Seçmen AKBAS

Seçmen holds a master’s degree in Electro-Mechanical Engineering, graduating in 1995. He started his professional career in an SME in the material handling business, where he managed logistic projects worldwide. He started working in the chemical industry more than 25 years ago, in the engineering department at BASF Antwerp. Since then, he held several Maintenance and Asset Management positions in different chemical plants. In his present role as Innovation Manager, he is responsible for the development and implementation of robotic solutions for operational inspections and maintenance.

Claudia Alves

Claudia is a Strategic Negotiator at Google focused on Data Center Infrastructure and Power development and acquisition for Google, in order to meet the demand and growth of all Google products.

Claudia’s background includes more than a decade of experience in managing 24/7 critical facility operations. This experience, gained in part through her 8 years at Repsol Olefins Plants followed by 4 years managing Google Data Center Operations across different datacenter products and countries in Europe.

Claudia holds a Master in Chemical Engineering from University of Porto, and EMBA Certificates in General Management, Governance and Financial Sustainability from Copenhagen Business School.

Kris BAKELANTS

Chairman EEPC TAR Issue Group

Working at BASF Antwerp as Technology Manager Petrochemicals

Responsible for improvements with regard to Asset – Maintenance – Reliability and TAR Management

TAR Manager Steamcracker TAR27

Born in 1966

34 years of experience

22 years TAR/Maintenance BASF (mainly Steamcracker and EO)

6 years Operations/Maintenance Manager at Kaneka

6 years Consultancy as Delivery Manager at PDM

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)

Rafael CAYUELA

At Dow, Rafael is responsible for defining and accelerating the EMEAI Sustainable, Digital & Growth Transformation Strategy.

Externally, he is the Chair of CEFIC (European Chemical Industry Association) Mid Century Vision Molecules Manager, while also serving on the International Advisory Board of the World Energy Council, FT Manufacturing Advisory Board and being the Chair of the Industry Advisory Panel of the Energy Charter Treaty

Rafael is an economist with over 20 years of experience within the chemical industry. He holds a master’s degree in Economics from the College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium, and an MBA from Northwood University in Michigan. He also completed his executive education at the University of Chicago (Executive MBA), the University of Oxford on Blockchain and Singularity University on Exponential & Disruptive Technologies.

Rafael is also the author of the Book “The Chemical Industry by 2050” and currently working on his new book “The Chemical Industry under the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Molecules vs. Qubits”.

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.

Ana COLACO

Ana Colaço, Repsol

Process Engineer at Repsol’s Sines site, with expertise in steam cracking, butadiene extraction, and steam and power generation. Active member of the EEPC Working Group 1 since 2023.

Aashish GAURAV

Based in Houston, TX, Aashish is the Senior Technology Manager at KBR, where he leads research and development in plastics recycling and aids in business development for the plastics recycling PSL across Asia and the Americas. Prior to joining KBR in 2021, he worked in R&D and process engineering, focusing on the circular economy, ethylene and petrochemicals, fuel additives, and reactor design. Aashish earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Waterloo and is skilled in chemical process development, technology due diligence, and techno-economic analysis

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.

Sabina GYSIN PIOTON

Process engineer with experience in Petrochemicals, Refining and Energy Efficiency, currently working as Process Lead on the Normandy Platform of TotalEnergies. Chair of EEPC Working Group 1 since 2020.

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.

Dwight HINES

Dwight Hines is a Principal Chemical Process Industry Advisor Veolia Water Technologies & Solutions.  He has over 40 years in the Ethylene Industry.  Dwight has done graduate work in Biology, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the University of Houston.  He started his career doing research at NASA and then at Baylor College of Medicine before going to ExxonMobil for 23 years.  He then moved to BASF in Port Arthur Texas where spent 17 years before retiring.  The last 2 years he has worked at Suez and then Veolia helping customers solve problems in their ethylene plants.

Torben HOEFEL

Torben holds a PHD in process engineering from the Technical University of Munich and has more than 12 years of professional experience in olefin technologies.

He joined Linde Engineering in 2012 and worked as Process Engineer in leading function for the design of large olefin plants, including Steam Cracker, Catalytic Dehydrogenation & Butadiene Extraction.

Since 2022, his role changed to Product Management of Sustainable Olefin Technologies, where he is passionate about technology innovations and solutions to reach societies ambitious decarbonization targets.

Torben is co-inventor of more than 15 patents and patent applications in the field of petrochemical plant design and operation.

Rob INGRAM

Rob graduated from the University of Nottingham with a degree in Chemistry, started working in the chemical industry in the UK in 1989, and joined INEOS at the end of 1998.
During the last 24 years with INEOS, Rob has held senior commercial positions in a number of different divisions within the group, before becoming the CEO of INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe in 2018, responsible for ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, polyethylene and polypropylene.
In addition to his responsibilities at INEOS, Rob also plays an active role in key industry associations, being the Chairman of Petrochemicals Europe, and a member of the Steering Board of Plastics Europe.

MARC JORDENS

Marc Jordens is Chief Engineer Furnace Technology in the Joint Ventures and Growth Projects department at Borealis. In his function, he advises on the  fired equipment in projects and solves technical problems in running plants.

He has more than 33 years of experience in the industry, of which 24 years on the operation and optimization of steam cracking furnaces and more recently also other fired equipment.

Marc holds a Master degree in Chemical Engineering Technology from the KU Leuven Faculty of Engineering Technology, Campus De Nayer Belgium.

Marc is active as a member of the IG furnace safety for the European Ethylene Producers Committee (EEPC) for over 10 years and is recognized as a furnace expert within the Borealis group.

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.

Dharmendra Kumar Narang

Department Manager Process Engineering

Technip Energies, Zoetermeer, Netherlands

Dharmendra has 34 years of experience in process engineering, mostly in field of steam cracking, from concept to commissioning. He has been involved with the start-up of several steam crackers and troubleshooting for both grassroot and debottlenecking. Dharmendra has conducted Several Operator training sessions. He has participated to several development projects, bagged the innovation award. He is leading a team of more than 30 Process Engineers working in the field of ethylene, hydrogen grey, blue and green and the waste reprocessing.

Laurent Lemmineur

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.

Andreas LOSCHELDER

Andreas Loschelder was born on 28.09.1969 in Bonn.

• 1990 – 1996

RWTH Aachen: Diplom Ingenieur Maschinenbau / Chemical Process Engineering

Ecole Centrale Paris: Diplôme en Génie Chimique

• 1996 – 2002

BAYER Dormagen

Project Manager for EC Erdölchemie GmbH (today INEOS)

•  2002 – 2008

BAYER / LANXESS Brunsbüttel

Area Engineer for Rubber Chemicals / Antidegradants

•  Since 2008

SHELL Rheinland Refinery Wesseling

Production Unit Manager Gasification, Hydrogen- and Methanol-Synthesis (until 2015)

Production Unit Manager Lower Olefins & Aromatics (since 2015)

Pol Moreno

• Current Role:

-C4/Octene/Aromatics Hydrocarbons Tech Center SME in Dow Hydrocarbons.

-4 year in role. Located in Tarragona (Spain)

• Service Time, Prior Roles/Experiences:

20 years in Dow.

Joined Dow in May 2004 as Site Utilities Engineer (2004-06)

Always linked to Hydrocarbons Business – Steam Cracker and Octene plants –

• Primary areas of current focus

Technology support for butadiene extraction-Octene & aromatic assets.

Popcorn prevention in LHC plants.

Global C4-BD-Oct technology related topics in LHC plants & support to capital projects.

Esmaeil Mahmoudi NAMARVAR

Esmaeil is a seasoned Mechanical Engineer with over 20 years of extensive experience, predominantly focused on heat exchangers, reactors, and pressure vessels. With a robust expertise in the thermal and mechanical design of elevated temperature exchangers, furnace, and reformer components, Esmaeil has carved out a niche in the engineering domain.

Throughout his illustrious career, Esmaeil has demonstrated a profound proficiency in utilizing Finite Element Analysis (FEA) for thermal and mechanical stress analysis of proprietary equipment. This technical acumen has been instrumental in advancing the design and performance of critical components in ethylene and reforming technologies, where he holds several patents as an inventor and co-inventor.

For over 15 years, Esmaeil has been a vital part of Technip Energies, where he began his journey in the mechanical department. Over the past five years, he transitioned into product development, currently serving as the “Product Development Manager Mechanical Engineering”. In this role, Esmaeil works with a team of engineers in pioneering innovative solutions and enhancing the efficiency and reliability of high-temperature industrial equipment.

Arno OPRINS

Dr. Arno Oprins holds the position of Chief Scientist in the Technology and innovation organization in SABIC. He has more than 20 years of experience in steam cracking furnace technology and is currently working in the area of decarbonization and sustainability.

Peter OUD

Peter Oud is Product Development Manager for the Ethylene product line at Technip Energies Process Technology, a leading project engineering & technology company for the energy transition. He holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Hogere Technische School “Amsterdam”, the Netherlands. He has 36 years of experience in designing and engineering of ethylene plants on numerous projects, from the proposal stage up to the start-up phase and is a Senior Technology Expert for his company.

He is the inventor of the “Low-emission cracking furnace” and the “Low-emission ethylene plant” concepts developed for the IMPROOF project, the “WATT Winding Annulus T.EN Tube” and the “Primary Feed Effluent Exchanger”. All products for the energy transition of ethylene plants.

Michael
REITZ

Michael Reitz is a mechanical and process engineer with extensive expertise in high-temperature processes, as well as in the areas of process electrification and development. After completing his PhD thesis in the field of high temperature solid looping cycles for CCS-applications, he joined BASF SE in Ludwigshafen in July 2017 as a research engineer for high-temperature reactions. His focus was on the development and energetic optimization of fossil fired high-temperature processes, as well as the development of innovative, electrified high-temperature processes, particularly methane pyrolysis. Since March 2023, Michael Reitz has been working as a Technology Manager in the global technology department for basic petrochemicals at BASF SE. In his current position, he is driving the advancement of BASF’s steam crackers and is deeply engaged in the research and demonstration of novel, electrified furnaces with significantly reduced CO₂ footprint (eFurnace).

Felix RÖßLER

Dr. -Ing. Felix Rößler completed a master’s degree in Energy and Process Engineering at the Technical University of Munich. He achieved his Ph.D. working on a cooperation between Linde Engineering and the Technical University of Munich, focusing on demand side management of large-scale process plants. Felix is part of the Process Design department of Linde Engineering’s product line Sustainable Hydrocarbon Solutions, working on the design and revamp of large-scale ethylene plants. He focuses on the electrification of ethylene plants in general and is a core member of the technical team developing Linde’s STARBRIDGE™ technology for electrically heated steam cracking reactors.

Nick ROGERS

Nick has more than 30 years of experience in process design, technology development and systems engineering.  For the last 28 years Nick has been with Technip Energies working in design for grassroots and revamp olefins projects and providing operational and commissioning support.  Nick’s current role is the Technology Department Manager for the UK Operating Centre.

For EEPC, Nick is Chairman of the Issue Group for Popcorn Polymers and a member of the Main Committee.

Stany SERRIEN

Stany Serrien is currently Manager for the Lower Olefins and Aromatics Sector Groups at Cefic and the Cefic EEPC manager. He is seconded from TotalEnergies.

Stany holds a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at the KU Leuven, Belgium, in 1986 and has over 33 years of experience in refining and petrochemicals within TotalEnergies.  After various operations roles he was consecutively Maintenance manager and Operations manager of the TotalEnergies Antwerp refinery and asset manager of TotalEnergies African refineries.

Puneet SOOD

Business Lead, Process Chemicals, Europe
Puneet is responsible for sales and services of process chemicals across European region
He has over 15 years of experience delivering chemical solutions to refiners and Ethylene plants in
India and Europe since 2017
Bachelors of Engineering (Department of Chemical Engineering, Panjab University-
2004)
Masters in Business Administration (Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow 2009)

Anne SPINDELNDREHER

Anne Spindelndreher is a Lead Process Engineer at Linde Engineering, with over 22 years working experience in in the process department. She is responsible for the conceptual design of both proposals and executions, mainly in steam cracking technology for grassroot plants.

Michael STEINDL

Michael Steindl, Shell Global Solutions International B.V. is Senior process technologist at Shell’s Base-chemicals Center of Expertise in Amsterdam. With Shell since 2007 Michael worked in different positions in steam cracker technology and steam cracker operation.

In his current role he is providing technical and project support to Shell steam cracker sites.

Before joining Shell he worked 7 years in different R&D positions of a global leading viscose fiber producer.

He is a member of the EEPC Reactive Chemicals issue group.

Michael holds a master degree in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University Graz, Austria and a PhD in technical science from the Technical University of Vienna, Austria.

Frans STOKMAN

On 1 May 2020, Frans Stokman took up the position of Executive Director in Cefic, leading Petrochemicals Europe, an industry sector of Cefic.  Frans has extensive experience in the global oil, gas and petrochemical industry. He has a proven track record in striking complex deals between the private and public sectors. He worked for over 25 years for Shell before joining Cefic. Frans is a Chemical engineer and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA).

Throughout his career, he has held a broad range of senior management positions including Global Marketing & Sales Manager in London and The Hague, Director of Shell Lubricants Supply Co. and Business Manager of the Gas-To-Liquids JV between Shell Global Lubricants and Qatar Petroleum (QP). He has global experience in the fields of chemicals, lubricants, base oils, Gas-To- Liquid (GTL), Gas, Floating LNG and has worked all over the world including in the US, Middle East, Far East and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Frans is particularly experienced in helping companies or businesses manage change and transition. He was appointed Shell Policy & Commercial Manager Earthquake Damages when the Dutch province of Groningen was hit by earthquakes due to gas production. He developed and established policies and protocols and facilitated the handover of these activities to the Dutch State.  He is actively working on the Green Deal transition with its associated challenges and opportunities for the petrochemicals industry, liaising actively with the Far East, Middle East and USA on the themes of circularity and sustainability.

Kandasamy
SUNDARAM

Kandasamy M. Sundaram is responsible for pyrolysis reactors and supports other process reactor designs. He also serves as a Lummus Fellow, a notable role where he provides for the organization’s knowledge transfer and development initiatives in key technology areas. Kandasamy received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Madras University, a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India and a PhD from the University of Ghent, Belgium. He completed his post-doctoral work at the University of Delaware.

Frans VAN DE LAAR

Frans holds a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the Eindhoven Technical University and has over 30 years of experience in operations and technology roles at BASF.

In his current role he is a technology and project lead for petrochemicals at the BASF Antwerp site.

Frans has been active in various Issue and Working Groups of the European Ethylene Producers Committee EEPC and is the chairman of this year’s EEPC conference.

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 full professor in the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture at Ghent University (UGent). He is director of the Center of Sustainable Chemistry and director of the board of the Laboratory for Chemical Technology of Ghent University. He is CTO of CAPTURE, an inter-university platform grouping 100 faculty members of different universities with ambition to accelerate radical technological innovations in the field of sustainable resource recovery. His main research interest is reaction engineering in general, with a focus in particular the transition from fossil to alternative resources such as biomass, CO/CO₂ and plastic waste. He is a former Fulbright Research Scholar of MIT and visiting professor at Stanford. He is in charge of the pilot plants for chemical recycling, oxidative coupling of methane, steam cracking, biomass pyrolysis and super dry reforming. He is the author of more than three hundred scientific publications, has 3 patents and he is managing director of his own spin-off company on modelling steam cracking. He is involved in electrification, process intensification, machine learning & data mining, drug design, scale-up and process modelling.

Maikel VAN IERSEL

Maikel van Iersel holds a Masters and PhD degree in Chemical Engineering, obtained from the Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. After his studies, he has held various research and operations roles at AkzoNobel and SABIC. In 2022, Maikel joined Borealis where he is currently responsible for Hydrocarbons Process Technology, as well as both business and technology responsible for Borealis growth projects in the area of Circular Economy.

Jean-Paul VERLUYTEN

Jean-Paul Verluyten was born on March 20^th, 1966 and has an education in organic chemistry and process technology.

He started working for DSM and later SABIC in Geleen, The Netherlands in 1990. His main focus for the last 20+ years is cracker technology and operations management at both Olefins 3 and Olefins 4 crackers in Geleen, including Turnaround preparation and execution.

From 2020 he took on a new role as Senior Project Manager for the construction and commissioning/start-up of 2 new demo plants for the advanced recycling of plastics into circular cracker feedstock in Geleen.

He is a member of EEPC Working Group 2 since 2012.

Hans-Günter WAGNER

CPT/TP Digital Transformation of Manufacturing

Chemical Engineer

Head of Global Digital Transformation of Manufacturing Petrochemicals
 1992 –2001 BASF SE Research & Development
 2001 –2015 BASF SE various assignments as Plant Manager, Senior Technology Manager for Basic and Industrial Petrochemicals
 2015 to nowBASF SE Global Technology Digital Transformation of Manufacturing

Andrew WALKER

Andrew Walker graduated from Cambridge University, UK in 1989.  Since then he has worked in the petrochemical industry on Teesside for ICI, Huntsman and SABIC.  He has worked as a plant engineer and a machines engineer a range of downstream petrochemical assets including Olefins plants.  In 2021 Andrew was appointed to the SABIC Asset Technology Centre as a rotating equipment engineer.