Luisa Fernanda ALARCON VARGAS

My name is Luisa Fernanda Alarcón Vargas. Since 2019, I have been a production engineer at the Tarragona olefin cracker.

I have a degree in Chemical Engineering and a master’s degree in Data Science and Big Data. Additionally, I have completed a master’s degree in Secondary Education Teacher Training.

Mohammed ALZANBAQI

Mr. Mohammed Alzanbaqi is a Chemical Engineer with 10 years of Petrochemical professional experience, specializing in Olefins and Glycols related process enhancement, improvement initiatives, and operational excellence. Over the course of his career, Mr. Mohammed  has led multiple plant revamp projects and solved multiple plants chronic issues, delivering measurable gains in efficiency, safety, and reliability.

Mr. Mohammed is currently taking the role of Process Engineering Manager, where he brings both technical expertise and strategic vision—leading teams to innovate, optimize resources, and align process engineering initiatives with long-term business objectives. He has been dedicated to driving sustainable growth by bridging engineering excellence with organizational strategy.

Matthias
BILAWA

Matthias Bilawa has over 30 years of experience in the area of olefins, chemical and refining technologies. He performed process optimization and design for new and capacity expansion of olefins plants, hydrotreating and delayed coking units of refineries including start-up and operating experience on site.

EXPERIENCE:

McDermott (formerly CB&I), The Hague, The Netherlands (January 2011 – Present)
Senior Principal Process Engineer

Alstom Carbon Capture GmbH, Germany (2009 – 2010)
Lead Process Engineer

CB&I Lummus GmbH, Wiesbaden, Germany (1993 – 2009)
Lead Process Engineer

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:

Carbon Capture Tool Initiative (McDermott), Lead for Ethylene Plants (since 2021)

European Ethylene Producers Committee (EEPC), former Main Committee and Workgroup II member, now leader (although we are all equal) of the EEPC Green House Gas IG

Secretary of the Executive Committee of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Netherlands / Belgium Section (since 2017)

Chairman of the HTRI Communication Committee, Germany (2008 – 2012)

Member of Verein Deutscher Ingenieure – VDI (Association of German Engineers) (since 1993)

Isabel CANETE VELA

Dr. Isabel Cañete Vela is a highly motivated Senior Engineer at Borealis Innovation and Technology department, specializing in chemical recycling. With a PhD in Chemical Recycling focused on steam cracking of mixed plastic waste, she brings over 10 years of experience in waste management. Dr. Isabel is an expert in mixed plastics thermochemical recycling, having conducted more than 6 years of experimental research at Chalmers pilot plant. She has extensive skills in recycling processes and technologies, and has conducted cutting-edge research on circular economy and waste reduction. Her pilot-scale experiments demonstrated that mixed waste can be converted into useful chemicals, highlighting the potential of thermochemical recycling to reduce emissions and promote a circular economy.

Mathieu CLAERHOUDT

Academic Background

– Master in Electromechanical Engineering (Ghent University, 1998 – 2003)

– Master in General Management (Vlerick Business School Ghent, 2003 – 2004)

Professional Career

– Consultant Aerospace & Defense Industries  Altran Europe, 2004 – 2006

– Plant Asset Manager  BASF Antwerpen, Nitric & Sulphuric Acid, 2006 – 2011

– Workshop Manager (teamlead) HDRE Maintenance  BASF Antwerpen, Central Maintenance, 2011 – 2019

– Nomination as Senior Global Expert HDRE   BASF Global Engineering Services, July 2019

– Senior Manager Global Technical Support HDRE  BASF Ludwigshafen, GET/SR, 2019 – 2023 (delegation)

BASF Antwerpen, Central Maintenance, 2023 – current

– Nomination as Principal Global Expert HDRE  BASF Global Engineering Services, January 202

Pascal COENEN

Pascal Coenen is Team Lead of the Base Chemicals Center of Expertise in Shell Amsterdam.

Pascal holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the Eindhoven Technical University and has over 30 years of experience in technical and business roles in petrochemicals covering refining, base chemicals, specialty chemicals and utilities.

In his current role at Shell, he is responsible for leading the global Base Chemicals team perfoming R&D, manufacturing site support, grassroots & revamp projects for steam crackers.

Pascal has been active in various Issue and Working Groups of the European Ethylene Producers Committee EEPC since 2000. Currently is the chairman of the EEPC.

Richard COOPER

Richard Cooper works as Principal Technologist at Shell, where he provides site support as well as leads several technology development initiatives and projects. He started his career with Shell in 2008 as a process engineer at the Pernis refinery. Prior to joining Shell, Richard worked as process engineer for Technip Energies and for Foster Wheeler. He comes from South Africa and holds Bachelor’s degrees in both Chemical Engineering and in Commerce. He is married with two teenage children and he enjoys playing volleyball, travelling and reading novels

Fabrice CUOQ

Fabrice Cuoq is currently Staff Scientist at SABIC in the Netherlands since 2013. He is working within the Technology & Innovation department where he is responsible for improving steam crackers’ and downstream plant’s efficiency both in Europe and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  He is focusing on fouling and corrosion mitigation and is taking care of using best in class chemistries to optimize operations and avoid un-planned shut-down. For 5 years, he has been actively working with his colleague Dr Kae Wong on upgrading and stabilizing pyrolysis oil from mixed plastic waste for further processing in steam crackers, so that recyclability of any plastic becomes possible and is feasible at large scale.

He holds about 20 patents, a master in polymer science and a PhD in water treatment obtained from Aix-Marseille university in France.

Richard DALEY

Richard Daley is Chief Technology Officer for Mura Technology, which is commissioning the first commercial scale application of the Hydro-PRT® technology at the Wilton International site in the UK. Hydro-PRT® is an advanced plastic recycling process using supercritical water for the conversion of waste plastics to circular hydrocarbons.

Richard is a Chartered Chemical Engineer by background with extensive experience in R&D development and technology commercialization. He has worked in senior management and C Suite positions within plant operations and global engineering contract organizations for over 20 years.

Babua DAS

Mr. Babua Das has been working in the Petrochemical industry for 28 years. He is currently Chief Scientist at SABIC in Jubail, KSA.  He studied Chemical Engineering at the Jadavpur University in India. After his studies, he was involved in multiple roles in Technology Licensing, Process Design and Engineering, Technical Services and Manufacturing. His industrial experience spans several major international oil, gas and petrochemical companies, Technology and EPC Organisations. He has received two patents as co-inventor in the fields of ethanol to ethylene and methanol to olefins and has actively involved in technology scale-up support for several novel technologies.

Javier FLORENCIO

Javier Florencio is Senior Industry Technical Consultant at Nalco Water. He has 23 years of experience working in the development, implementation and troubleshooting of chemical treatment solutions to solve process-side challenges in the petrochemical industry. Has been working in projects for more than 100 ethylene, styrene, butadiene, acrylonitrile, vinyl acetate and other kind of monomer production plants around the world. For the last 3 years Javier has been particularly focusing on helping plastic pyoil producers and consumers in Europe solve challenges in the pyoil production and pre-treatment processes, as well as pyoil quality issues.

Javier holds 3 patents and is Chemical Engineer and MBA by the Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Spain.

Samarjit GHOSH

Samarjit Ghosh, Borealis

Chemical Engineer with twenty-nine years of experience in project management, process engineering, and the operation of steam cracker plants, I am currently working with Borealis AB as a Senior Group Expert in Olefins Recovery, based in Sweden. I have been a member of EEPC Working Group 1 since 2023.

Marian-Flores GRANOBLES

Dr. Marian Flores, ArcelorMittal, completed her PhD in Chemical Engineering at Ghent University, with focus on process and reactor modelling of syngas production and CO₂ utilization processes.

During her PhD, she evaluated the CO₂ reduction potential of the implementation of CCU processes for the steel and petrochemical industries.

Since 2022, Marian is a technical advisor for the ArcelorMittal group on topics related to syngas generation, CO₂ capture, conversion and transport.

Stephan HAZZAM

Current Position:

Manager Global Operations Linde Advanced Operations Solutions based in Munich, Germany

Background:

Stephan globally manages operations and commercials of Linde Advanced Operations Solutions, a unit within Linde, that provides AI products & solutions for the Process Industry specifically for advanced automation, real time optimization as well as real time analytics.

In his previous assignment he was responsible for the development and execution of tailor-made FEED and Process Design Packages for the petrochemical industry. Before that he held multiple senior leadership positions including Head of Systems Engineering and Start-up for petrochemical plants based in Germany and Head of Process and Electrical Engineering for Helium and Hydrogen liquefaction and refrigeration plants based in Switzerland.

He continuously drives the digital transformation acting as a Digital Champion and Sponsor throughout the Linde organization. Stephan holds a master degree in Energy and Process Engineering from Technical University Munich (TUM) in Germany.

Henk HAGEN

Henk Hagen is currently Senior Technology Manager Sustainability for the Hydrocarbons & Energy Business of the Dow Chemical Company. Before moving into this role in 2020, he had worked in roles across various technologies such as polyolefins, butadiene to 1-octene, polyglycols and ethyleneamines, covering R&D as well as manufacturing. He started his career at Dow in 2000 after obtaining a Ph.D. in chemistry from Utrecht University.

Martin HARVEY

Martin Harvey, MEng, graduated in Chemical Engineering from Leeds University in 1990. In his 34-year career in the Petrochemical industry on Teesside he has worked for ICI, Huntsman and, since 2007, SABIC UK Petrochemicals.

He has been associated with SABIC’s Olefins 6 plant for 30 years. His roles have included Senior Operations, Senior Technical and, since 2014, Senior EHSS Manager.

He has been involved in EEPC Working Groups and Issue Groups for 20 years and is currently the Vice-Chair for EEPC.

Shane HARVEY

P.Eng. Manager Compressor Technology
Shane has been with EEE for over 18 years, beginning as a Field Application Engineer for Elliott
Turbomachinery Canada supporting customers for both new apparatus and rerates of existing
machines across the Canadian market as well as supporting projects globally. Relocating to
Houston taking the role as lead applications engineer on a number of large projects globally
within the Ethylene, PDH and LNG markets. Prior to joining the Product Line Management team
Shane was the Manager of Application Engineering, leading a team of Applications Engineers
across country.
Shane is the current co-chair of the Rotating Equipment Subcommittee of the Ethylene
Producers Committee. He has presented papers at various industry conferences globally on
subjects on a wide range of topics applicable to large centrifugal compressors. Currently a
member of both ASME and AIChE, Shane is also a registered Professional Engineer in the
Province of Alberta and holds a B.Sc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Calgary.
EEE’s Product Line Management (PLM) is responsible for developing our products to meet
future needs of our customers. Working closely with key customers and EEE’s world class
Engineering and R&D teams the PLM mangers direct the scope and focus of development
efforts and then work to deploy new technologies out to our customers.

Phill JAMES

is a Technology Director in Evonik’s Interface & Performance group.

He has more than 25 years of experience in the petrochemical industry, the last 21 have been with Evonik Industries, where he has specialized in fouling prevention.  He is a member of the NOx, Popcorn & Reactive Chemicals Issue Groups and represents Evonik at the EEPC Main Committee.  Phill holds a doctorate in Chemistry from the University of Leicester in the UK.  He is based in Wales, where he lives next to the sea with his wife and 4 children.

Rombout KELDERMANS

Rombout Keldermans, chemical engineer, graduated from KU Leuven in 1993. He started working for BASF in 1994 and assumed multiple roles and responsibilities in production and process management, mainly in cracker operations. Rombout became the plant manager of the BASF Antwerp Steamcracker in 2007. In 2021 Rombout changed over to the technology organization, being responsible for global AM/MM/RE and TARM for BASF petrochemicals worldwide.

Rombout is a member of the EEPC Main- and Ex- committee and sponsor of the working group 2 and the Issue Group Turnarounds.

Kamal KISHORE

Kamal is a Staff Scientist at SABIC with over 28 years of experience. He holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from HBTI Kanpur, India. He is an expert in Ethylene Process technology and has a proven track record of executing and improving processes throughout a project’s life cycle, from initial design to technical service. His work experience spans from conceptualization and basic design to detailed engineering, participation in HAZOP and SIL reviews including plant operations. He has a neck for troubleshooting, which has helped him solve complex problems throughout his career. He has headed large teams of process engineers and is sought after as a leader, teacher, and mentor in the industry.

Leo KOERSVELT

Leo Koersvelt is working within SABIC and the legal predecessors since 1987, the last 25+ years within Maintenance dealing with long term Mechanical Integrity of static equipment within the naphtacrackers and polymer plants. Now he holds the position of Lead Engineer, Static Asset Engineering.

Leo is member of the EEPC Maintenance issue group since 2012 and chairman of this group since October 1, 2023.

Gunther KRACKER

Dr. Gunther Kracker is the Head of Product Management & Cost Estimation, for product line Sustainable Hydrocarbon Solutions in Linde Engineering.

With Linde Engineering since 2004, he first started as a Process Engineer for major steam cracker grassroot and revamp projects. From 2013 to 2020 Gunther was heading the Process Engineering Department for Petrochemical Plants, since 2017 his team of process engineers also included the process engineering group for cracking furnace design.

Since 2021 he was leading the Product Management & Cost Estimation for Petrochemical Plants, from 2023 on his responsibility extended to natural gas plants and petrochemical plants in the new product line “Sustainable Hydrocarbon Solutions”.

In this role he is today responsible for the management and development of Linde’s petrochemical and natural gas technology portfolio, with a clear focus on new sustainable technology elements.

Gunther earned his MA and Ph.D. degrees in process engineering at the University of Technology in Graz, Austria.

Laurent LEMINEUR

Laurent Lemineur is 52 years old and has more than 20 years of experience in olefins business.

He works for TotalEnergies since 2007, first as Ethylene Recovery Specialist and now as Olefins & Derivatives manager in OneTech organization.

Before he worked for Versalis steamcracker in Dunkirk (France) from 2001 to 2007 and for the petrochemical plant of Pantochim in Belgium from 1994 to 2000.

He got a Chemical Engineering Degree in University of Mons in Belgium in 1994.

Sylvie LEMOINE

Sylvie Lemoine

Cefic Deputy Director General & Executive Director Industrial Policy

Sylvie Lemoine is a distinguished professional with a robust background in EU regulatory affairs spanning over fifteen years, both in EU trade associations and in chemical companies. As the Executive Director of Product Stewardship at Cefic since 2019, she has been instrumental in driving initiatives on the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability.

Transitioning her expertise, Sylvie now champions Industrial Policy within the organisation since 2024.

Prior to her tenure at Cefic, Sylvie held a pivotal role as the Director for Technical and Regulatory Affairs at A.I.S.E., the International Association for Soaps, Detergents, and Maintenance products, after which she joined Dow Government Affairs in 2016.

Sylvie Lemoine holds a chemical engineering degree complemented with a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the esteemed Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg, France. She commenced her professional career at ExxonMobil Chemical, gaining experience across R&D and market development departments based in Brussels.

Andreas LOSCHELDER

Andreas Loschelder, Shell Rheinland Energy & Chemicals Park

Chemical Process Engineering in Aachen and Génie Chimique at Ecole Centrale Paris

Production Unit Manager for Lower Olefins & Aromatics Units since 2015

Previously Production Unit Manager for Gasification, Hydrogen- and Methanol-Synthesis.

From 1996-2002 at  BAYER Dormagen  as Project Manager for EC Erdölchemie GmbH (today INEOS)

From 2002-2008 at LANXESS Brunsbüttel as Technical Plant Manager for Rubber Chemicals

Dirk LOSE

is Senior Technical Service Manager at Shell Catalyst and Technologies, based in Germany. He provides technical support for catalytic hydrogenation in processes downstream of steam crackers across Europe, the Middle East, and India, with a strong focus on delivering customer value through a broad range of applications utilizing Shell Catalysts & Technologies solutions. Dirk has spent many years at Shell in research and development, responsible for heterogeneous catalyst development and pilot plant laboratory.  Before joining Shell, he gained experience in refinery process engineering and managed scale-up projects for specialty chemicals in the chemical industry. He holds a diploma in chemistry and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Martin Luther University, Halle, Germany.

Bryan McVICKER

Bryan McVicker serves as the Core Pyrolysis Expert within the ExxonMobil Technology organization. With 28 years of experience in Olefins manufacturing along the U.S. Gulf Coast, he has specialized in Pyrolysis Technology since 2003.

Bryan leads ExxonMobil’s Pyrolysis Network process safety program and actively contributes to industry advancement through his role on the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) EPC Operations Subcommittee.

He is based at ExxonMobil’s Spring Campus in Texas.

Rodriguo OLIVEIRA

Graduated in Industrial Chemical Engineering in Lisbon 20 years ago, has more than 17 years of experience, most of them related to Steam Cracker Operations for Repsol sites in Portugal and Spain.

His roles have included Plant Engineer, Refinery Logistics and Storage Operations Manager and Olefins Plant Manager until the actual position as Senior Production Manager for the Repsol Petrochemical Site in Sines, Portugal.

Has been involved in EEPC Working Groups for 10 years and is currently the Working Group I chair.

Dominic RIEDEL

Process Manager at Steamcracker Ludwigshafen / BASF

With BASF since 2012

PhD in Chemistry (University of Heidelberg)

Part of EEPC WG1 since 2023

Mikko RONKA

Mikko Rönkä, Asset Transformation Manager at Borealis Polymers Oy, is responsible for asset transformation and CO₂ roadmap development.

He has 20 years of experience in cracker and petrochemical processes, project execution, and investment portfolio management. His current work focuses on energy efficiency, flaring reduction, and CO₂ emissions mitigation.

Tomás SANCHEZ

Tomás Sanchez represents Ebara Elliott Energy as a Regional Sales Manager, covering Europe and Africa for Engineered Solutions which includes re-rates, modifications and upgrades of turbomachinery for Oil & Gas, Petrochemicals, Refining, LNG, Ethylene and power generation applications. Previously, Tomás had several roles in Elliott namely in Houston, TX as Field Service Regional Manager, in Switzerland as Technical Support Manager and in EMA (Europe, Middle-east and Africa) as Field Service Engineer. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering with focus on thermodynamics and ICE (internal combustion engines)”

Karina SCHNITTKER

Karina Schnittker

*26.03.1988

living in Dormagen, near Cologne

2007-2011

Ineos Manufacturing Cologne: Trainee Chemical Production Technician

University of Applied Sciences Niederrhein: Bachelor of chemical engineering

Since 2011

Ineos Olefines & Polymers in Cologne

Current position: Deputy Plant Manager Cracker

Christian SCHULTE

• LyondellBasell and panel session facilitator
• Living in Cologne, Germany
• Graduated in 2003 as Chemical Engineer from TU Dortmund, Germany
• Started at ABB Lummus Global GmbH, Wiesbaden
• Joined 2008 Basell Polyolefine GmbH, Several Roles in Technology and Production at Wesseling and Muenchsmuenster Sites

Since 2023 Technology Manager Monomers and Utilities at Wesseling Site.

Steffen SYMOENS

Dr. Steffen Symoens is Team Lead Process Engineer at TotalEnergies, where Steffen leads process engineering and technical support for Naphtha Cracker 3. Steffen holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Ghent University, with research focused on coke formation in high-temperature alloys. With extensive experience in steam cracking, emission reduction, and process optimization, Steffen has held roles as Senior Cracking Furnace Engineer and Cracking Furnace Engineer at TotalEnergies

Gabor TOTH

Gabor Toth MOL Plc, Technology Development expert

He is a mechanical engineer . He has 22 years with MOL in different positions most of it around Steam Crackers, currently works as Technology Development expert. He represent MOL in EEPC’s Main Committee.

Johan VAN DER EIJK

Johan van der Eijk is Manager of the Process Design Department at Technip Energies in the Netherlands. In this function he is responsible for the day to day management of the Process Design Department focussed on ethylene, hydrogen (all colors) and syngas technology.

He has more than 28 years of experience in process design and engineering with a specialization in the petrochemical industry, specifically ethylene technology.

Johan holds a Master degree in Chemical Technology from the Technical University in Delft, The Netherlands.

Johan is active in the European Ethylene Producers Committee (EEPC) as chairman of the IG furnace safety and as member of WG2. He is recognized as Senior Technology Expert within the Technip Energies Network in the field of ethylene, with expertise in cracking furnaces.

Kevin VAN GEEM

Kevin Van Geem is a full professor at Ghent University and director of the Laboratory for Chemical Technology. He specializes in thermochemical reaction engineering, focusing on sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels. His expertise includes chemical recycling of plastics and the electrification of the chemical industry. A former Fulbright Research Scholar at MIT and visiting professor at Stanford, he has authored over 400 scientific publications and holds two prestigious European Research Council grants. He is also the managing director of a spin-off company AVGI and a former professional soccer player.

Axel VERNIMMEN

Axel Vernimmen is a Process Engineer specialized in Olefins & Derivatives in TotalEnergies OneTech Organization, based at the Feluy Research Center.

Currently, Axel is focused on optimization, circularity integration and low-carbon transformation of TotalEnergies’ steam crackers.

Before he worked in TotalEnergies’ steam cracker in Antwerp as an Operations Engineer from 2021 to 2025 and as a Process Engineer from 2019 to 2021.

He graduated in 2019 with a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Ghent.

Andrew WALKER

Andrew Walker has worked in the petrochemical industry on Teesside for ICI, Huntsman and SABIC for over 35 years.  He has worked as a plant engineer and a machines engineer a range of downstream petrochemical assets including Ammonia, PTA and Olefins plants.  In 2021 Andrew was appointed to the SABIC Centre of Excellence as a rotating equipment engineer.

Christian ZIEGLER

Christian Ziegler, Linde

is Process Engineering, graduated from the University of Regensburg, Germany in 2006  and with Linde since June 2006.

Field of Experience : Olefin Plants, Utility Systems, new plant and revamp projects, Systems Engineering, Pre-/Commissioning (Management), Preservation, Start-Up, Plant Turnaround, Cracking Furnace Operation and Engineering

Professional Qualification / Professional Experience

01/2023-ongoing Head of Department, Systems Engineering and Start-up, Sustainable Hydrocarbon Solutions

05/2020-12/2022 Head of Department, Systems Engineering and Start-up, Petrochemical Plants

06/2006-05/2020 Senior Expert Systems Engineering and Start-up, Petrochemical Plants