The 2019 Purdue Process Safety & Assurance Center (P2SAC) Spring Conferences will be held on May 7-9 in West Lafayette on the Purdue University campus. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to learn about important process safety research in several areas of interest during the three-day event. Nearly 100 attendees have registered, a new record, from a diverse spectrum of industry and academia. Registration is free, and can be completed here.

The inaugural Pharmaceutical Industry Process Safety Conference will be held on Tuesday, May 7. The conference will offer topics of interest to attendees from pharmaceuticals, specialty chemical companies, and related engineering and consulting firms. Sessions will address process safety-related performance and issues in the pharma industry, steps being taken to address these issues, and key challenges within the industry. Dr. Paul McKenzie, Executive Vice President of Biogen, and Dr. Suresh Garimella, Executive Vice President of Research & Partnerships at Purdue University, will give keynote addresses. Additional presentations will be given by representatives from AMGEN, GSK, Lilly, Merck, Pfizer, Purdue faculty, and many other safety experts.

On Wednesday, May 8, P2SAC will host its 2019 Spring Conference, featuring a wide range of topics presented by academic and industry process safety experts.  Featured industry presentations include those by: AcuTech, ADM, DEKRA, Endress+Hauser, Dow, GEXCON, Honeywell, Kenexis, Phillips 66 and several others.  The agenda includes updates on several PhD funded research, such as gas & fire detector placement and advances in battery safety, as well as status of two NSF funded projects on laboratory safety and cybersecurity.

The 2019 Flow Assurance Conference will be held on Thursday, May 9, and will feature presentations from researchers, engineers, faculty, and graduate students from Chevron, 3M, Shell, Dow, Air Products, Fuji Dimatix, BASF, Convergent Science, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, and Purdue University. Mini-symposia topics include ink jets: fluid mechanics and materials issues; flow assurance in oil & gas, chemical, and diversified manufacturing industries; atomization and sprays: examples from agriculture and general manufacturing; catastrophes, singularities, and consequence analysis: examples from free surface flows, polymer processing/VE flows, and pipelines.

“Purdue is one of the few schools that teach a core required process safety course for Chemical Engineers,” says Professor Ray Mentzer, Executive Director of P2SAC. “Purdue also has one of the few process safety research centers on earth.  Our conferences typically draw a broad range of industry representatives, who benefit from the research updates, as well as the time spent with their process safety colleagues.” Mentzer explains that P2SAC seeks to learn more about industry’s process safety challenges and aims to address those challenges in the Center’s research program.

Purdue Process Safety & Assurance Center plays a key role in educating students on process safety, preparing them to eliminate or mitigate key process safety hazards and risks, and equipping them with these skills when entering industry. Not only does P2SAC educate students on the highly technical nature of ‘process’ safety vs. ‘personnel’ safety, but it also serves as the hub for:

• Conducting cutting-edge, fundamental science-based research with experimental and theoretical modeling;
• Creating and teaching undergraduate and graduate process safety courses, and
• Providing a source of expertise for industry and other stakeholders regarding process safety-related standards and best practices.

P2SAC is uniquely focused on manufacturing and consumer products, including the oil & gas, chemical, pharmaceutical, manufacturing and technology industries. The research projects conducted at the center are solicited from industry sponsors, government research labs and academia. Current research includes more than a dozen PhD projects overseen by 12 tenure track faculty, and a similar number of MS and undergraduate studies.  P2SAC faculty are engaged in, and knowledgeable about various facets of process safety that enhance the educational experience of all Purdue Chemical Engineering students, and ultimately help to improve the safety of our world.

To register for the 2019 P2SAC Spring Conferences and view the current agenda for each day, visit: https://engineering.purdue.edu/P2SAC/news/events/2019-p2sac-spring-conference-may7-9

Learn more about P2SAC at: https://engineering.purdue.edu/P2SAC

Photo caption: Dr. Ray Mentzer, Visiting Professor in the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering and Executive Director of P2SAC, addresses attendees of the 2018 P2SAC Spring conference.

Source: Ray Mentzer, rmentzer@purdue.edu

Writer: Jessica Johnson, john1690@purdue.edu