ENGINEER - Chemical/Process Engineer - Pilot Plants at Southwest Research Institute

Who We Are:

Carbon Capture and Utilization Process Development Section works to support first of its kind carbon capture and carbon utilization processes. Lab to pilot plant process development services are performed to take new and novel technologies to commercialization.

Objectives of this Role:

• This position will fill a role in supporting operations for pilot plants for process development by expanding our technical portfolio of offerings to our clients.
• Ability to be hands on and fill operating and mechanical roles is critical to the success of our programs.
• Increased utilization by supporting existing large projects and conducting business development for existing and new areas.
• Oversee and conduct pilot plant buildup work for new and existing pilot plants.
• Be leader in operations training, procurement, and inventory control for process development and pilot plants, with expertise in technical areas of the research.
• Train operators and engineers to maintain pilot plant area and operations with a high degree of "technical" success. Emphasis on department safety culture, waste disposal, procedures, ISO.

Daily and Monthly Responsibilities:

• Design processes or unit operations for chemical or refinery systems.
• Plan and conduct research and process development work in carbon capture and utilization areas.
• Expand particular area of expertise (ideally decarbonization, batch/CSTR kinetics, absorption/desorption).
• Support ongoing projects through pilot plant operations (Shift work may be required), data compilation, mass and energy balances, operator training, procedure development, laboratory upkeep, maintenance, and safety review/document preparation. Department safety emphasis.
• Opportunity to operate pilot plants as a lead operator during processing campaigns (requiring shift work and/or weekends).
• Create process simulations using commercial software in addition to input/output, process flow and process instrumentation diagrams.
• Conduct strategic business development activities.
• Provide technical supervision to other engineers, technicians, analyst, and pilot plant operators. Emphasis on proposal writing and publications.
• Communicate with vendors, clients, and operators to set up equipment and construct systems for new processes.
• Promote and secure new work as trained through mentorship and internal business development training.

Requirements:

• Requires a Bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering.
• Shift work required.
• 1-3 years: Direct experience with chemical engineering process development work (developing Excel spreadsheets for chemical engineering calculations and data compilation) to include designing and conducting lab scale to pilot scale experiments.
• 1-3 years: High attention to detail in calculations, design, and operations. Must be able to develop process flow diagrams, process and instrumentation diagrams, I/O diagrams, and process control strategies.
• 1-3 years: Must be able to communicate clearly and interface with clients or potential clients as needed in the course of the project or proposal process. Must be able to conduct tasks in parallel. Experience with actual hands-on buildup of processes and test systems is preferred.
• 1-3 years: Experience in any of the following areas: biofuels, hydrotreating, carbon capture, carbon utilization, plastics recycling, pyrolysis, delayed coking, distillation, electrolysis, clean hydrogen, biomass conversion.
• A valid/clear driver's license is required.