Chemical engineers, process safety experts, and stakeholders across the chemical process industries will explore opportunities in the profession when the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and its Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) present the 2025 AIChE Spring Meeting and 21st Global Congress on Process Safety, April 6–10 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas. This year’s Spring Meeting program showcases chemical engineers as innovators addressing the evolving needs of industry and society, including chemical engineering’s role in driving the global transition toward the use of more-sustainable resources.
The AIChE Spring Meeting is the largest annual conference for practicing chemical engineers and allied professionals, showcasing the breadth of chemical engineering endeavors, from the field’s fundamentals to its new developments, in a program incorporating more than 200 technical sessions. Areas of focus include new and sustainable methods of manufacturing and energy production, as well as process safety developments in the chemical, petrochemical, and related industries.
The conference kicks off on Monday, April 7, with the AIChE Government and Industry Leaders (AGILE) Keynote lecture — to be presented by Rebecca Liebert, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Lubrizol Corporation, a global specialty chemicals company. Liebert will discuss the chemical industry’s fundamental contributions to modern society, and the crucial role it is playing in shaping a sustainable future.
The Spring Meeting’s focus on new energy and emerging opportunities for chemical engineers will underscore topical conferences devoted to the safe use of hydrogen and new methods of manufacturing — the latter incorporating resource-efficient process intensification techniques, as well as Industry 4.0 concepts such as artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, and cybersecurity.
Programming organized by AIChE’s Fuels and Petrochemicals Division will span topics ranging from traditional fuel production to considerations of how the oil and gas industries are adapting to the changing landscape of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonization. The energy-focused programming begins on April 7 at a plenary co-organized with the meeting’s Industry 4.0 topical conference.
Along other program tracks, the 37th Ethylene Producers’ Conference highlights a keynote talk by Pam Heatherington (ExxonMobil Product Solutions), who will discuss sustainable ethylene production. AIChE’s Process Development Division will host keynote speaker Debalina Sengupta (University of Houston’s Energy Transition Institute). A panel discussion devoted to the application of AI and data analytics in the chemicals industry features commentary from Richard Braatz (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Heiko Claussen (AspenTech).
Another program highlight is the biennial Kister Distillation Symposium, with its programming built upon decades of knowledge and progress in that field. Additional topical conferences delve into gas utilization, refinery processing, and professional-skills development for engineers.
Keynote luncheons expand upon some of the conference’s themes. On April 7, Michael Finelli (Syensqo) will discuss the harnessing of new technologies to advance the chemicals industry. On April 8, Laura Parkan (Air Liquide North America) will address the safe use of hydrogen as an energy resource. The luncheon speaker on April 9 is Wade Alleman (Oxychem), who will reflect on the evolution of the risk management process from a leadership perspective.
Organized by AIChE’s Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS), the Global Congress on Process Safety (GCPS) engages the world’s safety engineers, plant managers, and process design experts in an exploration of technologies and strategies to ensure plant safety, manage risk, and strengthen process safety management (PSM) programs. The Global Congress builds upon CCPS’ vision of “A World Without Process Safety Incidents.”
This year’s GCPS will mark the 40th year of the Center for Chemical Process Safety. AIChE established CCPS in the aftermath of the 1984 gas leak disaster in Bhopal, India, as a means of documenting process safety knowledge, technologies, and strategies, and sharing that information worldwide. CCPS’ 40th-anniversary programming at the Global Congress will reflect that body of knowledge.
The GCPS begins on April 7 with a plenary panel, which will showcase the past, present, and future of process safety. After the panel, the CCPS International Conference will feature the session “40th Anniversary of CCPS: Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future.”
The GCPS incorporates the programming of the 59th Annual Loss Prevention Symposium, the 40th CCPS International Conference, the 27th Process Plant Safety Symposium, and the 14th Process Safety Management Mentoring Symposium. The meeting’s international emphasis will be on display at sessions offering “Perspectives on Process Safety from Around the World.”
A session devoted to “Case Histories and Lessons Learned” (April 9) will spotlight real-world incident investigations. Those include a turbine failure at a power station in Queensland, Australia, and a discussion of the 2023 OceanGate Titan submersible vessel implosion, among other topics.
For a complete schedule of events and information about conference registration, visit www.aiche.org/spring.
About AIChE: AIChE is a professional society of more than 60,000 members in more than 110 countries. Its members work in corporations, universities and government using their knowledge of chemical processes to develop safe and useful products for the benefit of society. Through its varied programs, AIChE continues to be a focal point for information exchange on the frontier of chemical engineering research in such areas as nanotechnology, sustainability, hydrogen fuels, biological and environmental engineering, and chemical plant safety and security. More information about AIChE is available at www.aiche.org.