Ian Glasgow is a process technologist at International Alliance Group, and conference chair for the 9th AIChE Southwest Process Technology Conference taking place in Galveston, TX on October 12-13. I recently spoke with Ian to get a sense of what makes this year's conference stand out.
In your opinion, what is the most important current trend in process technology?
I believe the most important trend is to provide economic solutions to the continually evolving industry opportunities and needs. Commercially, industry today demands more immediate returns on capital costs, which is achieved with either lower costs or producing higher valued products.
One area of process technology that is being developed is process intensification, which has opportunities to reduce project capital costs through greater efficiency. “Big data” through automation and IIoT is another process technology area that is looking to find ways to reduce operating costs and improve safety of operating facilities. Attendees will have opportunities to gain more perspective on these process technology areas at SPTC.
What sessions or speakers would you like to highlight as new or noteworthy for the 9th AIChE Southwest Process Technology Conference?
Both of our keynote speakers will touch on areas where process technology is looking to address industry needs. On Thursday, October 12, Robert Ivester from DOE will speak about “Innovations in Manufacturing and Energy” and show how process intensification is being used to reduce project capital costs. On Friday, October 13, Lloyd Colegrove from Dow will speak about “Big Data Analytics Skills – A Revolution Lacking in Revolutionaries,” and how this area of process technology needs to continue to be investigated to further improve industry operation.
We will also have a “Meet the Industry” Poster reception on Friday, October 13. Graduate students from the Gulf Coast region universities will be presenting their research, which will also show some of the new opportunities to use process technology to lower costs, improve operation and safety, and support the future opportunities that may be available for commercial products and new feedstocks.
What message would you like the audience to take away from this year’s AIChE Southwest Process Technology Conference?
I would like for all of our attendees to be able to learn something and make contacts from this conference that they can take back to their office or operating site, and that will allow them to become more successful both today, and in the future.
Click here to learn more about this event.