Jason - Department Engineer

Employee:  Jason
Graduate of:  Georgia Institute of Technology
Current Position:  Department Engineer, Energy and Chemical Recovery Solutions
Location:  Cincinnati, OH

Originally from Burlington MA (17 northwest of Boston), I attended Northeastern University in Boston for 5 years and received a bachelors degree in chemical engineering. While at Northeastern I participated in 9 quarters of Co-op assignments...1 quarter with WR Grace (I worked in the automobile coating division which was bought by Henkel Tereson while I was there). The final 8 quarters were spent with Eastman Gelatin Corp (a wholly owned subsidiary of Eastman Kodak). While at Eastman Gelatin I served as a process and project engineer in the filtration and evaporation department for all 8 quarters. After NU, I spent 5 years a Georgia Tech working with Dr. Jeffery Hsieh getting my PhD in chemical engineering. My research focused on black liquor evaporation and I worked closely with the pulp and paper industry during my time at GT. I met several people from IP, including my current manager, as part of my research efforts. After graduate school I chose IP because I have a strong interest in the Pulp and Paper industry. The open position in power technology provided an excellent learning opportunity, and I felt I could use my skills to quickly begin contributing to the success of the company.

Day 1

  • Read and respond to e-mail.
  • Work on evaporator modeling in support of the current optimization effort at the Franklin, VA mill. Use Excel and EMEB (IP proprietary software) to generate baseline process models of the 4 evaporator sets at the mill.
  • 1 on 1 with my manager. Review my current progress on active projects. Also have detailed discussion around my progress toward meeting my 2002 personal developmental objectives.
  • Share best practices by completing the quarterly review of the evaporator forum in the sharing best practices database. This includes: deleting many of the inactive messages, moving generally applicable and technically accurate message threads to the database library, and communicating with the authors of transferred messages to obtain closeout summaries and results.
  • Make arrangements for travel to the Riverdale, AL mill later in the month. I am planning another evaporator cleaning process trial during the trip. In preparation for this trial, I am completing a third revision of the trial’s operating procedure after consulting with the Riverdale mill area manager for evaporators and recovery boilers.

Day 2

  • Read and respond to e-mail.
  • Continue work on evaporator modeling at the Franklin mill. Contact one of the power area process engineers at the mill to assist in resolving conflicts around modeling results and field data measurements taken during a recent trip to the mill. Using the information the engineer provided, the models are corrected and now accurately reflect mill operations
  • Continue sharing best practices review. Complete the review of the sharing best practices database and send last few e-mails seeking summaries and results for messages to be saved in the general access library.
  • Work on Riverdale mill liquor cycle and energy optimization project in preparation for the trip to the mill later this month. Utilize Excel to remotely monitor the status of a second continuing process trial in the Riverdale pulp mill (evaporator trial is occurring in the power area of the mill). Use the same spreadsheet to estimate the current value of this process change in preparation for a project review during the mill visit.  Continue to edit the performance agreements surrounding the Riverdale liquor cycle optimization and the warm & hot water optimization effort.
  • Receive modeling request from a process engineer at the Androscoggin, ME mill. The request involves assisting in a potential area expansion of the mill’s black liquor concentrator. As an initial step in the project development, the engineer has requested that I create a series of process models to evaluate the performance of the system under various proposed conditions and estimate the financial impact of these changes.
  • Receive a technical request from the Prattville, AL mill. The area manager for evaporators asks if I or another member of Energy and Chemical Recovery Manufacturing Solutions could assist in evaluating two project proposals the mill had received for an installation of new evaporator equipment.

Day 3

  • Read and respond to e-mail.
  • Read report detailing the current status of energy reduction projects at the Bastrop, LA mill. Most of the projects are continuing and are generating savings for the mill through reduced fuel consumption and improved operating efficiency.
  • Meet with two staff engineers for Energy and Chemical Recovery Solutions. They are the projects leaders for some of the current power area cost reduction efforts at the Franklin mill. At this strategy meeting, we review my recent conversation with the process engineer at the mill, phase two of the project - the process modeling work - is identified, and possible changes in the project’s direction are reviewed (depending upon whether or not another project is accepted and approved).
  • Attend Energy and Chemical Recovery Solutions quarterly review meeting. This group meeting is an opportunity to review the progress (current status and remaining opportunities) being made toward meeting the team goals for the year around reduction in energy costs, improvements in recovery cycle productivity, and preparations for the upcoming Power Managers Conference.
  • Work on Androscoggin evaporator modeling. Compiled the available field data collected by the mill personnel and utilize EMEB to create the initial process models that will be used to fulfill the request from the mill.