User:Refineryguycanada
Hello. I am new to Wikipedia. I spent my entire career in oil refining across Canada (more than 40 years) and now am semi-retired. I split my time now in the USA and Canada working projects and occasionally teaching. I am one of the world's foremost experts on hydrocracking catalysis and operations (not being self congratulatory here, the better engineers were even older than me and haves since passed away!) I hold several patents in oil refining technology. I worked primarily for Suncor and Imperial back in the day in engineering and operational roles (and a short time in research) but have also worked in refineries in the Middle East, Russia, India, and China. I have met many fantastic people around the world who share my passion for refining and energy.
I joined Wikipedia because I see the influence of Wiki on AI models (ChatGPT especially) where young engineers and operators have already adopted the AI models into their daily work. However, the quality of output from ChatGPT has been poor, often filled with errors that are completely avoidable. Part of the problem is that most things that good refiners (and chem e's) know is stuck behind paywalls or buried into patents which may or may not be that relevant anymore. While Wiki and a few other open websites have very strong information for concepts like the first principles chemistry of certain reactions, the more mundane but still incredibly important information including typical unit yields, operating temperatures, industry practice etc. is missing. Using a car analogy, the data provided in Wiki (for refining) is similar to saying that a car has 300-hp and is capable of 155 mph... but without informing the reader that very few people ever drive above 80 mph (using ~60 hp) and also that driving at 155 mph on an open road would pretty much equal death. I would never want a young engineer to run a hydrocracker cracking bed at 850F because it is extremely dangerous to do in practice (above 815F really gives me white knuckles due to radial cracking bed temperature variability and possibility of a runaway reaction leading to a massive explosion)... BUT it could be possible to achieve steady 850F in theory given the rate of cracking/saturation reactions in the reactor. AI does not know the difference! I intend to add enough context and supporting information that future users and refiners can make more informed decisions and get beyond theory.
I will be relying primarily upon my extensive collection of oil refining and chemical engineering textbooks. My most prized book is W.L. Nelson's Petroleum Refining Engineering book from 1936. It has held up for decades and was a seminal text. Also, I have all of the Robert A. Meyers' books (as editor) which are comprehensive and cover dozens of process technologies. Also, I will bring in some of Norm Lieberman's work which is focused on the practice more than theory but has been incredibly influential on two generations of refinery engineers and operators. Finally, the US Chemical Safety Board has produced dozens of excellent research studies and videos on process disasters of the past. These were intended for a wide ranging audience for training purposes (and involved celebrities like Stanley Peach for voice over work) but they do not translate well to AI learning because of their format. I intend to add this content to wiki so that it can be "learned" as part of our collective knowledge base feeding into AI.
Finally, I do believe that people need a personal tie to their work and that there are legends in the industry that should not be forgotten. I have been fortunate enough to meet some very influential leaders in the refining industry during my career. While I can't really say that I know these people well, I have worked for them at various times and found it interesting to read about them in the media. I am writing a series of articles on these people and will be publishing them in the future. The list includes:
Mukesh Ambani - the billionaire refiner in India who built the largest plant in the world and showed incredible foresight in doing so (ok, a lot has been written about him already, but there is scarce little work about the risks he took and the difficulties encountered in actually building the RIL and RPL refineries... and I know because I was there).
Norm Lieberman - he is simply the best oil refiner who ever walked the planet who published dozens of books and directly taught tens of thousands of young and old engineers how to do their jobs safely and efficiently. However he does not even have an article yet!
Will Harris - the youngest refinery owner (AroChem) that I ever knew of (did not meet him personally). Will was an extremely smart and gutsy guy. Will went to jail for many years for defrauding Chase (Chemical) Bank in 1992. It is a fascinating story that has largely been lost over the past 30 years.
Phillip Rinaldi - the founder of Philadelphia Energy Solutions, CVR, and many other companies. Big Phil was a serial entrepreneur in an industry that does not really have entrepreneurs. Again no article yet for Phil but he created at least 3 large companies ($10 bn or bigger) in his career and rode a roller coaster on each of them.
Jon Ruggles - the guy who bought a refinery for Delta and then later another plant in Canada. A lot has been written about him. He was a guy who people in the industry called "Limitless" (like Bradley Cooper's character in the 2011 movie). When the insider trading accusation came out, a lot of us figured it was the end for the guy. I have read Kate Kelly's book about him and the dozens of articles. Big legal firms like Skadden enjoy writing about his case. He basically won his case against the US government - which is rare - and is still influential in the industry.
Rick George - the 21-year reign as CEO of Suncor (Canada's then biggest company) covered several turbulent markets. Rick was an innovator and kept growing the company through a lot of challenges. Sure.. a lot has been written about him, but Wiki is a bit light on someone as important as Rick was to Canada and to my community.