Daniel R. Summers is currently a Distillation Consultant. He formerly was the Tray Technology Manager for Sulzer Chemtech USA, Inc. He was a 1977 graduate in Chemical Engineering from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo. His entire career has been focused on the development, design, operation, and troubleshooting of all forms of distillation tower internals. These internals would be applied in the hydrocarbon, specialty chemical, refining, fuel ethanol, air separation, and natural gas industries. He is the author of over 70 papers on distillation and is a listed inventor on three US patents. He has travelled the world as an expert on distillation and has been a featured speaker at numerous Chemical Engineering Conferences.
At present, Dan is a consultant for (Fractionation Research Inc.) FRI’s Design Practices Committee & was the Chair of that committee for 12 years. He is currently a Director of AIChE’s Separations Division. He is a registered professional engineer in New York and Oklahoma and is a Fellow of AIChE. He is also the recipient of the 2016 AIChE Gerhold Award for outstanding work in Chemical Separations Technology.