 | John A. Sames, M.E.Chem.E., P.Eng.
President & CEO John is a chemical engineer and recognized worldwide as an authority on sulphur recovery, particularly in the field of plant operations and process optimization. His company, Sulphur Experts, (and its predecessor Western Research) is focused on the efficient operation of sulphur recovery processes in oil and gas applications and has earned a reputation as the technical leader in process knowledge and plant evaluation. John has established a number of divisions under the Sulphur Experts’ banner to extend this expertise to related processes including: Amine Experts; offering similar services to amine processing plants; Energy Experts, focusing on energy conservation and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction; and Filtration Experts providing process support for separation and filtration units.
John has been involved in every aspect of the optimization of sulphur recovery processes for over 30 years, initially working in a large gas plant in northern Alberta, and for the past 30 years at Western Research/Sulphur Experts.
John is the author of over 30 technical papers on various subjects relating to sulphur recovery and is the co-author of the definitive text on the subject. He is the principal speaker at the Sulphur Experts’ internationally recognized Sulphur Recovery and Amine Treating courses and has participated in more than 200 courses throughout the world. |
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Bruce W. Klint, B.Sc.ChE., P.Eng.
Director - Engineering Bruce is a Chemical Engineer with over 28 years experience in the gas processing and sulphur recovery industry. He has a combination of design engineering, plant operations and process optimization/troubleshooting experience and is Sulphur Experts’ Director of Engineering.
Over the past 23 years Bruce has been directly involved in all aspects of the process engineering consulting work conducted by Sulphur Experts. He has provided expert advice and consulting services in the area of plant inspections, testing and plant optimization for the sour gas and oil refining industries. This includes working on plant optimization projects in more than 200 operating facilities around the world.
Bruce is one of the primary speakers at Sulphur Experts’ world recognized Sulphur Recovery Technical Training Course which has been presented at nearly 100 sites around the world. He also has primary responsibility for co-ordinating and completing all engineering tasks related to Sulphur Experts’ sulphur plant simulation package Sulsim® which is recognized as the leading process simulation package for sulphur recovery processes in the industry.
Prior to joining Sulphur Experts (and its predecessor companies), Bruce spent 6 years operating, designing and constructing both upstream and downstream oil and gas facilities including: well head equipment, pipelines, gas treating units, sulphur recovery units and gas compression equipment.
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Gerald E. Bohme, B.Sc.ChE., P.Eng.
Staff Consultant / Production Manager Gerald is a chemical engineer and senior consultant with over 20 years of experience in all aspects of the process engineering work conducted by Sulphur Experts. In addition, Gerald is Sulphur Experts’ Production Manager and fills a very demanding role overseeing all of Sulphur Experts’ field crews and technical reports for both domestic and international projects. Gerald’s expertise is global and includes plant inspections, testing and plant optimization for the sour gas and oil refining industries, including completion of optimization projects in more than 200 operating facilities in more than 50 countries.
Gerald is also a regular speakers at the Sulphur Experts’ world recognized Sulphur Recovery Technical Training Course and is very active in training plant operators and engineers through our specialized on-site training programs. |
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Peter R. Dale R.E.T.
Senior Staff Technologist / Technical Coordinator Peter is Sulphur Experts’ Technical Coordinator and has responsibility for all analytical systems and test procedures. His primary function is to co-ordinate and supervises all technical aspects of sulphur recovery unit performance testing. Other duties include the design and construction of gas chromatograph systems, developing test methods and procedures and training of technical personnel.
Peter joined the Western Research/Sulphur Experts organization in 1974 and was involved in pioneering many of the highly specialized sampling and analytical procedures employed today. He is an integral part of our analytical team and is our “go-to” person to address unique and challenging sampling and analytical issues. Over his 35+ year career, Peter has been directly involved in sulphur plant optimization projects at more than 150 operating facilities around the world. Peter has also designed and manufactured over 35 "Sulphur Analytical Systems", Sulphur Experts proprietary gas chromatograph analytical system. |
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James A. Swallow, MEng (Chemical), P.Eng., P.E.
Regional Manager – US and Latin America Jamie has a master’s degree in chemical engineering and nearly 25 years experience in the petroleum industry. He joined Sulphur Experts in 2004 following careers in the environmental service industry, facility operations and instrumentation and controls system design.
Jamie is Sulphur Experts’ Regional Manager responsible for all projects, marketing and sales in the United States and Latin America. He is intimately familiar with all aspects of the process engineering consulting work conducted by Sulphur Experts having completed more than 50 sulphur plant optimization and engineering studies worldwide. In addition, his well-rounded experience includes participation in our other core businesses including amine, filtration and energy optimization projects.
Jamie is one of the key presenters at the Sulphur Experts international sulphur recovery seminars and routinely participates in both the Kananaskis and Kemah seminars. |
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Jan B. Kiebert, B.Sc. ME
Regional Manager - Europe, Middle East and Asia Jan Kiebert has B.Sc. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Business Economics and is the Regional Manager for Sulphur Experts European, Middle East and Asia operations. He has over 20 years of experience and has been directly involved in all aspects of the process engineering consulting work conducted by Sulphur Experts. He has conducted numerous sulphur plant inspections, design evaluations, testing and optimization projects for a wide range of facilities and clients. Jan is also a specialist regarding burner systems for sulphur recovery plants and process incinerators.
Jan is one of the primary speakers at Sulphur Experts’ world recognized Sulphur Recovery seminar. Since 2005 Jan has worked in more than 30 countries, conducting in-house training courses and assisting with optimization and improvement of Sulphur Recovery Units. Prior to joining Sulphur Experts, Jan was Marketing and Sales Manager with Duiker Combustion Engineers and involved in world wide sales of combustion equipment.
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Graham P. Latonas, B.Sc., MNRM, P.Biol.
Regional Manager - Canada Graham is an environmental professional with over 30 years experience in the environmental industry. His broad experience covers all aspects of regulatory approvals, environmental impact assessment and waste management studies in Canada and internationally. Graham joined Sulphur Experts in 2008 to lead market development and management of the company’s eco-efficiency and energy management business. He has been involved in a number of energy and sulphur-related projects since joining the company and is currently Regional Manager of Sulphur Experts’ Canadian operations.
Graham has extensive project management and regulatory affairs experience through senior management positions with Western Research, Manitoba Hazardous Waste Management Corporation, BOVAR Waste Management and Gartner Lee Limited. |
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Ben H. Spooner, B.Sc. PetE., P. Eng
Senior Process Engineer / Product Champion - Amine
Ben is a Petroleum Engineer with over 15 years experience providing technical support to the amine industry as an operator, technical specialist and as a consulting engineer. He joined Amine Experts in 2003 and has worked in over 25 countries on hundreds of various amine systems, providing expert assistance and advice regarding plant operations, troubleshooting, optimization and operator training.
Ben has written and presented papers worldwide at various conferences such as Laurence Reid, SOGAT, NACE, and Sulphur. Ben is one of the primary speakers at Amine Experts’ world recognized Amine Treating course and heads our amine service practice area. As Product Champion, Ben is responsible for aligning our amine services with customer needs and ensuring our position as a world-leader in this area is maintained. Ben is the key technical contact for clients seeking information and support on amine-related issues.
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David B. Engel, Ph.D. (Organic Chemistry)
Staff Consultant / Product Champion - Filtration
David is a chemist with over 15 years of industrial experience in a variety of areas ranging from chemical synthesis to phase separation technologies. David is the inventor in over 12 United States Invention Patents (and 15 patent applications) on various subjects relating to technology development for sensors, nanotechnology, coatings, pharmaceuticals, pipeline systems, chemical additives and separation technology. David has also presented a number of seminars on a variety of technical subjects throughout the Americas.
David joined Sulphur Experts in 2009 and leads our Filtration Experts service area. As the Product Champion, David is responsible for developing our separation and filtration services and providing ongoing technical support to clients in this area. He brings his unique research skills and process knowledge to troubleshoot issues with existing separation and filtration systems and provides practical solutions. David is also a key speaker at the Sulphur Experts’ Amine seminars and has developed a stand-alone seminar on Separation and Filtration for the gas processing and refining industries. |
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Gerton M.H. Molenaar, M.Sc. (Env.)
Senior Process Specialist Gerton is a senior process specialist at Sulphur Experts with extensive gas processing experience, most of which has focused on the design and optimisation of sulphur recovery and related processes. His experience includes process design and basic and detailed engineering of various components of sulphur facilities including sulphur recovery, sour water stripping, sulphur degassing and tail gas treating units such as SUPERCLAUS® and SCOT. Through previous experience as a lead process engineer and specialist at Jacobs, Gerton was involved in plant optimization, debottlenecking and scoping studies as well as operator training. On many occasions Gerton also provided expert technical assistance during plant inspection, commissioning, start-up and performance tests around the world. Gerton has written and presented papers at well-respected seminars and conferences including LRGCC in Oklahoma and Brimstone Vail.
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Farsin Derakhshan, B.Sc, P.Eng. Senior Process Engineer / Regional Engineer, Europe & Middle East
Farsin is a professional engineer with over 16 years of experience. He joined Sulphur Experts in 1996 initially working out of the Germany Office and has been directly involved in all aspects of our process engineering consulting work since that time. Now residing in Canada, Farsin is one of our most experienced and well-travelled sulphur plant engineers, providing expert advice and consulting services to clients around the world. His specialty areas include sulphur plant troubleshooting and process optimization.
Farsin is the Regional Engineer for Europe and the Middle East; technically responsible for all projects in these regions. Farsin is also a speaker at our internationally-recognized Sulphur Recovery seminars.
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 | Philip Olesky, B.S. (Chemical Eng.)
Senior Process Engineer / Regional Engineer – United States Phil is a Chemical Engineer with over 25 years experience, nearly half of which has been with Sulphur Experts. He joined Sulphur Experts in 1999 in the United States and has been directly involved in all aspects of our process engineering consulting work since that time. Phil is the Sulphur Experts’ Regional Engineer for the United States and is responsible for all plant testing and optimization projects conducted in the US.
Phil’s career with Sulphur Experts has focused on troubleshooting and optimization of gas treating systems at both refineries and gas processing facilities. Phil has provided engineering services for clients in the US and around the world. |
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Mike H. Sheilan, B.Sc.Chem.E., P.Eng.
Staff Consultant – Amine Systems Mike is a Chemical Engineer with 30 years of varied industry experience. He has been involved in all aspects of the natural gas processing Industry, primarily in relation to the chemicals used to treat gas and the processes that use these chemicals. He has provided expert advice and consulting services in the area of hydrate control, gas dehydration, gas and liquid sweetening, hydrocarbon recovery and sulphur plant operations. Most recently, he has focused on amine plant troubleshooting and plant optimization for the sour gas and oil refining industries. This includes working on plant start-up and optimization projects for more than 100 facilities around the world.
Mike is a well-recognized authority on gas processing and has published numerous papers in the Oil and Gas Journal and Hydrocarbon Processing and he has presented papers at various conferences including the LRGCC, NACE, and CanEnergy. Mike is a regular speaker at the internationally-recognized Sulphur Experts seminars, leading the Amine sessions. In addition, Mike provides expert advice to clients and has performed on-site assessment and training for most of the major producers in the industry. |
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Egbert van Hoorn, M.E.Chem.E., MBA
Staff Consultant – Amine Systems Egbert is a Chemical Engineer with over 25 years of experience and a reputation in Europe, Middle East and Asia as a problem solver for amine plants. His experience includes a combined 17 years with Shell International, Huntsman and Fenysco, providing troubleshooting, testing and start-ups of hydrotreating, Merox, hydrocracking, sour water stripper and amine units. Egbert joined Sulphur Experts in 2000 as a senior consultant and has been be involved in the complete life cycle of amine processing, from conceptual design to start-up to troubleshooting and optimization. He is familiar with all types of amines, from the generics (MEA, DEA, MDEA and DGA) to specialty formulated solvents from all manufacturers.
Egbert is a principal lecturer at the Sulphur Experts Amine Treating Seminar presented in Europe, Canada and the USA and he has helped to train hundreds of operators and engineers in the fundamentals of amine treating systems and sour water strippers. |
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Al Wakelin, B.E. (Chem), P.Eng.
Staff Consultant - Energy Al is a Chemical Engineer with over 35 years of experience and is recognized as an independent authority on incineration with lengthy experience in the field of hazardous waste treatment. Since joining Energy Experts, his work has been directed toward the development and conduct of energy assessment in the gas processing industry, the preparation of operating practices to improve fuel gas efficiency in a wide variety of processes such as fired heaters, boilers and incinerators and demonstrating new technologies including high intensity burners of tail gas incinerators. Al has conducted “hands on” efficiency testing of a wide variety of fired equipment including over 50 tests of steam boilers. Work of a similar nature has involved testing of high temperature incinerators and thermal desorbers. Al leads the Integrated Energy Audit Programs at Energy Experts, coordinating the efforts of internal staff and other specialist engineering companies to conduct energy assessments of natural gas processing and oil refining facilities. From the audits, Al has gone on to develop energy modelling, benchmarking and new technology demonstrations in these facilities. Al's operational and project management experience allows him to work closely with Sulphur Experts' engineers to ensure that projects address the necessary technical and operations issues. Al is also a key figure in the energy efficiency workshops and training seminars conducted by Energy Experts. |