About My Seminars

Ive been working as a process engineer for 44 years. Fortunately for me, technology, as it affects the process industry, has not changed in the interim. The technology that affects our work is:

AC motor1890 Centrifugal compressor1930 Centrifugal pumps1900 Thermodynamics1880 Vaporliquid equilibrium1910 Continuous distillation1840 Internal combustion engine1880

All the catalytic technologies we use (alkylation, hydrotreating, reforming, isomerization, uid catalytic cracking) were old and well established when I came to work for Amoco Oil in Whiting, Indiana in 1965. Thus my seminar represents todays technology even though Ive learned almost nothing new in 44 years, except for one idea.

Troubleshooting Process Plant Control, by Norman P. Lieberman Copyright 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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ABOUT MY SEMINARS

WHATS NEW Four billion years ago, before I was born, the content of the atmosphere was:

79% N2 21% CO2

Plant life converted the CO2 to O2 and hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbons were buried as:

Methane hydrates (buried off-shore on continental shelves) Coal Shale oil Tar sands Oil Gas Peat

The above list is in descending order of abundance. Currently we are extracting these deposits at a rate of 210,000 FOE B/D (fuel oil equivalent barrels per day). At this rate, we will have reconverted all of the available O2 back to CO2 in 35,000 years. Of course, thats nonsense. CO2 becomes fatal when its concentration exceeds 3%, not 21%. For life like us, normal respiration would be impeded at CO2 levels above 1%. So, we have one-twentieth of 35,000 years, or 50 human generations, to correct the problem. SYNERGISM Of course, this too is nonsense. The largest amount of hydrocarbons are tied up not in fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal), but in hydrates. These hydrates (a combination of light hydrocarbons and water) that freeze at temperatures between 40 F and 60 F can be released because of global warming. Unfortunately, 1 mole of methane equals 23 moles of CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Without exception, all of the extinctions in history have been accompanied by a surge in greenhouse gases, usually triggered by meteor impacts and volcanic activity. WHO CAUSED THE PROBLEM? People like you and me. To be specic:

Newcomb, WattSteam engine and barometric condenser TeslaAlternating current 3-phase motor

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TeslaRadio, Remote Control, Florescent lighting Otto, DieselInternal combustion engine WhittleJet engine, gas turbine Tesla, EdisonElectric lighting

Like us, these guys were technical nerds. I used to teach in my seminars that my primary interests were:

Food Sex Money

This was a lie. My only interest has always been, right from childhood, technologyjust like you. Technology for its own sake, regardless of its consequences. Its an expression of our instinctive desire to dominate nature, regardless of its consequences.

CONSERVATION IDEAS IN THE SEMINAR Im trying to atone for my sin. The source of sin is acting without regard for the consequences of our actions. That is why Ive written this book. I believe that if the control techniques Ive described in this text and the process design and operating concepts I explore in my seminar are used, hydrocarbon waste will be reduced. The central concept of my troubleshooting seminar is a search for ideas once well known, but long since forgotten. This book is an expression of what I have discovered in that search. Norm Lieberman New Orleans, LouisianaMay 28th, 2008. 1-504-887-7714 (phone) norm@lieberman-eng.com (E-mail)