Malhotra has more than 50 years of ammonia industry experience. His areas of expertise include ammonia, hydrogen, synthesis gas, methanol, and HYCO plants. The scope of these projects has ranged from economic studies to grassroots complexes valued in excess of US $ 1 billion. Experience is focused in all aspects of project development, technology licensing and development, process design and engineering, construction, plant start-up, feasibility studies, technical and energy audits.
Mr Malhotra holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from IIT Madras, India.
He is a member of the American Institute Chemical Engineers and has received several industry and technical awards. He has been granted twelve patents in Ammonia and Syngas Technology.

Head of Production Dept/General Manager Production,  Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals
P Harinarayana Reddy is a Chemical Engineer graduated in 1989 with first class distinction and standing first rank in the University. He also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Ecology & Environment. He presently works as General Manager (Production) and HOD Production at the Fertilizer Complex, M/s Nagarjuna Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited, Kakinada, India, which has a 16 Lakh MT Urea Production Capacity per annum. He has more than 28 years of experience in commissioning & operations of ammonia, urea and associated utilities. He is one of the core committee members for implementation of all Management systems like ISO-9002QMS, 14001EMS, OHSAS18001, PSMS & Responsible Care (RC) systems in the Fertilizer complex at NFCL. He is Team Leader for HAZOP studies for all the Management of Changes (MOC) implemented in the Total Fertilizer complex at NFCL. He also leads the Technical Training wing to prepare new entrants to the industry.

I&C Engineer,  Engro Fertilizers Ltd
Having graduated from GIK Institute with a degree in Electronics Engineering in June 2014, Hira Shaukat immediately joined Engro Fertilizers as an Instrumentation & Control Systems Engineer. During her 3.5 years working experience with the company, she looked after the Urea & Utilities plant units with her interests peaking in gas turbines, compressors and predictive maintenance techniques. From the seamless Upgradation of GE Gas turbine control system (Mark-V to Mark-VIe) to Replacement of a reciprocating compressor’s relay based control with PLC control (complete in-house PLC programming & HMI development), Ms Shaukat has led multiple projects in these areas. She is a Six-sigma Greenbelt certified professional by the American Society of Quality and is currently pursuing certifications in Data Sciences and Machine Learning with special focus on predictive modeling and algorithm development. The HRSG installed at Engro with online mode-changeover capability was always a favorite. Ms Shaukat and her team managed to increase the availability of this experimental design considerably and her paper covers all these findings along with the future reliability enhancement plans.

Licensing Manager,  Stamicarbon BV
Nitin Joshi has a Bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering from The University of Mumbai (Bombay). After graduation Mr Joshi started working as an Application Engineer in 1993 and then subsequently switched to sales and marketing. He has diverse experience in Licensing, EPC and equipment sales in India and internationally. He joined Stamicarbon as Licensing Manager in 2016. He is responsible for licensing Stamicarbon’s technologies for urea melt, prilling and granulation and the sales of proprietary equipment in India and other parts of the world.

Process Engineer,  Toyo Engineering Corporation
Keigo Sasaki works as a Process Engineer and a Control System Engineer in Process Engineering Division of Toyo Engineering Corporation (TOYO). He worked as a Lead Engineer of the several projects for supplying the OTS of urea process as one of TOYO’s digital solution services. And nowadays, he has taken responsibility for development of the new TOYO’s digital solution service, “Digital Fertilizer”. Because of his career, he is one of the best persons to explain the outline of TOYO’s approach to Digital Fertilizer.

International Marketing Manager,  NEWJCM
Laurence Wai Sang Hong is acting as International Business Director of Jinzhou NEWJCM Turbomachinery Manufacture Co (NEWJCM) in China, and Managing Director of Fluid Science Dynamics in Singapore.
He has held positions in various areas of rotating equipment design, manufacturing and marketing. In his current position, he is responsible for strategic planning, international marketing and business development for NEWJCM.
Mr Wai holds a B.S in Mechanical Engineering and MBA and DBA degrees.

Product Portfolio Manager,  Stamicarbon
Joey Dobrée has a Bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering from the Hanze University and a Master degree in Industrial Engineering and Management from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. After graduation Mr Dobrée started working as Process Engineer for Stamicarbon in 2007, the Licensing and IP Group Center of Maire Tecnimont. After seven years in the role of Licensing Manager, Mr Dobrée is now responsible for innovation, product development and product management of Stamicarbon’s technology portfolio as Product Portfolio Manager.

Head of Process Department,  NIIK (R&D Institute of Urea)
Rinat Anderzhanov graduated from Nizhny Novgorod Technical University in 2011 and received a Bachelor degree in Chemical Machinery and a postgraduate degree in Heavy Machinery. He is currently preparing a PhD paper on urea production process. Mr Anderzhanov’s current position is Head of technology and process department at NIIK. Mr Anderzhanov is one of the key specialists of the company and has a vast experience in urea technologies development.

Process Manager,  Eurotecnica Contractors & Engineers SpA

Chief Technical Advisor – Equipment Engineering,  KBR
Ravishankar Subramanian is the Chief Technical Advisor at KBR Technology since July 2015. He heads a team of engineers located in Houston and India offices of KBR that develop the design & the specifications for KBR’s Proprietary Equipment such as Ammonia Converters, Waste Heat Boiler, Steam Superheater etc. Mr Subramanian graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Shivaji University, Kolhapur in India in 1988. He then worked with one of the leading manufacturers of process plant equipment in India – Larsen & Toubro for the next 27 years prior to his present association with KBR Technology.

Research Scientist,  The Dow Chemical Company
Dr Armin Hassanzadeh is a Chemical Engineer, and a PhD graduate from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago who has been employed by The Dow Chemical Company since 2011. Dr Hassanzadeh possesses more than 10 years of experience working on two main fields of unconventional reservoir modeling and gas processing design & implementation. In his gas processing work, he has been focused on complex and challenging acid gas removal (AGR) unit designs such as the ones for ammonia application. Dr Hassanzadeh has a broad range of expertise from running lab-scaled chemical processes to working with modeling and simulation tools.

General Manager,  Giammarco-Vetrocoke
Luigi Tomasi graduated in Chemical Engineering from the University of Padua in 1973. In 1976 he joined Giammarco-Vetrocoke as Process Engineer, responsible for Study and Development of Low Energy CO2 Removal Processes. He has been involved in design and commissioning/start up of more than 50 CO2 Removal Units mainly in Ammonia/Urea Complexes. Presently Mr Tomasi is the General Manager of Giammarco-Vetrocoke located in Venice (Italy).

Senior Process Engineer,  Giammarco-Vetrocoke
Walter Giacopini graduated in Chemical Engineering from the University of Padua in 2003. In 2004 he joined Giammarco-Vetrocoke as Process Engineer. Since then he has been involved in design, commissioning and start-up of 20 CO2 Removal Units mainly in Ammonia/Urea Complexes. Presently, he is Senior Process Engineer at Giammarco-Vetrocoke located in Venice (Italy).

Director Process Safety,  AmmoniaKnowHow.com
Dan Cojocaru is a Process Safety expert for AmmoniaKnowHow.com. He has 16 years of engineering, commissioning and operation experience in fertilizer and oil and gas industries. He was involved in operation, commissioning and design of fertilizer projects in countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Algeria, India, Vietnam, Romania and Slovak Republic. He has experience in all project phases starting from Concept and Front-end Engineering through Commissioning and Operation and he was involved as process safety specialist in development of Safety Cases for fertilizer and oil and gas industries. He is a Chartered Chemical Engineer and Fellow member of International Association of Commissioning Engineers.

Sales Engineer,  Siemens AB
Mats Hagman has an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and 30 years of experience the from automation and drives business. The last 15 years he has been working at Siemens Sweden as Project Manager and Sales Specialist within the product range Large Drives, mainly comprise motors and frequency converters. He supports several Swedish customers within the chemical and petrochemical industry.

Principal Consultant,  Quest Integrity
Charles Thomas is a Principal Consultant metallurgist with Quest Integrity Group. He has 35 years of experience in both consulting and research, providing asset integrity management services relating to plant reliability, life and condition assessment and root cause failure analysis to the petrochemical, power generation and refinery industries around the world. He has specialized in the reliability of high temperature and furnace assets with a particular interest in the metallurgy of materials used in the syngas industry.

Projects Director,  BD Energy Systems
Dallas Robinson serves as Projects Director at BD Energy Systems since 2016. Mr Robinson started his career in 1975 at Agrico Chemical as Production Engineer. He moved to ThermalKEM, Inc.’s RCRA hazardous waste treatment facilities in 1988 where he held various Director roles. In 1995 Mr Robinson joined Terra (CF) Industries as Maintencance & Engineering Manager before he got appointed as Plant Manager. He managed a number of their plants until 2011. Before his current appointment he worked at LSB Chemicals as VP of Chemical Plant Operations for five years. Mr Robinson has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

BD & Technology,  Linde AG
Klemens Wawrzinek holds a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in Chemical Engineering from Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. After working with Enginion AG as R&D Engineer & Team Lead Thermodynamics he joined Linde in 2006. He worked almost 12 years as Process & Lead Engineer in Hydrogen and Syngas Plants. His field of work spanned from project development & optimization studies over project execution to commissioning, start-up, & performance test, including HyCO and Ammonia plants. Since 2017 he is Project Manager in Business Development and Technology in the product line Hydrogen and Syngas of Linde Engineering.

Syngas & Fertilizers Product Management,  SAIPEM
Massimiliano Sala graduated in Chemical Engineering at Milan Polytechnic, Italy. He joined Snamprogetti, now Saipem, in 2005 and has been working as Process Engineer for ammonia-urea complexes. He has been involved in the basic and detailed design, commissioning and start-up, optimization and debottlenecking for various projects. In 2017 he joined the new XSight division of Saipem where he holds the position of Product Lead for the Syngas and Fertilizer business.

Urea Maintenance Section Head,  MOPCO
Mohamed Mostafa Shams earned his Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering from Alexandria University, Egypt in 2006. He started his career with Misr Fertilizers Production Company “MOPCO” in 2007 as Maintenance Engineer responsible for following up the construction’s activities of ammonia urea plant MOPCO3. From 2008 Mr Shams was Ammonia Maintenance Engineer responsible for maintenance activities in ammonia plant MOPCO3. From 2009 to 2010 he was Maintenance Planner Engineer and part of the core team to implement Maximo 7 as computerised maintenance management system. He also participated in initiating maintenance work instruction (MWI) for rotary and static equipment in ammonia urea plant MOPCO3. From 2010 to 2016 he worked as Senior Maintenance Engineer responsible for maintenance activities in ammonia plant MOPCO3. Since 2016 Mr Shams works as Urea Maintenance Section Head responsible for following up and managing maintenance activities of urea plants MOPCO1 and 2.

Operation Engineer,  Fatima Fertilizer Company Ltd
Muhammad Umar Riaz is an Operation Engineer of Ammonia & Urea plants with more than seven years of experience. His core skills are troubleshooting of complex process, machine, equipment, etc. He is an expert in giving insight to the most threatening plant operational issues with his key skills in plant monitoring, operation, commissioning and overhauling.

Machinery Maintenance Engineer,  Fatima Fertilizer Company Ltd
Mohsin Murtaza is rotating machinery expert with seven years of experience in installation, troubleshooting and maintenance of rotating equipment. His area of expertise are steam turbines, compressors, industrial pumps and other rotating equipment, spectrum analysis, lube oil performance monitoring, maintenance planning and scheduling, troubleshooting and failure analysis. Recently, he has been more focused on reliability monitoring and improvement for rotating equipment. Mohsin has a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering and is certified maintenance and reliability professional (CMRP) and certified reliability leader (CRL).

Market Manager Fertilizer,  Atlas Copco Gas and Process Division
Michael Drewes holds a Master’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering from FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences. In 2011 he joined Atlas Copco Energas GmbH as Application Engineer. He was responsible for individual project proposals and framework agreements in the air separation market. Starting in 2013, he served customers with process gas compressor solutions for worldwide projects in the oil and gas market. In mid-2016, Mr Drewes was appointed Market Manager for fertilizer applications.

Marketing Manager,  Atlas Copco Gas and Process Division
Ulrich Schmitz has 21 years’ experience in sales, marketing and project handling of tailor made turbo machinery in markets such as industrial gases, power, chemical/petrochemical and oil and gas. In his current role as Product Marketing Manager for Atlas Copco Energas he works out of the product company in Cologne, Germany driving product management providing state of the art products as well identifying new markets and products needed in the near and long-term future. Before, he worked in R&D responsible to grow the technical competence for Atlas Copco Gas and Process product applications in the oil and gas industry, while ensuring that their products will be continuously technically optimized by following customer specifications and API requirements. Previously he worked as Regional Sales Manager developing the region in South East Asia out of Singapore for four years. Before that he worked in China for four years in Application Engineering building up a local competence team and setting the path for the local factory packaging turbomachinery in China.
Mr Schmitz has a diploma in Mechanical Engineering from FH Köln, Germany.

Manager, HYCO & Lurgi Technologies,  Air Liquide Globale E&C Solutions US
Alexander Roesch earned a diploma in Chemical Engineering from TU Bergakademie Freiberg and started his professional career with the Lurgi AG, a German engineering and technology company, in 2006. After the acquisition of Lurgi by Air Liquide Group he worked in several functions such as Process Engineer, Start-up Engineer and Commissioning Manager of Steam Reforming based Hydrogen with assignments in Poland, the Netherlands and China.
Currently, Mr Roesch is based in Houston at the Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions front-end office and is heading the local process and technologies department for Air Liquide's HyCO Technologies with responsibility for Steam Methane Reforming, Autothermal Reforming and Gas POX technology.

Senior Process Engineer,  KBR
Mahesh Gandhi (MG) graduated in 1976 with B. Eng. from The M.S. University of Baroda, India and with M.S. in Chemical Engineering (1982) from the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio. He started his career as a Process Engineer with M.W. Kellogg (KBR) in Houston, Texas. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Texas. Over 30 years of his work experience has been in Synthesis Gas Based chemicals like Ammonia, Hydrogen, Methanol and Fertilizers. Currently Mr Gandhi is a Sr. Process Manager with KBR in Houston.

Director of Marketing and Product Development,  ZoneFlow Reactor Technologies
Sanjiv Ratan is currently serving as Director of Marketing & Product Development for ZoneFlow Reactor Technologies LLC. He is responsible for market oriented product advancement, techno-commercial strategy and business promotion for their innovative catalyst and reactor systems development for steam reforming based product-line. Till last year he was Group Deputy Vice President and Director of Technology in Technip Stone & Webster Process technology, having previously served as Chief Technology Officer and Commercial VP for their hydrogen-syngas product-line. He has a Bachelor of Technology (honors) degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India. He is well recognized in the industry and has contributed more than 70 papers in international conferences and publications.

Senior Process Engineer,  thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions
Dr Evgeni Gorval studied first in Kiew (Ukraine) and then at the Bochum University, Germany, where he graduated with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering. He joined Uhde in 2002 and since then worked in process engineering for ammonia plants.
He is responsible for many ammonia development projects and was project leader for ammonia plant revamp of KuibyshevAzot in Russia.
Since 2014 former Uhde GmbH of Germany carries the name of its parent company thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions AG and is a leading licensor for ammonia plants and EPC contractor for ammonia / urea plants and other fertiliser and chemical plants.

Senior Process Engineer,  Johnson Matthey
Daniel Sheldon graduated from the University of Manchester with a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering in 2011 and then joined the Johnson Matthey graduate engineering programme. He first spent time supporting catalyst manufacturing assets, before moving into technology development for both methanol and ammonia production plants and catalysts. Since 2015, Mr Sheldon has been the dedicated engineering contact within Johnson Matthey for a key methanol customer, providing support to their operating plants. He also coordinates several methanol R&D projects.

Vice President Sales Methanol & Hydrogen,  thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions AG
Christopher Frank studied Process Engineering at the University Stuttgart graduating with a "Diplom Ingenieur" degree (comparable with a Master Degree). He started his career with the former Uhde, now thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (tkIS), on April 1, 1993, as a Process Engineer in the Ammonia Process Department. After working on various projects through all phases of engineering commissioning and start-ups of Ammonia plants, he moved to Sales where he became Vice President Sales Ammonia Technology in 2002. In 2006, he took over the global Sales responsibility for tkIS´ then newly created Hydrogen & Nitrates Division. During the next ten years the Nitrate technologies achieved world market leadership in Nitric Acid, Ammonium Nitrate plants (technical grade and fertilizer grade), as well as in tail gas treatment technologies designed to abate greenhouse gases (the Uhde EnviNOx® process). In 2016 tkIS decided to reenter the Methanol business, which has been abandoned in the 1980s, through a partnership and technology take over agreement entered into with GasConTec AG for large scale Methanol plants and with Silicon Fire from Switzerland for small scale Methanol plants. Mr Frank’s current position is Vice President Sales Methanol & Hydrogen.

Deputy Dept Head - Syngas Process Dept,  Casale
Francesco Baratto joined CASALE GROUP in 2004, where he worked initially as Process Engineer, mainly involved in the field of ammonia, methanol and its derivates.
In March 2010 he was appointed Technology Development Section Manager, responsible for a group of people in the Research & Technology department with the duty of preparing technical proposal and feasibility studies and giving process support to the development of new technologies and optimization of existing ones.
In December 2012 he was appointed Deputy Department Head of Syngas Process department, with particular duty of coordinating technical proposal and feasibility study activities.
Mr Baratto graduated from Politecnico di Milano in Chemical Engineering in July 2004 and holds a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from University of Illinois in Chicago (April 2004).

Director, Global Innovation Technologies,  Koch Agronomic Services
Chris Muehling joined Koch Agronomic Services (KAS) in February 2013 as a Director of International Business Development. He transitioned to his current role in November 2014. His background includes extensive experience in business development, plant operations, sales/marketing, and senior leadership. He has worked in the fertilizer, corn wet-milling and ethanol industries and spent time in private equity. Mr Muehling holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University and an MBA from St. Ambrose University.

N-TEGRATION Licensing Engineer,  Koch Agronomic Services
Dan Kuttenkuler has been involved in the design and manufacturing of nitrogen-based fertilizers and products for more than 35 years and has broad experience in prilled or granular nitrogen products. He began to work with enhanced efficiency nitrogen fertilizers in 2006 at AGROTAIN International and brought this expertise to Koch Agronomic Services (KAS) when KAS acquired the company in 2011. Prior, Mr Kuttenkuler held roles including Process Engineer, Plant Manager and Technical Director for Hercules Inc., Dyno Noble (formerly IRECO), LaRoche Industries Inc. and Simplot. He is a graduate of University of Missouri–Columbia with a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering.

Executive VP,  Solex Thermal Science Inc.
Claudio Forniciov holds the position of Executive Vice President at Solex Thermal Science Inc. since November 2014. He has been an active member of the Board of Directors of Solex Thermal Science since 2000. Mr Forniciov began his career as a Reservoir Engineer with EnCana (formerly AEC). He then joined Cominco Engineering Services in 1990 as a Project/ Process Engineer and headed up a variety of engineering and infrastructure projects. He was also an integral member of the team that founded the Bulkflow Heat Exchanger Division (BFHE). After many career successes, Mr Forniciov was chosen to set up the European division and relocated to The Netherlands. In 1999, BFHE executives initiated a corporate buy out and as a result Bulkflow Technologies Inc. was formed. Mr Forniciov then took on the role of Vice President International Projects. Mr Forniciov graduated in 1989 from University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and successfully completed the Advance Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2009. Currently he is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta (APEGGA) as well as the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).

Process Engineer,  Pardis Petrochemical Company
Sajjad Hosseininia is a Senior Process Engineer at Pardis Petrochemical Company, Iran, since 2007. He has 10 years experience in process engineering, optimisation, troubleshooting and process safety in ammonia plants. He has authored more than 25 technical ammonia focused papers for national and international conferences. Mr Hosseininia holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Islamic Azad University and an MSc in Separation Processes from Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Tehran. He is a member of the Iranian Association of Chemical Engineers (IAChE).

Technical Director (Middle East & Africa),  Clariant
Prasanth Kumar C.S holds a Bachelor of Technology (Chemical Engineering) from Calicut University, India. After a couple of years of plant operational experience, Mr Kumar joined United Catalysts (Sued Chemie) in 1991 in New Delhi, India in the Technical Service department. After working in Engineering Service involving several catalyst startups, trouble shooting, simulation studies and later in Sales, he was promoted to General Manager (Marketing & Technical Service) in 2006. He was relocated to Bahrain in 2008 as Technical Service Manager (Middle East) and subsequently promoted to his present position as Technical Director (MEA) in 2013. He is responsible for the Engineering Service activity in Middle East & Africa for Business Unit-Catalysts.

Business Development Manager,  Pall Corporation
Emmanuelle Biadi has a PHD in Biotechnology Engineering and worked for 22 years in PALL corporation, a leading company in filtration and separation technologies. She covered different technical and commercial management roles in Europe, and for 5 years in Middle East and Africa as well. She has worked on filtration and separation applications in various markets, such as Oil & Gas, Refineries and chemicals. Since 2012, her focus is the development of reliable and innovative solutions, to improve product quality, safety, and productivity in the petrochemicals and fertilizers industries.

Production Centre Manager,  MOPCO
Mohamed Abdel Atty Ahmed has a Ph.D. in catalysis chemistry from Ain-shams University, Cairo, Egypt,. His current position is Production Sector Manager for MOPCO, Egypt. He has joined the project team for MOPCO in 2006 to share preparing the technical and investment study for Ammonia & urea plant. He then participated in precommissioning, commissioning, startup of ammonia and utility plant. Prior to 2006, he worked at crude refinery plant. His experience focuses on oil processing and petroleum chemistry research. He is a lecturer for an academic and technical course related to Plant Operation and Catalysis chemistry for the newly hired chemical engineers and university students.

Senior Process Engineer,  Misr Fertilizers Production Co. (MOPCO)
Mohammed Mahmoud El-Gharbawy is a Senior Process Engineer, Technical support at MOPCO. He is also a lecturer, teaching a Process Simulation course at the Faculty of Engineering of Portsaid University. Mr El-Gharbawy previously worked in Operations and Process Engineering in olefins production at PDH Plant of Egyptian propylene and polypropylene company. He has a Master degree in Chemical Engineering and is PhD Researcher.

Process Engineer,  Johnson Matthey
Tom Davison joined Johnson Matthey in 2013 after a PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Manchester, following a MEng in Chemical Engineering at the same institution. He is a Process Engineer working for the Syngas business in the Ammonia Technology Development team.

Global Head of Sales – Heterogeneous Catalysts,  Heraeus Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG
Jens Hesse is Global Head of Sales Heterogeneous Catalysts at Heraeus and therefore responsible for the sales organization for gauze catalysts, emission catalysts and heterogeneous chemical catalysts within the Global Business Unit Heraeus Precious Metals. He was subsequently guiding the Heraeus sales of gauze catalysts and then emission catalysts. Since 2009, Mr Hesse is looking as a Heraeus Sales person for long-term business cooperations. Prior to that, he worked for 8 years at the Automotive Supplier Behr (nowadays Mahle) in various sales positions. Mr Hesse received graduate degree in Business Administration and Engineering (Dipl.-Wirtschaftsingenieur) from the University Karlsruhe (TH), Germany.

Representative,  Hindustan Platinum Pvt. Ltd.
After finishing advanced studies in chemistry, with a concentration on catalysis as well as process and reaction technology Dr Juergen Neumann received a Doctorate in technical chemistry with focus on technical chemistry, physical chemistry and catalysis. He held leading management positions in applications technology, research & development, sales and production management. His most recent position was Business Line Manager of “Performance Catalysts” at Umicore AG & Co. KG. In August 2012 Dr Neumann founded amoxEXPERT.

Process Manager Nitrates & Phosphates,  Casale
Jean-Francois Granger graduated in Chemical Engineering from the National Chemical Industries Higher School of Nancy, France in 1982.
He started his career as Plant Manager for Atofina in Carling (France) in charge of the manufacturing of Acrylics of Specialties and has since held positions as Plant Manager for CECA, Fertilizer Process Engineer and later Manager of the Research and Process Department at GPN where he was the company representative at EFMA for AN safety studies.
 In 2005, he became Licensing Manager for Borealis Chimie SAS (formerly GPN) acting mainly in Nitric Acid & Ammonium Nitrate market.
From 2015 to 2016 he was Team Leader Group Expert Melamine & Fertilizers for Borealis Chimie SAS working for Casale.
 Since, Mr Granger is Process Manager Nitrates & Phosphates for CASALE.

Technical Sales Manager,  Johnson Matthey
Gabriele Aksomaityte obtained a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Nottingham in 2009, before working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Nottingham and the University of Southampton. She joined Johnson Matthey in 2011 as a Senior Scientist, working in precious metal catalysis. Since 2015 she has had a couple of commercial roles. Dr Aksomaityte joined Nitro Technologies in 2017 as Technical Sales Manager.