Over the course of my career I have been a lead process engineer or a consultant for half a dozen $100 million plus new or expanded bioprocessing and biorefining manufacturing plant design projects and worked on numerous smaller plant improvement projects. This experience includes working with large companies that understand the process of designing and building a new plant and small companies who are designing their first manufacturing plant.

Why Hire a Consultant for Plant Design?

One of the common themes with both large and small companies is everyone is being asked to do more with less and experienced engineers are difficult to find. Often, smaller companies that don’t have a process engineering group will assume that they can just outsource all of the process engineering to an engineering company. The problem with this approach is that engineering firms are also having to do more with less. In addition, these firms are, by their nature, generalists. They do not have a large staff of experts on all possible manufacturing processes and their few best technical people are often spread thin across multiple projects.

To be clear, the engineering firms expect their clients to provide the process expertise. When the client expects that the engineering firm will provide the process expertise, the result is inevitably a critical gap in the project team. This, in turn, invariably leads to numerous design issues that are often only found during startup, leading to delays and cost overruns.

My breadth of experience in the life sciences and process development helps me really learn and understand a client’s process. However, most of what I contribute to a project is my expertise in technology transfer: The ability to ask the right questions of the client’s scientists, engineers, plant operators and mechanics and then work with the engineering company to translate this into a design. Both when I worked for engineering companies, and now as an independent consultant, this is one of the skills that my clients particularly value.

The following is a list of projects that I have worked on during my career. Each is a link to a page with more details about the project.

Projects

Valent BioSciences Greenfield Biopesticides Plant

Consultant/Lead Process Engineer for preliminary and detailed design of $150 million greenfield biopesticides fermentation plant in Iowa. Developed block flow and process flow diagrams and process design basis. Reviewed and provided comments on material...

BioAmber Brownfield Bio‑Succinic Acid Plant

Consultant on preliminary design of $120 million brownfield succinic acid fermentation plant in Ontario. Key member of core engineering team that developed conceptual design of second generation plant. Reviewed and guided development of process...

Confidential Client Greenfield Amino Acid Fermentation Plant

Lead Process Engineer for project to translate a preliminary European design for a $100 million greenfield amino acid fermentation plant to a Midwestern US location. Reviewed and commented on block flow and process flow diagrams and equipment specifications....

Novo Nordisk Industrial Enzyme Plant Expansion

Senior Process Engineer for the design and construction of a multi-product industrial enzyme plant expansion. The $60 million Phase 1 included installation of a new fermentation building with seed and production fermentors, harvest chillers, batch mixing...

Cargill Wet Mill Expansion

Lead Process Engineer for the $140 million wet mill portion of a 110 million gallon per year ethanol plant expansion. The project included new corn receiving, steeping, milling, evaporation and drying equipment. Responsible for coordinating design...

Cargill Wet Mill and Ethanol Plant Expansion

Lead Process Engineer for the development of a preliminary engineering package and total installed cost estimate for a $150 million wet mill plant expansion. The project included new corn receiving, steeping, evaporation, and milling equipment and alternative...

Abengoa Starch & Cellulosic Ethanol Plant

Estimator for a FEL2 ± 20% total installed cost estimate for a greenfield ethanol plant. Plant design was a combination of a 120 million gallon per year corn or milo starch to ethanol plant with a 10 million gallon per year biomass to ethanol ...

Energy BioSystems Diesel Biodesulfurization Plant

Process Development Group Manager responsible for developing a conceptual design and preliminary cost estimate for a first of a kind diesel fuel biodesulfurization plant. Process included biocatalyst production by fermentation, biotransformation using...

Recombinant Human Serum Albumin Manufacturing Plant

Research Engineer for the due diligence evaluation of a Delta Biotechnology Ltd (Nottingham, UK) fermentation process to manufacture recombinant human serum albumin in yeast. Client contracted with Bio-Technical Resources to evaluate the technical and...

Novozymes Biologicals Solid State Fermentor

Project Engineer for conceptual design and preliminary cost estimate for a novel solid state fermentor to manufacture active fungal and bacterial culture products. Developed process flow diagram, material and energy balance, general arrangement drawings...

Confidential Client Plant Growth Regulator Manufacturing Capacity Increase

Consulting project to assist client with increasing manufacturing capacity of a plant growth regulator made by fermentation. Developed design basis and pro forma production plan based on projected future year sales. Developed detailed fermentation,...

Cargill Lactic Acid Fermentation Process Modifications

Lead Process Engineer for project to modify fermentation plant that makes lactic acid for biodegradable polymers. The project included new fermentation air compressors and fermentor modifications. Responsible for coordinating design with the client...

Cargill Citric Acid Evaporator Expansion

Project Engineer/Lead Process Engineer for detailed engineering project to add capacity to a citric acid mechanical vapor recompression evaporator. Responsible for developing P&IDs, hydraulic calculations, and equipment specifications. Coordinated...

Cargill Corn Oil Refinery Upgrades

Lead Process Engineer for preliminary engineering project to install a new corn oil deodorizer. Developed a detailed process simulation model of the corn oil refining process and preliminary P&IDs. Unit operations: Vacuum deodorization...

Evaluation of Biofiltration Technology for Removal of Styrene from Air

Project Engineer for a project to evaluate biofiltration as a means of reducing styrene and fiberglass emissions from a manufacturing plant that makes thermoset compounds and fiberglass-reinforced thermoset parts. Client was facing a regulatory requirement...