Chemical engineers are focused on seeking solutions to the technical and economic issues facing the world, from alternative energy and carbon management, to water treatment and purification. Those issues will be among the topics featured at this year’s Spring Meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, being held here from March 21-25. More than 1,200 chemical engineers are expected at the Grand Hyatt San Antonio.
On Monday, March 22, in the Energy Leadership Keynote address, John D. Hofmeister, founder and CEO of Citizens for Affordable Energy, will discuss two of the most critical issues facing the energy industry today – energy availability and affordability.
In an Energy and Resource Efficiency Plenary on Tuesday, March 23, Amory Lovins, the cofounder, chairman and chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), will announce the winners of the joint AIChE and RMI 10xE Competition. The 10xE competition – 10xE is short for “ten times the efficiency” – aims to discover radically efficient designs of processes, devices and materials that dramatically reduce energy and resource consumption. Winning projects will be published in the 10xE casebook later this year.
The meeting also features the 6th Global Congress on Process Safety – the largest annual gathering of process safety experts in the world. They will share lessons learned in the chemical, refining, and pharmaceutical industries. Issues to be covered include technologies and practices for preventing fires and explosions and the hazards of alternative fuels.
A special session on Monday, March 22, will focus on trends in energy and biological research in Spain. Organized by the Spanish Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Association (SEQUI), the session will address advances in wind energy, algae produced biodiesel, green chemistry, applications for biomedical applications, and photocatalytic processes to remove contaminants from water.
AIChE Holds Spring National Meeting
Other highlights of the conference include:
The 22nd Ethylene Producers’ Conference
13th Topical Conference on Refinery Processing
10th Topical Conference on Natural Gas Ultilization
Advanced Fossil Energy Utilization
Clean Fuels and Energy Efficient Processes
Advances in Processing Radioactive Waste and the Nuclear Fuel Cycle
Environmental Aspects of Nanomaterials
Other speakers at the conference include Dr. Alfredo “Al” Armendariz, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 6 administrator, who will deliver Monday’s keynote address.
About AIChE: AIChE is a professional society of more than 40,000 chemical engineers in 92 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.