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Seminars
Sustainability
in the Chemical and Energy Industries
Dr. Jeffrey Siirola
Eastman Chemical Company
When: Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Time: 1:00 to 2:00 PM
Where: McMurtry Auditorium
Abstract:
There is clearly much interest in environmental protection, greener chemistry,
and the general notion of sustainability within the chemical processing
and energy industries. But what does sustainability mean, especially
in the context of long term raw material availability, energy intensity,
global
warming, and the desire for economic growth? In this presentation,
population and living standard trends, material and energy resource data,
and elementary
systems engineering principles are applied to help elucidate sustainability
issues related to global economic growth, raw material choices
for the chemical and energy industries, the satisfaction of expected energy
needs, and greenhouse
gas impacts. Simple concepts from chemical structure and oxidation
state, stoichiometry, and thermodynamics are useful for understanding and
screening
among raw material and energy alternatives at present and going
forward. Such analyses can provide guidance for evaluating and optimizing
overall
future sustainability performance of the global chemical and energy
industries
Short Bio:
Jeff Siirola is currently a Technology Fellow in the Eastman
Research Division of Eastman Chemical Company in Kingsport
Tennessee where he has
been for 35 years. He received a BS in chemical engineering
from the University of Utah in 1967 and a PhD in chemical engineering
from
the University of
Wisconsin-Madison in 1970. His areas of interest include chemical
process synthesis, computer-aided conceptual process engineering,
engineering design
theory and methodology, chemical process development and technology
assessment, resource conservation and recovery, sustainable
development and growth,
and chemical engineering education
Siirola is an international program evaluator and a member
of the Board of Directors of the Accreditation Board for
Engineering and
Technology. He is also a trustee
and past president of CACHE (Computer Aids for Chemical Engineering Education),
and a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Association
for Artificial Intelligence, and the American Society for Engineering
Education. He has served
on numerous National Science Foundation and National Research Council panels,
and on the advisory boards of several journals and chemical engineering
departments.
Siirola is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and was the
2005 President of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
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