AIChE Spring Meeting Set for New Orleans, March 24–28; Global Congress on Process Safety to Mark 20 Years
This spring, chemical engineers, process safety professionals, and allied practitioners worldwide will assemble in New Orleans, LA, as AIChE and its Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) host the 2024 AIChE Spring Meeting and 20th Global Congress on Process Safety (GCPS). At this year’s event — taking place Mar. 24–28 at New Orleans’ Ernest N. Morial Convention Center — stakeholders across the chemical process industries (CPI) will celebrate the twentieth edition of the GCPS — regarded as the foremost annual gathering of safety engineers, plant managers, and process designers.
With its program expanding on recent themes, AIChE’s Spring Meeting looks to the future of the profession and homes in on the roles that chemical engineers will play in creating a more sustainable path for industry and society. These emerging opportunities will underscore topical conferences devoted to the energy transition and advanced manufacturing — the latter incorporating topics in process intensification and approaches related to Industry 4.0. Additional topical conferences include the 36th Ethylene Producers’ Conference, as well as tracks devoted to distillation, refinery processing, gas utilization, hydrogen safety, plastics circularity, professional skills development, and more.
On Monday, Mar. 25, the conference will launch with the AIChE Government and Industry Leaders (AGILE) Award Lecture — to be presented by Mark Lashier, President and CEO of Phillips 66. (See article, p. 59.) Following that lecture, the programming of AIChE’s Fuels and Petrochemicals Div. begins with a plenary co-programmed with the Industry 4.0 Topical Conference. Also on Mar. 25, and in addition to plenaries introducing the Ethylene Producers’ and Gas Utilization conferences, AIChE’s Process Development Div. is hosting a plenary featuring a keynote talk by Shyamal Bej, Senior Principal Science Expert in the Process Development Group at Shell, who will describe process development in the conversion of sustainable feedstocks into low-carbon fuels.
Conference bundle registrants will find a reserved seat at daily keynote luncheons, with guest speakers reflecting on some of the meeting’s key topics. The speakers include Teresa Keating, Global Director of Business Operations at Dow Performance Materials and Coatings, whose talk on Monday, Mar. 25, is entitled “What’s the Worst that Can Happen?” On Mar. 26, Michael Lefenfeld, President and CEO of Hexion Inc., will discuss engineering innovation and how to build world-class research and development and manufacturing organizations. The Mar. 27 luncheon speaker is Rafael Bittar, Executive Vice President and CTO of Vale S. A.
Panel discussions, poster sessions, exhibits, and receptions round-out the program. The latest information about these featured evets is available at www.aiche.org/spring.
The 20th Global Congress on Process Safety
Organized by CCPS and AIChE’s Process Safety (formerly Safety and Health) Div., the Global Congress on Process Safety provides a forum where process industry stakeholders survey developments in the field, assess new technologies, and share strategies to avoid incidents, manage risk, ensure plant safety, and improve process safety management (PSM) programs.
In 2024, the Global Congress marks its 20th year of programming, with special sessions welcoming returning speakers who will deliver “best of the best” presentations — updating noteworthy talks about critical issues that have been explored at past conferences.
Kicking off the Global Congress on Mar. 25 is a Welcome Plenary Session featuring a keynote talk by Yatendra Kumar Lodha, Group Head of Safety and Operating Risk at Reliance Industries Limited. Lodha will discuss “process safety challenges and approaches for the 21st century.”
Programming at the GCPS begins with the 58th Annual Loss Prevention Symposium — which will offer lessons learned from incident investigations, as well as explorations of facility siting, transportation safety, cybersecurity, emergency planning and response, risk assessment, explosion prevention, fire protection, safety systems, alternative energy, hydrogen safety, and more.
The 39th CCPS International Conference is dedicated to the systematic identification and management of process safety challenges and the promotion of best practices. This year’s program reviews the components of effective PSM programs, with sessions covering process safety leadership, safety culture, risk-based approaches to combustible dust hazards, asset integrity programs, process safety in “Power-to-X” activities, “process safety in a climate-friendly future,” and more.
The 26th Process Plant Safety Symposium provides strategies, techniques, and tools that can contribute to stronger safety cultures within plants and among personnel. This year’s agenda showcases a “Yoda” panel of process safety experts (Mar. 26), along with sessions highlighting human factors (including the development of process safety influencers), knowledge transfer, inherently safer design, hazard identification and analysis, the process safety value proposition, and other topics.
At the 13th Process Safety Management Mentoring Forum, experienced safety professionals will impart their knowledge to early-career practitioners and others who may be new to the fundamentals of process safety.
“Perspectives on Process Safety from Around the Globe” translates CCPS’s vision of universal process safety excellence for an international audience — with contributions by organizations in China, Japan, Korea, and Latin America. Select sessions will be presented in Spanish and Portuguese.
Closing the Spring Meeting and GCPS on Mar. 28 is the popular returning session “Case Histories and Lessons Learned,” which spotlights real-world incident investigations and the insights they have provided to chemical engineer and CPI stakeholders. Topics include lessons learned from train derailments, the impact of natural disasters on chemical plants, a gas poisoning incident in China, and electrostatic hazards in industrial processes, among other topics.
For the latest program information or to register, visit www.aiche.org/spring or www.aiche.org/gcps.
Mark Lashier of Phillips 66 is Named AGILE Keynote Lecturer
▲ Lashier
Mark Lashier, President and Chief Executive Officer of Phillips 66 — a diversified energy company — has been chosen by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) to present the AIChE Government and Industry Leaders Keynote Address at the 2024 AIChE Spring Meeting and 20th Global Congress on Process Safety.
After setting the stage for the conference with his lecture on Mar. 25, Lashier will receive AIChE’s Government and Industry Leaders (AGILE) Award, which recognizes the contributions of innovative executives from organizations that employ chemical engineers.
Mark Lashier began his career at Phillips Petroleum in 1989, and he has since held a breadth of leadership roles within the energy and petrochemical industries. Prior to his role as President, CEO, and COO at Phillips 66, Lashier was President and CEO of Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. (CPChem), a joint venture between Phillips 66 and Chevron. He previously held leadership positions at CPChem, including Executive Vice President of Olefins and Polyolefins; Senior Vice President of Specialties, Aromatics and Styrenics; Vice President of Corporate Planning and Development; Project Director for Saudi Arabia; and Regional Manager for Asia.
Lashier serves on the boards of several industry groups and nonprofits. The organizations include the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, the Greater Houston Partnership, the Iowa State Univ. College of Engineering Industrial Advisory Council, Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas, and the American Cancer Society’s CEOs Against Cancer. He also serves on the executive committee of the American Petroleum Institute and is a member of the Business Roundtable, the Business Council, and the National Petroleum Council.
Lashier earned his PhD in chemical engineering at Iowa State Univ. He holds 13 U.S. patents.
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