Michael Stern
Michael Stern serves as Marketing Manager for the Lab Reagents business at EMD Chemicals, a leading provider of high-purity chemicals, reagents, and solvents. Prior to becoming Marketing Manager, he held product management responsibility for a broad portfolio of laboratory reagents, instruments, and services, including KF Titration Products,Chromatography Solvents, High-purity Acids, and Inorganic Salts.

Michael holds a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of the Sciences,and an M.B.A. in Marketing from LaSalle University, both in Philadelphia, PA. Prior to joining EMD Chemicals, he held laboratory positions at the United States Department of Agriculture and Honeywell Specialty Chemicals.

Michael's presentations on various topics related to Karl Fischer analysis have been featured at numerous industry trade shows and conferences, including: Pittcon, the Gulf Coast Conference, Eastern Analytical Symposium, Lubrication Excellence Conference, American Oil Chemists' Society Conference, and others.

Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith is the Whiskey Technical Resource at Jack Daniel Distillery where his primary responsibilities are maintaining yeast and lactic cultures and optimizing fermentation performance. Originally hired by parent company Brown-Forman Corporation in 1995 as a Technician in the R&D Microbiology Lab, Kevin then transferred to the distillery in Lynchburg as a Quality Specialist. Beginning in 2003, Kevin spent four year in the Fuel Ethanol Industry before returning to the Jack Daniel Distillery. In the Fuel Ethanol Industry, Kevin served as Plant Manager/Lab Manager for Commonwealth Agri-Energy in Hopkinsville, KY and also served as a Technical Manager for Ethanol Technology. Kevin is a Microbiologist with a Masters Degree from the University of Louisville.

Glenn Sprenger
Mr. Sprenger holds a BS Degree in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University. He began his engineering career in the agricultural chemical sector in 1977, with Stauffer Chemical where he developed and patented a novel solids sampler for granular materials. That sampler has a unique design which has no moving parts. He continued to work in the agricultural chemical industry for a total of 10 years, followed by 9 years in hazardous waste incineration, 9 years in pharmaceuticals, 2 years in petroleum refining and 2 years in renewable energy. He has extensive experience in the area of solids processing that includes fluid beds, milling, agglomeration, drying, pneumatic conveying, gas/solids and liquid/solids separations, dust collection, storage, distribution and packaging.

In 1992 Mr. Sprenger began work on a second sampler patent designed to operate on powdered materials, resulting in a second patent award in 1995. G. R. Sprenger Engineering, Inc. (GRSEI) was created to market the sampling technology in 1996. Since then, various new sampler models have been developed to address the needs of customers world -wide.

Abstract

“Sampling Problems and Solutions”

Solids handling in process plants presents many challenges for operations, maintenance and management. Perhaps the most troublesome is the issue of sample collection. When the QC lab posts results that are objectionable, the usual first response is to resample and rerun the analysis, because it is known and accepted as inevitable, that the sample integrity is simply not trustworthy. This presentation analyzes the various sources of sampling errors, the mechanisms that create the errors and the corrections required to resolve them. The presentation outline is summarized below:

SAMPLING ERRORS AND SOLUTIONS

Process Quality Control

Product Quality Assurance

Sampling Errors

Sampling Equipment

Case Histories

Applications

Michael Bradley
Dr. Mike Bradley lives in the suburbs of Chicago and works as an R&D scientist at Nalco Company where he develops microbial detection, control, and optimization technologies. Prior to working at Nalco, Mike trained at the University of Chicago and the University of Florida where his research combined elements of bioinformatics, evolutionary theory, and wet-lab approaches to explore biomolecular structures and functions. Mike received his PhD at the University of Illinois - Chicago for his thesis on yeast prion proteins.

Title: “The Nalco 3D TRASAR Yeast Activity Monitor”

Tim Swanson
Tim Swanson, Principal Scientist for ICM R&D, heads up a team of researchers driven to increase value for ICM’s customers by developing creative, new ways to make ethanol production more efficient and cost-effective. In fact, Tim and his team lead the industry in developing revolutionary new equipment and process technologies while working from a state-of-the-art research facility in the company’s St. Joseph, MO R&D Laboratory and Pilot Plant.

Responsible for process optimization, Tim and his group continually explore ways to further improve plant efficiencies. Thanks to their efforts, ICM plants are the industry’s most efficient ethanol plants, using approximately 25% less pipe and 10% less energy while experiencing 5% less downtime than other plants.

Tim also directs the R&D team as they research dry fractionation in an effort to make ethanol production still more profitable for owners and investors. In addition, his group is exploring self-sufficient ethanol plants that can produce enough power to run the entire facility as well as analyzing synergistic opportunities with other businesses. For example, the company plans to add ethanol production capacity to existing power plants and grain processing facilities.

Tim’s ties to ethanol begin with his background in the starch-processing industry. With more than 30 years’ experience in that field, his roles have included HFCS Operations Manager, Worldwide Technical Service Manager, Quality Control Manager, and Minnesota Corn Processors. He holds patents on raw materials currently being used in the starch industry, and he’s also published articles in both the sweetener and fuel ethanol industries.

A graduate of Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL, Tim holds a B.S. in Chemistry and Geology.

Ryan Hoefling
Research Associate/Instrumentation Specialist for ICM R&D. One of the team members for ICM’s state of the art research center in the Saint Joseph, MO R&D laboratory and Pilot Plant.

Abstract

“Process Optimization & Cost Cutting using Experimental Design”

Not just an R&D tool anymore, experimental design is being used in “real-world-applications” to cut manufacturing costs, more quickly optimize process steps, evaluate trade-offs, and improve yield and quality.

Piotr Krasucki
Piotr Krasucki is the Technical Service Manager based in North America for Fermentis - Division of Lesaffre Yeast Corporation. He has extensive experience in yeast and bacterial fermentation process development utilized for production of chemical and active biological compounds. After the military service with US. Army, and as the undergraduate student; Piotr has started in academic research setting concentrated on Wet Chemistry and Molecular Biology method development at Southern Illinois University. Shortly, that was followed by bench top molecular engineering work in support of Human Genome Project at Washington University Medical School - St. Louis, MO. In the industrial setting Piotr continued his career focused on developments in the R&D and Pilot Scale Fermentation Process conducted in support of active pharmaceutical ingredients (Immunoglobulins) invention and pilot manufacturing conducted on behalf of Pharmacia Inc. - St. Louis, MO.

Upon graduation Piotr has joined Monsanto as the Research Biologist – Fermentation, and conducted independent research and industrial scale fermentation process development & optimization in support of the Posilac™ (Bovine somatotropin - bST) intellectual property development and optimization of manufacturing methods. In his current position Piotr is responsible for focusing the technical resources of Fermentis - Division of Lesaffre Yeast Corporation in support of the market development focused on Industrial Ethanol Manufacturing. Piotr possesses several technical certifications and has also earned a Bachelor Degree in Biological Sciences currently followed by work on Master Degree in Chemistry.

Title: “Principles and Practice of Yeast Fermentation Biotechnology in Industrial Scale Ethanol Manufacturing. ”

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