Course Instructors
Dr. Charles Becht is a recognized authority in pressure equipment, piping, tankage, expansion joints, and elevated temperature design. He has more than 25 years experience in the design, design auditing, analysis, check-out, development, troubleshooting and failure analysis of process and power equipment and structures. He has developed new components, design methods, and code rules, for applications including high temperatures and other severe services.
Dr. Becht is the Chairman of three ASME committees including the Post Construction Standards Committee that is responsible for ASME standards for non-nuclear pressure equipment that has been placed in service and a member of seven others, including Vice Chairman of ASME B31.3 and member of the Board on Pressure Technology Codes and Standards (responsible for all ASME pressure technology codes and standards). He is President of Becht Engineering.
He began his professional career with Energy Systems Group, Rockwell International, where he became lead engineer in charge of elevated temperature piping and expansion joint R&D programs. He was then with Exxon Research and Engineering where he was a pressure equipment specialist for Exxon refineries, worldwide. Dr. Becht is an ASME Fellow and has more than 50 publications and five patents, and is a licensed professional engineer in 17 states and provinces.
George A. Antaki is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, an expert in the field of mechanical integrity of piping and pipeline systems, vessels and tanks, and equipment qualification. He has over 32 years of experience in design, analysis, qualification, inspection, fitness-for-service and integrity management, failure analysis and repairs of pressure equipment. He is a past Chairman of the Pressure Protection Committee. He was also Chairman of the Piping and Valves Technical Committee, with site-wide responsibility for piping systems, design, analysis, construction, examination, repair and testing of process, utilities and power piping systems, and ASME code compliance. Mr. Antaki is an instructor of failure prevention, inspection and equipment integrity courses for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. In 2007 he joined Becht Engineering, with responsibilities in equipment design, analysis, testing and integrity programs. He is founding chairman of the Joint ASME-ASCE Joint Task Group on Buried Pipe, and member of the Joint ASME-API Task Group on Fitness-for-Service. Mr. Antaki is a graduate of the State University of Liege, Belgium, and Carnegie-Mellon University, MS. in Mechanical Engineering and has authored two textbooks in the areas of piping and fitness-for-service.
Joseph M. Bonem's highly productive four-decade career has included over three decades in Polymers manufacturing and process development with Exxon Chemical as well as eight years in consulting. Mr. Bonem's areas of expertise include all phases of chemical engineering including Technology Transfer and Assimilation, Process Development and Scaleup, Project Basis Development and Process Design, Plant Performance Improvements and Safety Assessment of New and Existing Technology. Mr. Bonem is experienced in the development and mentoring of young engineers, and has extensive experience in working in foreign countries and cultures.
Harry Ebert is a respected authority in welding engineering and teacher of welding technology with more than 40 years of experience in all aspects of welding. His activities have included research and development, training, new construction, maintenance and trouble-shooting with applications including pressure vessels, piping systems, tankage, furnaces, boilers, rotating machinery, heat exchangers, mining equipment, structures, marine facilities and super tankers. He was Exxon's principal welding engineering consultant for Exxon's facilities, worldwide, for 34 years. He has been a leader in industry welding activities. His present and past industry activities have included Fellow, Life Member, Chairman of Piping Committee and Member of other Committees, and Director of AWS; recipient of the Hobart Medal Award; and member of the Industrial Advisory Board of EWI.
Phil Ellenberger was Chief Engineer for 13 years at WFI (now a Division of Bonney Forge). WFI is one of the major manufacturers of standard and special fittings in the world. He served on ASME and MSS committees, developing and regulating those standards. He has been in the Pressure Technology Design and Manufacture field for over 32 years.
Don Frikken had been with Solutia, Inc. and Monsanto Company for 34 years; working on a wide range of activities including piping and mechanical design, project engineering, and engineering standards, specializing in piping design. Don is a member of several ASME committees and is past Chair of the ASME B31.3.
John Hauser provides over 25 years experience in the fields of safety, process hazard/HAZOP analysis, pre-start-up safety reviews, risk reduction, management of change, incident investigation and auditing. He also is certified (by the Process Safety Institute) as a Master Process Hazard Analysis Leader. He has experience leading PHAs for a number of corporations. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Pennsylvania, Illinois and Texas and a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Mr. Hauser has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University.
Evan Hyde consults on processing improvement and reliability initiatives for coking clients around the world. He has participated in onsite peer assessments of Coker Units at five refineries which included improvements in maintenance work practices, process enhancements, and turnaround scope optimization. Evan currently works for Becht Engineering Co. Inc. as a process engineer, with assignments in research as well as troubleshooting for heavy oil upgrading equipment. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.
William F. Kenney is a consultant and author of Process Risk Management Systems, a text devoted to meeting OSHA requirements for Process Hazard Assessments and the techniques for managing process risk. He has 38 years industrial experience, the last ten of which were devoted to the practical aspects of achieving safe, environmentally sound operations. He managed the Safety and Risk Section of Exxon Research and Engineering, which had worldwide process safety responsibility. Mr. Kenney has a BchE from Yale and an MSChE from Purdue.
L. Louis Loushin has over 30 years of experience in the petroleum industry with Caltex, Lyondell and Sun Company. This experience includes both refinery and staff engineering positions with international oil companies. Furthermore, his experience also includes activities associated with oil and gas production systems, transmission pipelines, tanker safe-life design, and marine construction. Mr. Loushin has been a member of the API RBI Sponsors' Group and the API Subcommittee on Risk Based Inspection. Currently, he is the Vice Chairman of the API Task Group on Fitness for Service, which is responsible for API-579. He is a NACE International Registered Corrosion Specialist and a Professional Engineer in Corrosion Engineering in the State of California.
Dr. Gennaro J. Maffia is Professor of Chemical Engineering and Department Chairman at Widener University in Chester, PA. He is also a Visiting Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA) and Chairman of the Continuing Education Committee for the American Chemical Society (Philadelphia Section). Prior to joining Widener University, Dr. Maffia was Manager of Technology Development at ARCO Chemical Company. He also held principal and senior engineering positions at ARCO Chemical Company, Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. and ABB Lummus Global. He has been involved in the start-up of four world-scale petrochemical plants and several other chemical, polymer and biotechnology facilities. Dr. Maffia is an active consultant in the chemical processing industries and has authored over 100 publications (including 6 patents). His degrees include a BChE and MChE from Manhattan College (Riverdale, NY), an MBA from NYU (NY, NY) and a Doctor of Engineering from Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH). He is a member of several honor societies including Tau Beta Pi (Engineering Honor Society), Phi Kappa Phi, and Phi Beta Delta (International Honor Society). In 2002, Prof. Maffia was honored with a Lindback Award for excellence in teaching.
Kamran Mokhtarian received his Masters of Science degree from Northwestern University. He has more than 30 years of experience with design, analysis, and fabrication of pressure vessels. He is the Chairman of the Pressure Vessel Research Council, Vice Chairman of Subcommittee VIII, Pressure Vessel Code Committee, former Chairman of the Subgroup on Design of Subcommittee VIII, former Vice Chairman of the Subgroup on Fabrication and Inspection of Subcommittee VIII, a member of the ASME Main Committee on Post Construction, as well as a member of several other Post Construction Subcommittees.
Jack Mooney has specialized in tanks and pressure vessels for 39 years. He worked for Exxon and was a Senior Associate Engineer and the senior tank specialist for Mobil. He is a member of the API Subcommittee for Pressure Vessels and Tanks, which writes and revises the above Standards, and has taught worldwide introductory tank courses for API. He was Chairman of the ASME Pressure Vessel Code Special Working Group on Toughness and taught worldwide pressure vessel courses for ASME.
Ted Princiotto is Engineering Services Manager at Becht Engineering Co. He spent more than 30 years with ExxonMobil Corporation where he held various engineering and management positions. His background includes -- the mechanical design of pressure vessels, piping and the development and evaluation of new/novel equipment to support the commercialization of new process technology. He has had assignments worldwide as mechanical startup advisor on new refinery projects and the application/commercialization of new technology. Before retiring from ExxonMobil in 2000, he was responsible for the management of engineering technology specialists on major capital projects, worldwide.
Arcot "Radha" Radhakrishnan is an Engineering Fellow at Becht Engineering Co. His career spans over 37 years of worldwide involvement in the petroleum, chemicals and oil producing industries, including service with Shell Chemicals, Exxon Corporation and with ExxonMobil Corporation. At Exxon his R&D contributions included development of equipment technology for synthetic fuels (DOE) and the development/implementation of storage tank design and construction practices for atmospheric and low temperature services. His career has included a diverse range of technology assignments relating to capital projects, commissioning of new facilities, R&D, trouble shooting, and incident investigation. He was responsible for training, and leading cross-functional plant engineering teams to implement the risk-based methodology to enhance safety in operating practices for existing facilities. He was the Industrial Advisor on the Mechanical Engineering Faculty at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is a past committee member of the API SC on Piping and Storage Tanks, and the API Task Group that developed the API 653 Standard for Inspection and Repair of Atmospheric Storage Tanks. He has an MSc degree in Lubrication and Bearing Design, from the University of Leeds, UK, Graduate Diploma in Chemical Engineering from the University of Manchester College of Science and Technology, UK and BE in Mechanical Engineering from Osmania University, India.
Sal Rossetti is Senior Engineering Advisor at Becht Engineering Co. He spent more than 30 years as a process engineer with ExxonMobil Corporation. For more than 25 years he was the corporation's lead consultant for electrostatic desalting and wrote the company's Desalter Handbook and Operating Guide. As the principal desalter expert for the company, he has participated in desalter startup and troubleshooting activities worldwide for both downstream and upstream activities and has presented desalter training course all over the world.
Tony Scribner was Principal Engineer and Corporate Technology Steward for Union Carbide for 31 years. After working for Union Carbide, he was a marketing specialist for Special Metals before joining Becht Engineering. At Union Carbide, he led the selection of materials for capital projects for many years, worked in the plants as a field engineer and also worked in the laboratory doing both failure analysis and corrosion testing. He was also involved in process modifications to allow continued use of existing metals even through significant process changes were made. While at Union Carbide, he was the Manual Manager for the Materials Engineering, Painting, Internal Coatings, Cathodic Protection and Insulation technology areas. Mr. Scribner has a degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Florida and has been an active member of NACE for 33 years.
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