November 5
@
4:00 PM
–
5:00 PM
Reception from 3:30-4pm in the Cheney Room
Anil Oroskar
Founder and CTO
Orochem Technologies, Inc
Naperville, IL
My Chemical Engineering Journey
…Successes, failures and adventures of the past 50 years
Chemical engineering career which spans a lifetime is like a book of short stories. Some stories are hilarious, some are profound, some are disappointing, and others are just mundane. Fortunately, each of these stories adds to your knowledge of chemistry, engineering, finance and psychology. In this seminar Dr. Oroskar will tell you short stories of his experiences across the broad spectrum of chemical industry and the role he played in Technology innovation and implementation. His journey started with innovation in the Paper and Pulp industry during his graduate work at UW-Madison, continued in petroleum and petrochemical industry with UOP-Honeywell, expanded in Biotech and Pharmaceutical Industry with his own company Orochem and finally branching out in the renewable industry with several venture companies. This seminar will highlight the importance of chemistry in chemical engineering education and innovation which Professor Hougen impressed upon all his students at UW-Madison. The seminar will also discuss changes which are driving innovation in chemical engineering as a result of climate change and sustainability crisis in the 21st century:
- Demand for low carbon energy: The energy framework is changing to meet the demand for low and net zero carbon energy.
- Waste management: The petrochemical industry needs to improve how it manages waste,
particularly plastic waste, which is entering the oceans at unacceptable levels.
- Circular approaches: Petrochemical companies need to adopt circular approaches, such as
recycling, energy recovery, and developing more circular products.
- Chemicals over fuels: The share of oil used for transportation fuel is expected to decline, while the share used for chemicals is expected to increase.