Sheraz Abbasi


Address:
5100 West 96th Street, Apartment # 324
Oak Lawn, IL - 60453
Phone no: (281)-704-6612
email:sheraz@vri-custom.org

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS:

    University of Illinois, Chicago, IL (2009-present)
  • Doctoral Student
  • Area of interest is multi-objective optimization of biofuel production

    Texas A&M University, College Station, TX (2005)
  • Masters of Science in Chemical Engineering
  • Focus in process integration and optimization

    University of Houston, Houston, TX (2003)
  • Bachelors of Science in Chemical Engineering
  • Minor - Chemistry
  • Roy and Lilly Cullen Scholarship Fall 02-Spring 03

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

    Process Engineer: Stepan Chemicals, Joliet, IL. (2008-Present)

  • Process engineer for the design of capital projects at the surfactant plant. Primary role in scoping optimization projects. Key responsibilities included
    • Preparations of scope documents, P&IDs and process design package
    • Working with production team to identity areas to areas to optimize reactor operation
    • Evaluation of blast zones and environmental spills
    • Familiarity with surfactant, ethoxylation and phthalic anhydride production chemistry

    Process Design Engineer: Aggreko, Houston, TX. (2004-2008)

  • Process design engineer for temporary project to de-bottleneck and optimize processing units in refineries and petrochemical plants. Specific job duties includes
    • Process improvement studies to understand unit constraints and recommend alternatives for improving product recovery
    • Modeling and simulation of distillation column and optimizing operation
    • Creating engineering design packages, heat and material balance, P&IDs, PFDs and operator training manuals
    • Conducting and participating in process and project reviews, HAZOPS, PHA and management of change
    • Creating after action reports on installed projects and provide technical support on installed projects
    • Project lead on several projects from conceptual design to startup
    • Generating project progress reports for internal and external communication
  • Process and project work has included:
    • Design of temporary projects for optimization of refinery units
    • Study, design and installation of overhead cooling projects in FCCU, Alky & DCU to debottleneck and improve product recovery
    • Design and evaluation of plant heating and cooling systems including heat exchangers, chillers, cooling towers and pumping systems
    • Design and installation of run down projects at turnaround
    • Utility system (fuel and cooling water) engineering studies and design
    • Study and design of projects to minimize plant wide fuel gas production

    Chemical Engineering Co-op: Puffer Sweiven, Houston, TX. (2002-2003)

  • Configuration of process control logic for Fisher and Emerson process control systems
  • DeltaV process control module setup and configuration. Simulation and setup of operator interface windows

    • Research Assistant: University of Houston, Houston, TX. (2002-2003)

  • Synthesis of Palladium coated ceramic membranes for selective hydrogen transport in fuel cell
  • Characterize and study surface features of Palladium membranes by using EDX and electron microscopy

SOFTWARE SKILLS:

  • Simulation Software: HYSYS, ChemCAD, Aspen, STX, TASC+, DeltaV, Matlab, Femlab
  • Engineering Software: AutoCAD, MS Project, MS Visio Technical

ACTIVITIES:

  • Member American Institute of Chemical Engineers

PUBLICATIONS:

  • Stochastic Modeling of Biodiesel Production- AiChE November 2008 Poster Presentation, FOCAPD 2009 Poster presentation