ENGINEER - RESEARCH ENGINEER - Design/Process Engineer - Pilot Plants at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas

Job Description:

Who We Are:


Pilot Plant Design and Fabrication Section works in pilot plant design, procurement, construction, and operating services and process development of new first of their kind processes.


Objectives of this Role:

• This position will fill a role in supporting operations for pilot plants for process development by expanding our technical portfolio of offerings to our clients.


• Increased utilization by supporting existing large projects and conducting business development for existing and new areas.


• Be a leader in operations training, procurement, and inventory control for process development and pilot plants, with expertise in technical areas of the research.


• Train operators and engineers to maintain pilot plant area and operations with a high degree of "technical" success. Emphasis on department safety culture, waste disposal, procedures, ISO.

Daily and Monthly Responsibilities:

• Design processes or unit operations for chemical or refinery systems.


• Plan and conduct research and process development work in chemical, gas, and petroleum areas.


• Expand particular area of expertise (ideally decarbonization, pyrolysis, batch/CSTR kinetics, biomass conversion).


• Support ongoing projects through data compilation, mass and energy balances, operator training, procedure development, laboratory upkeep, maintenance, and safety review/document preparation.


• Department safety emphasis.


• Create process simulations using commercial software in addition to input/output, process flow and process instrumentation diagrams.


• Conduct strategic business development activities.


• Provide technical supervision to other engineers, technicians, and analysts.


• Emphasis on proposal writing and publications.


• Communicate with vendors, clients, and operators to set up equipment and construct systems for new processes.


• Promote and secure new work as trained through mentorship and internal business development training.

Requirements:

• Requires a Bachelors or a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering.


• 0 years: Experience in any of the following areas: biomass conversion, biofuels, hydrotreating, carbon capture, carbon utilization, plastics recycling, pyrolysis, coking, distillation, electrolysis, clean hydrogen.


• High attention to detail in calculations, design, and operations. Must be able to develop process flow diagrams, process and instrumentation diagrams, I/O diagrams, and process control strategies.


• Must be able to communicate clearly and interface with clients or potential clients as needed in the course of the project or proposal process. Must be able to conduct tasks in parallel.


• Experience with actual hands-on buildup of processes and test systems is preferred.


• Direct experience with chemical engineering process development work (developing Excel spreadsheets for chemical engineering calculations and data compilation) to include designing and conducting lab scale to pilot scale experiments is preferred.


• A valid/clear driver's license is required.

Special Requirements:


Must be a U.S. person (i.e., U.S. citizen, non-U.S. citizen national, lawful permanent resident, asylee, or refugee) due to ITAR work in section.


Job Locations: San Antonio, Texas


For more information about this division, visit the Chemistry & Chemical Engineering home page.

For benefits information at our San Antonio location, click here.
For benefits information at all other locations, click here.

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