Renewable Energy Biofuels Engineer

Education:

M.S. – Materials Engineering, GPA *.5, New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology, Socorro, New Mexico, 2000

B.S. – Chemistry, GPA 3.0, New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology, Socorro, New Mexico, 1994

Objective:

I am seeking a full-time materials or process engineering position in one of the following industries: solar power technology (photovoltaic or solar thermal), energy storage, thin film deposition, wind-generated electricity, biomass to energy, waste to energy, biofuels, renewable power, nuclear power, cogeneration, solid fuel gasification, pyrolysis, anaerobic methanogenesis, biomass torrefaction, or semiconductor device fabrication.

Employment History:

10/03-Present Independent Biofuels Consultant / Process Engineer, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, California, Missouri. • Responsible for general design/process overview (PFD, P&ID) and design/process change recommendations for various clients planning to produce ASTM grade biodiesel fuel and technical grade glycerine from multiple feedstocks. Heavy emphasis on distillation/methanol recovery, Na2SO4 salt control, process automation, sensors, metering, etc.. Provide on-site primary engineering support for new biodiesel plant start-ups.

• Co-managed & co-designed all aspects of waste fats, oils, & grease receiving, processing into methyl esters (biodiesel), wet/dry polishing (mist & bubble water washing, Magnesol, EcO2Pure) of fuel, pilot plant and process development, methanol recovery, and glycerine refining. Provided R&D expertise and labor for other value-added, environmentally friendly product formulations such as biodegradable dust suppressant, asphalt release agent, parts cleaner, etc. using methyl esters, waste vegetable oils, soaps, and free fatty acids.

• Recovered and recycled restaurant ‘trap grease’ for direct combustion as an alternative, low sulfur, oxygenated, renewable biofuel or a relatively low-cost feedstock for biodiesel production. Co-designed a 12,000 gallon batch grease rendering plant and worked on all aspects of start-up of a new closed loop hot water boiler system for the plant. Managed all aspects of grease recovery, process development, continuous improvement, and product sales related to the operation. Designed a grease recovery/interceptor system to operate in conjunction with a small municipal wastewater treatment plant.

• Built an inexpensive pilot production unit for production of biodiesel fuel using scrap materials and successfully converted low-grade ‘brown’ grease into biodiesel using home-engineered pressure equipment, H2SO4, and excess MeOH. Developed complete business plan including feasibility studies, investor presentations, financial forecasting, and budgeting.

4/06 - 8/07 Staff Engineer, Souder, Miller & Associates, Las Cruces, New Mexico. Duties included development of a written waste management procedure for a mining client’s environmental yard as well as an operations, safety, & maintenance manual for a petroleum-contaminated soil bioremediation cell, design of a gravity & vacuum residential wastewater collection system using SewerCAD modeling software, Phase I environmental site assessments, technical report preparation, review, and editing as needed.

12/04 - 2/06 Business Development/Sales, Gigablast, Inc., Albuquerque, New Mexico. Internet search engine company hosting fifth largest Web page index in the world at the time. Developed and fostered relationships with business prospects and existing clients for selling hyper-scalable search engine software licenses and XML data feeds to clients. Wrote a proposal landing Gigablast, Inc. on the General Services Administration’s top three list, winning a Blanket Purchase Agreement to provide Web search services for www.FirstGov.gov, the federal government’s Web-based information portal. Spearheaded website redesign resulting in significant appearance improvements. Developed product and service information flyers to present to prospective clients. Performed customized legal contract renewals, modifications, edits, reviews, and executions as needed. Provided first line of customer support via phone and email. Have basic familiarity with Peachtree accounting, AP/AR, & payroll functions. Provided all initial training to new office manager.

8/00 - 1/04 Process Engineer, Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, Oregon and Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Sustained AMAT Endura and Anelva PVD tools which were used for deposition of Ti/TiN diffusion barrier/adhesion, and Al M1/M2 layers of Intel’s flash memory chips. Oversaw installation, qualification, sustaining, maintenance, troubleshooting, statistical process control, and hardware/software upgrades of Applied Materials 5500 Endura (300 mm) PVD tools used for high power self-ionizing plasma (SIP) sputter-deposition of TaN/Ta barrier/adhesion, and Cu seed films for back-end metallization of Intel’s P1260/1262 state-of-the-art microprocessors. Typical troubleshooting included isolating particle sources, root-cause determinations of film thickness & uniformity issues, mechanical issues, and vacuum issues. Owned safety, film recipe integrity, operations and maintenance specifications, tool system constants, procedural checklists, and Manufacturing Technician training packages. Coordinated hardware and software upgrades, retrofits, and preventive maintenance as needed to sustain the factory. Worked closely with Manufacturing Technicians and Applied Materials’ Field Service Engineers while maintaining integrity of Intel’s intellectual property.

Instrumentation / Equipment:

Have worked with and/or have knowledge of centrifugal pumps, air-operated double diaphragm pumps (AODDs), gear pumps, vacuum pumps (cryo, turbo, diffusion, roughing), hot water boilers, boiler safety devices, shell & tube heat exchangers, slant plate clarifiers, 1-4” black iron and PVC plumbing (solvent welding), filter housings and sock filtration, cone-bottomed process/settling tanks, tank agitators, various types of valves, continuous centrifuges (decanters, disc stacks, auto-desludgers), vacuum/pumper trucks, various gauges, distillation/condensation systems, flash evaporation, self-regulating heat trace cable & controls, wet chemistry labware & techniques, trace moisture determination, and various qualitative & quantitative tests and instrumentation associated with ASTM grade testing. Have also worked with AMAT 5500 300mm Endura, 150mm Endura, & Anelva PVD tools, spray driers, and freeze driers. Analytical tool experience includes KLA-tencor Surfscan (defect detection), Rudolph Metapulse (acoustic film thickness/uniformity characterization), KLA-tencor ASET F5X (dielectric film thickness/uniformity characterization), Metricon prism coupler (thin film thickness and n characterization), SEM/EDX, spectrophotometers (optical filter bandpass characterization), and have had exposure to GCMS, AFM, IR and NMR spectroscopy, RBS (Rutherford backscattering), XRD, XRF, and ellipsometry during undergraduate and graduate studies.

Contact this candidate