Welcome to the latest in a series of AIChE blog posts profiling process engineers, a diverse group of professionals spanning multiple industries and regions. In this series, we profile process engineers who work in a wide range of fields, including petrochemicals, pharma, bulk chemicals, food, and other process-intensive industries.
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This month, we introduce you to David Paul, Principal Engineer at Vattenfall. He discusses the path that led to his career in process engineering, overcoming challenges, and the importance of his work.
Tell us a bit about your work as a process engineer.
After graduating with a master’s degree in chemical engineering, I started working for a large engineering contractor in the UK as a process design engineer. My job involved doing hydraulic calculations, equipment sizing, preparing process datasheets, material balances, PFDs, P&IDs, and other process engineering deliverables for various projects. As part of interdisciplinary project teams, I also participated in a number of workshops including, but not limited to, design reviews, HAZID/ENVIDs, HAZOPs, risk assessments, 3D-model reviews, pre-start-up reviews, and design change management reviews.
After working in this role for a few years, I wanted to move into an operations role to experience firsthand how the process plants that I had learned to design were actually operated. I ended up joining the in-house engineering and projects team of a base oils refinery in Sweden where I led the development and execution of various refinery modifications/improvements and revamp projects, all the way from feasibility studies to site construction and operation. I also supported the refinery operations team in troubleshooting various process and control system issues related to the Crude Distillation, Hydrogen Production, and Sulphur Recovery units.
Currently, I work as a principal engineer for a large renewable energy developer, supporting green hydrogen projects. In this role, I work closely with senior management, business development, project managers, and engineering teams, and provide technical input to business strategy, investment decisions, and R&D/technology development initiatives.
A year into my first engineering job, I realized that most of the adverse environmental impacts of large industrial plants — whether burning fossil fuels, releasing harmful gases into the atmosphere, or contaminating water bodies with toxic chemicals — can be mitigated through process engineering. I learned that process engineers, through the application of their knowledge and technical skills, are actually at the forefront of solving these challenging problems.
Why did you become a process engineer?
I did not plan on becoming a process engineer. When I graduated from university, I wanted to apply my knowledge to reducing industrial pollution. Growing up in Pakistan, I saw firsthand the devastating impact of industrial emissions on the life and health of local communities. A year into my first engineering job, I realized that most of the adverse environmental impacts of large industrial plants — whether burning fossil fuels, releasing harmful gases into the atmosphere, or contaminating water bodies with toxic chemicals — can be mitigated through process engineering. I learned that process engineers, through the application of their knowledge and technical skills, are actually at the forefront of solving these challenging problems. That’s what influenced my decision to become a process engineer. Soon after, by God’s favour, I got the opportunity to transition to a process engineer role at the company I was working for, enabling me to pursue my passion and interests, designing and building safe, environmentally friendly and energy efficient process plants. I have served in various roles over the years, and it gives me great satisfaction to say, that no matter what the position, I have been able to contribute to saving humanity and the environment from harm.
What are some of the biggest challenges you face in your role as a process engineer?
The biggest challenge that I continually face as a process engineer is understanding and managing the (often conflicting) requirements or wishes of the different stakeholders of a project or business team. The project managers want a project completed on time and within budget. We, as engineers, want to make sure we have perfected the technical solution. And the HSE team wants the safest and most state-of-the-art environmentally friendly solution. On top of that, and perhaps the most influential group, the commercial team is after a profitable business case, i.e., highest returns with the minimum capital and operating costs. Then there are also the external stakeholders like the local authorities, the customers, the investors, and so on.
It is easy to get carried away in your own technical work, but to be successful in their role, process engineers have to effectively engage and communicate with all the different interest groups, manage expectations, and be flexible to adapt their work to achieve the overall project objectives.
How is your work as a process engineer critical to your particular job assignment or industry?
I currently work for Vattenfall, a Swedish state-owned energy company, and am part of the unit responsible for developing renewable energy to hydrogen (so-called green hydrogen) projects. The green hydrogen industry is relatively new and has its own challenges. One of these is the lack of credible data and operational experience on industrial-scale hydrogen production from the electrolysis of water. There are unanswered questions on electrolyzer types and their commercial readiness, cost, energy efficiency, their lifetime, etc. A core part of my current job is to objectively and critically review this information, engage with the supply chain, OEMs, industry R&D projects, and other stakeholders, and advise my organization to make informed decisions on investments, balancing risks and opportunities. This is critical as financial resources, whether public money through government grants and subsidies or private finance, have to be invested in projects that are sustainable, technically, and commercially viable and contribute the most towards our goal of enabling fossil freedom.
What do you think is most important about what you do as a process engineer?
From the conception of a project or a technical solution to its design, construction, operation and eventual disposal, process engineers play a key role in preventing harm to human life and the environment. This, in my view, is my most important duty as a process engineer. Secondly, no matter what role I have in a project or company, it is essential that I perform my job with the utmost integrity, honesty, responsibility and care.
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