Sean Moran's Blog, page 16

Clean and Black Utilities Chemical Engineer Expert Witness

I've got a lot of expert witness work on at the moment, alongside the real engineering. Its the last week of my overseas assignment next week, though there may be another one or two on the horizon.

It's important in my view to stay current with engineering practice to act as an expert witness. Otherwise you run the risk of being an expert in being an expert witness, rather than an expert in your stated field of expertise.

Expert Witness Package Effluent Treatment Plant

I had a new enquiry today for a private packaged STP of a kind I have seen so many times before.

There is a fair bit of expert witness work coming in at the moment, all wastewater treatment plant jobs of one kind or another. The other live expert witness project is far more novel than this latest one, and a lot more exotic, being in a part of the Middle East I have not yet visited.

I don't mind vanilla once in a while...

Process Design Expert Water Food and Drink

Had a few login problems on here last week, as did many people. Not sure what it was about, perhaps the demise of Google plus. But anyway, I'm back.

I had another week of hygienic and environmental process design last week, and a bit of expert witness work. This week is all about writing, getting my last book out of the door, and making a start on my new one. 

Water Process Engineering Expert

Still busy with water engineering issues, all overseas at the moment, in Europe and Middle East. There's a couple of UK jobs poised to come in as well, so its still all hands to the pumps here.

Industrial Process Water And Effluent Treatment Expert

I'm back home after a couple of weeks abroad looking at problems with water and effluent treatment in the dairy industry. Interesting stuff. A few new items for the "beginners mistakes to avoid" and "classic mistakes" chapters of my books, as well as more examples of ones I have already recorded there.

I've also made a start on a new expert witness job in the Middle East, in industrial effluent and sludge treatment, again with many echoes of things I have seen before.

I've got a few other things which may be about to come in, a mix of proper engineering and expert witness work, but I'm going to take it easy today, having worked through last weekend.

Water and Hygienic Engineering: Busy

I'm working this weekend, which I normally try to avoid, but this time it's unavoidable. I have a new expert witness contract, as well as my main break and butter hygienic design contract, and I have a little hump to get over

When you are a small company, you need to do this once in a while, though I'm not a subscriber to the idea that freedom for a small business owner is being able to work any seven days of the week you like...

Expert Witness Sewage And Sludge Treatment Process Chemical Environmental Engineer

We received  a new inquiry yesterday for a sewage sludge treatment job overseas. Ive done quite a lot of design and troubleshooting in the area, and most of my expert witness work has been of this type.

Expert witness jobs are always interesting. Figuring out what has gone wrong, and how much of that was down to design, and how much to installation, operation or maintenance is an intellectual and professional challenge I relish. I don't mind a bit of travel either.
 

Chemical Engineering Dictionary

I was supposedly on holiday this week, but I've been working on my next book, a dictionary of chemical engineering practice.

It's a lot more interesting than it sounds, as I get to have a lot of conversations with my fellow chemical engineers about what they think the words we uses in professional practice mean.

Of course, such conversations may not be everyone's idea of fun, or a holiday. That they are mine might be the reason why I'm writing a dictionary!

Water Treatment: Food Drink Beverage and Dairy Industry Regulation

I've worked in many different industries during nearly thirty years of practicing as an engineer. I'm presently having a lot to do with dairy technology, an area I have worked in a few times before as a trainer and process troubleshooter.

Milk products are however not the drink I have had most to do with, and I have been thinking this week about why the idea of what is "hygienic" is so radically different between drinking water plants producing a municipal supply and those producing a bottled supply.

It appears that this is to do with US regulation. In considering the level of contaminants allowed in municipal drinking water, a rational science based approach is followed. We design plants to reliably keep contaminants below a specified level. If however we want to sell water as a beverage into the US, we need to have a product produced under "sanitary" conditions to cGMP, as eth FDA regulates bottled water ( but not municipal water supply).    

"Sanitary" is often taken to be US English for "Hygienic", though there is some dispute about that, which I will be discussing in my dictionary...

Engineering Water and Other Utilities in a Hygienic Environment

I'm as busy as I have ever been, with multiple potential projects in water, pharma, nutraceuticals and traditional chemical engineering.

I've got  a couple of new contracts about to start on top of the bread and butter nutraceuticals job I spend most of my week on. I've got another HAZOP there next week, and another one in the offing.

Its good to be busy. I'm glad I insisted on having two years to write my new book! My last book is making its way into print, will be out in July, apparently. I can write books faster than they can publish them!