STS AICHE November 2nd 2023 Monthly Dinner Meeting

Please join the South Texas Section for our monthly workshop and dinner meeting at San Jacinto College CPET, 7901 Fairmont Parkway, Pasadena, TX. The keynote for the STS-AIChE dinner will be delivered by Zoë Baldwin. 

• 5:30PM - 6:30PM       Pre-Dinner Workshop (1 PDH) 

• 6:00PM - 6:45PM        Social Networking Time  

• 6:45PM - 7:30PM        Dinner & Announcements  

• 7:30PM - 8:30PM        Keynote Presentation by Zoë Baldwin (1 PDH) 

Workshop Registration 

In-Person Registration: No registration needed. 

Virtual Attendance Registration

The Workshop is free to attend. 

AIChE Dinner Registration 

In-Person Registration

Virtual Attendance Registration

Dinner Registration Fees 

Keynote Presentation (1 PDH Available) 

Topic 

Sustainability in Chemicals

Abstract 

TBD 

About the Keynote Speaker 

Zoë Baldwin

General Manager Marketing Americas, Chemicals and Products, Shell

As General Manager Marketing Americas, Zoë Baldwin is responsible for marketing of Shell Chemicals' traditional and sustainable chemical products in the Americas along with global leadership for Shell's Performance Olefins and Performance Surfactants product lines. This includes partnering closely with customers to deliver sustainable growth through the Energy Transition by developing deep market insights and customer-centric solutions.

Based in Houston, Zoë oversees a large organization that is quickly moving forward with building a suite of sustainable customer offerings and circular solutions that meet customers current and future needs. Previously, Zoë was the General Manager for Shell's Base Chemicals business for the Americas region where she drove accountability for maximizing the value of the Olefins, Aromatics, Feedstocks and Phenol businesses.

Zoë began her career in Management Consulting based in London, UK and joined Shell as a part of the Downstream Management Consultancy in the Strategy organization. She went on to hold a successive number of roles across the Downstream business in Mobility, Upstream and joined the Chemicals & Products organization. In 2016, as the General Manager for the Natural Gas Liquids business in Canada, Zoë led a team that generated significant value for Shell's Canadian midstream business as it identified and cultivated multiple cross-business opportunities in Shales, Integrated Gas, Manufacturing, and Supply Trading.

Her broad perspective of the industry, coupled with her geographically diverse experience, helps Zoë deeply understand the regionality of chemicals and downstream market value chains and helps her team understand and respond to regional needs and supply challenges.

Zoë earned her Bachelor of Industrial Engineering degree from the University of Toronto and an MBA from Richard Ivey Business School. Deeply passionate about developing people, working with teams  and customers to deliver outstanding results, Zoë has a proven track record of successes. In her free time, Zoë enjoys spending time with her family. friends. and her horse. She also loves travelling.

Pre-Dinner Workshop (1 PDH Available) 

Topic 

Process Digital Twins for Optimal Plant Operations 

Abstract 

Process simulations have been used in most industries since the invention of computers primarily for engineering efforts in process design, troubleshooting and debottlenecking. More recently process digital twins have emerged as a tool to support plant operations.  Petroleum refining and major chemical plants pioneered the use of process digital twins for feedstock selection, planning and process optimization of complex units. As the robustness of process digital twins has continued to improve, their adoption has expanded to other industries and for a wider variety of purposes. 

A robust process digital twin has the attributes of 1) an accurate representation of the current performance of an asset over its full range of operation including the disposition of each molecule, and 2) fully automated model updating and runs that complement business workflows. This digital twin can support process engineering, project engineering, planning and scheduling, operations, process control and plant maintenance. 

The future process digital twin is expected to merge with other digital twins including behavioral digital twins and supply chain digital twins. Next generation digital twins will also include more artificial intelligence capabilities to model poorly understood processes and enable autonomous operations by detecting and responding appropriately to abnormal conditions. 

This presentation will cover: 

• the history of process digital twins 

• the structure and functions of a robust process digital twin 

• the benefits of process digital twins with actual case studies 

• the future for process digital twins 

About the Speaker 

William (Bill) Poe

Technical Advisor at Schneider Electric  

Bill Poe has over 40 years of international business and industrial experience in design, operations, and optimization of industrial plants.   

After earning a Bachelor degree from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master of Science from Columbia University both in Chemical Engineering, Bill started his career at Shell Oil Company, working over a decade in natural gas processing plants. In the 1990’s, he joined Continental Controls to lead the process engineering department in support of executing contracts with the Gas Research Institute where he developed new process optimization applications. After joining GE as part of the Continental Controls acquisition, he became vice president of this division of GE where his responsibilities included direction of product development, projects, technical sales support, and customer service for process optimization applications.  

In 2001, Bill joined Invensys Process Systems which was acquired by Schneider Electric in 2014. While with Schneider Electric, he has developed automation, planning and optimization business cases for over 200 manufacturing plants worldwide in a variety of industries.   

Bill has co-authored the Handbook of Natural Gas Transmission and Processing, now in its fourth edition, as well as Modeling, Control and Optimization of Natural Gas Processing Plants.  He served as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Natural Gas Science & Engineering and on the advisory board of Gas Processing & LNG.  Bill has authored or co-authored more than 60 technical papers and made numerous technical presentations at prestigious international conferences.  He received Shell’s President Award in 1990, GE Innovators Award in 1999 and attained the Invensys Circle of Excellence in 2011.