The Edmonton conference - a record breaker.

The 47th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference held from October 5-8, 1997 set new attendance records for the Society.

The 47th annual conference of the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering (CSChE) was an amazing event that featured improved industrial content and a significant

This diverse program contained approximately 400 technical papers, not including student paper sessions, which drew 1160 registrants to the Conference. Among the registrants were approximately 360 student delegates. There were four special symposia presented during the Conference - Kinetics, Catalysis and Reaction Engineering; Responsible Care[R]; CONRAD Oil Sands and Heavy Oil Technology; and the 20th Anniversary of the Peng-Robinson Equation of State (see ACCN, January 1998, pp.27-28 for a complete description of this symposium).

The Registration Desk opened at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday and registration was an amazingly smooth process.

Student Program

The Student Program opened at noon on Sunday with a Welcoming Session that introduced student delegates from across the country. Thereafter, the Program saw two keynote addresses given by Deborah Grubbe, PEng, Director, Integrated Operations, Photopolymer Materials for DuPont USA ('You Have A Lot More Control Over Your Career Than You Think') and Norman R. Ball, Director, Centre for Society, Technology and Values at the University of Waterloo ('Are You Giving Yourself a Competitive Disadvantage?').

During these sessions, the SNC*LAVALIN Design Competition took place. The teams which were finalists in the design competition represented Universite de Sherbrooke ('Projet d'usine de recyclage des brasques par le procede LCL&L'); Technical University of Nova Scotia, now DalTech ('Cogeneration of Heat and Power Using Wood Waste') and Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal ('Conception d'une unite de traitement de sol et d'eau souterraine contamines aux dichlorobenzenes'). Following the presentations and questions by many delegates, the judges declared that the team of Alexis Ballez, Frederic Boiselle, Guillaume Hudon, Sylvain Lefebvre, Antoine Mongrain and Nidal Srouji from Ecole Polytechnique were victorious.

Welcoming Reception

Sunday evening all delegates got in the spirit of the Conference at the Welcoming Reception held in the Westin's ballroom. The Riverboat Jazz Band provided roving entertainment throughout the evening.

Annually at the Welcoming Reception, delegates see colleagues from across the country and also take the opportunity to make new acquaintances. There was an especially strong contingent of students in attendance. Judging by the line-up, the Alberta beef on a bun sandwiches were very popular as were the refreshment stands and hors d'oeuvres tables.

The Official Opening

Prior to the Monday morning Plenary Lecture, the Conference was opened officially by the Chair Fred Otto, FCIC. Otto told of the discovery of oil at Leduc over 50 years ago and how this event had been used as the inspiration for the cover of the Conference Program. In inviting delegates to enjoy the Conference, Otto made special mention of the efforts made by the Conference Organizing Committee to integrate the Student Program into the Conference proper. He specifically mentioned that all students were invited to the Awards Luncheon at lunchtime and that many would be able to join corporate sponsors at their tables.

Improved industrial involvement was a strong goal of the Organizing Committee and Otto noted that the success in this area was evident in the program. Otto invited delegates to take advantage of the software exhibition, a new feature, where representatives of leading edge software companies were available to all delegates during the Conference.

At the close of his brief address, Otto introduced the Mayor of Edmonton Bill Smith, who welcomed attendees to his city. Smith said that the 47th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference had set a record for Edmonton in drawing representatives from 27 nations to the Conference. Smith asked all to enjoy the amenities of his city and in concluding his remarks said "Thank you all for the business!"

Conference Vice-Chair Peter Ambrose, MGIC introduced the plenary speaker Dennis Lauzon, PEng who became the President and Chief Executive Officer of Dow Chemical Canada Inc. in 1995. Lauzon, who holds a chemical engineering degree from the University of Windsor, spoke on the topic of 'The Canadian Chemical Industry: Meeting Public Expectations and Gaining the Competitive Edge'.

Lauzon began his talk by telling delegates that Herbert Dow, the founder of Dow, had said "If you can't do it better, why do it?" and that Dow Chemical is now the fifth largest chemical company in the world with offices in 157 countries and over 40,000 employees worldwide (2,000 of which are in Canada).

Lauzon's plenary address was a wonderful opening to the day-long Responsible Care[R] symposium as he illustrated how Responsible Care[R] has shaped the actions of his company. Lauzon said that "Good business takes the form of Responsible Care". You take care of the bottom line and pay attention to corporate responsibilities in your business. He noted that responsibility is not so much a program, but a state of mind summarized in the often quoted, "Safe management of chemical products throughout their life cycle."

In signing a document officially renewing Dow's commitment to Responsible Care[R], Lauzon said that he was committing Dow to six codes of practice encompassing 152 elements. Dow operates under a series of guiding principles which illustrate its commitment to Responsible Care[R] in tangible ways by caring for the health and well-being of its staff and the environment.

He spoke of Dow Chemical's three goals for the year 2005:

* responsibility and accountability

* prevention of environmental health and safety incidents and

* increasing resource productivity.

Lauzon's words were a lesson to all corporations. He said, "Keeping employees healthy and happy is a key part of Responsible Care[R] for Dow." Also, honesty, effort and a commitment to be the best builds trust.

In closing, he added that Responsible Care[R] begin in Canada and is now practiced in many countries. He stated that the chemical industry is one of the few sectors to make sure social performance equates with business performance. After this talk, Lauzon went to address the student delegates under the subject 'The Changing Face of Engineering in the Petrochemical Workplace'.

Responsible Care[R] Symposium

The next talk in this section of the Responsible Care[R] symposium came from Brian Wastle, Vice President of the Canadian Chemical Producers' Association. Wastle's talk, 'The New Chemical Industry Ethic', compared the "old ethic" where companies "do the minimum the law requires, keep a low profile, limit product liabilities, downplay public concerns, assume product "innocence", and provide hazard information only when necessary" to the "new ethic" where "do the right thing and be seen doing the right thing" prevails. Wastle remarked that the international strength of the Responsible Care[R] program (now in 41 countries) integrates industry and public concerns in having the CEO of chemical companies physically sign an agreement committing their corporation to following the "new ethic".

Gerry Whitcombe, the Responsible Care[R] Manager at Dow Chemical Canada Inc., was next with his topic 'Responsible Care[R] Related Industry Expectations of the Academic Community'. Whitcombe said that it is the responsibility of the academic community to provide graduates with a Responsible Care[R] perspective when they reach an industrial career. This builds an individual commitment to Responsible Care[R] that will strengthen the chemical industry as a whole. This individual responsibility is necessary in companies where decision-making is constantly going down the line. He stressed the importance of always meeting public expectations.

Brian Kelly, MGIC, Senior Risk Associate at Syncrude, shared some 'Lessons Learned from Major Industrial Accidents'. Kelly said that sharing mistakes made by your company with others is important to accident prevention and strongly suggested that companies maintain a database of the experiences of other corporations.

Doug McCutcheon of Dow examined 'The MIACC Process - Where We Are Today'. He spoke of the joint effort of provincial and federal governments and the chemical industry to determine how Canada should respond to major industrial accidents. This process involves a neutral, non-profit forum involving stakeholders in the formulation of one standard approach to major industrial accidents (through MIACC). McCutcheon also mentioned the Safer Community Initiative that is just in its infancy. This initiative will foster the enhancement of prevention, preparedness, response and recovery ([P.sub.2][R.sub.2]) capabilities in communities where hazardous substances are housed. He noted that presently there are 1,331 List 1 sites in Canada located in over 525 communities.

This Responsible Care[R] session was very cohesive and informative. It adjourned prior to the Awards Luncheon.

Presentation of the Awards

Monday at 12:15 brought the annual presentation of the awards of the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering. Held in the ballroom of the Westin, almost 900 delegates came to honour their colleagues.

Following the introduction of the head table, Murray Smith, Minister of Labour, Province of Alberta, welcomed delegates to the province on behalf of Premier Ralph Klein. Smith said that "People development is the number one goal in Alberta" and added that the development of a skilled workforce is key to Alberta's remaining competitive.

During dessert, the presentation of awards began with President Alistair Miller, FCIC as master of ceremonies. Delegates applauded heavily in congratulating this year's winners.

The speaker at the luncheon was Jim Carter, PEng, Chief Operating Officer and Vice President, Operations at Syncrude Canada Ltd. In 'The Oil Sands: Alberta's Competitive Advantage', Carter said he saw the Syncrude story as a real success displaying leadership and foresight in the involvement of industry-university partnerships.

The oil sands supply one-quarter of Canada's crude oil and Syncrude has invested over $5 billion since 1973 in the oil sands and currently employing 5000 individuals directly or on contract. Carter spoke of an industry-wide plan to triple production over the next two decades that would result in 4000 new jobs. This ambitious plan involves $30 million in annual investment over the next 20 years. Syncrude itself has $3 billion in expansion planned at its east and north mines. It is hoped that the price of Syncrude sweet blend will fall from its current $13.70 per barrel to $12 by the year 2000. This plan is known as "Syncrude 21" and will see production double as well as process improvements. Carter also spoke of the importance of Syncrude's work with Jacob Masliyah, FCIC of the University of Alberta, as key to these developments.

Hugo de Lasa, MCIC, Co-Chair of the 48th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference to be held next fall in London, ON (Clarke Henry, FCIC is his Co-Chair), invited all delegates at the Awards Luncheon to come to London for the 1998 Conference. He provided delegates with details of the technical program and said that the Conference would strongly involve industry in the same way as the Edmonton Committee. Three special symposia are planned for the 48th Conference - Advanced Reactor Technologies, Environmental Bio/Reactor Engineering and New Developments in Chemical Engineering de Lasa also promised that the fall colours would be spectacular for all to see in Canada's forest city.

A Busy Afternoon

Delegates rushed from the Awards Luncheon to attend the R.S. Jane Memorial Lecture and more of the Student Program.

Eric Tollefson, FCIC, winner of the R.S. Jane Award, the most prestigious prize of the Society, spoke on the subject 'Developing and Modifying Processes - Challenges for Chemical Engineers and Chemists' to a large audience. Tollefson, who has been with the University of Calgary since 1967, has been involved in many projects relating to the petrochemical industry and has been sharing lessons learned with his students. His lecture used examples from his career to impart enthusiasm for process development and modification challenges to those in attendance.

At the same time, during the Student Program, Marc Dube, MGIC and Marna Zinatelli, both of the University of Ottawa, presented 'Engineering a Successful Career Using Self-Management Strategies'. This session designed to help graduating chemical engineers in making strong career choices provided facts, used role-playing, gave suggestions on creative problem-solving and then invited questions from the audience.

Zinatelli and Dube talked about choices in the chemical engineer's career path, e.g. industry vs. academia and looked at current salary trends. The most important tool for success is managing change well (this means you have to be a good stress manager) and they emphasized that job security lies in the ability to think, learn, create and adapt. They suggested options which would help students find order in the chaos - keep a home base, keep a consistent circle of friends, be involved regularly in a sport, maintain your hobbies, belong to a group/club or association, develop healthy habits and routines, and to find a peaceful place to visit regularly.

They also listed nine personal skills that are vital to success in the new economy: results orientation, proactive approach, creativity, self-knowledge, people skills, tolerance, communication skills, business skills, and awareness of technology.

Dube and Zinatelli closed their session with a challenge saying to students about to enter the workforce that this is "Your great chance!" Why? Because it is in transitional periods throughout life (between old and new ways of life) that one finds the greatest opportunities for creativity. So, "enjoy your great chance".

More Sessions

Tuesday morning began with a Plenary Lecture from Joseph Wright, FCIC, President and Chief Executive Officer of PAPRICAN. He was introduced by Ken Porteous, FCIC.

In 'Collaborative Pre-competitive Research - Partnerships That Work', Wright emphasized the importance of the pulp and paper industry to Canada's economy. There are over 250,000 employees working directly in the industry with about 750,000 people indirectly employed by the industry. The average income of those involved with pulp and paper is $47,500, compared to the Canadian average of $30,500.

Canada is the world leader in pulp and paper commodity production. But will this change with Canada's declining fibre supply? Our success will depend upon technology and the global market demands for product value, quality and cost competitiveness. PAPRICAN has a mission to "enhance and maintain the technical competence of its member companies" and it is a wonderful example of collaborative pre-competitive research in action.

The 42 member companies pay PAPRICAN their fees on a per ton basis. Industry funds the majority of the work at PAPRICAN with 9 percent of funding coming from government in the form of a repayable loan. Member companies partner on projects and each project has two or more actively involved corporations. The average project involves between five and six companies.

PAPRICAN is the lead organization in the Mechanical and Wood Pulps Network of the Network of Centres of Excellence program. The Network is industry driven and defined. It involves 16 universities and 250 research staff.

Wright talked about the challenges in consortia research - "How to keep precompetitive research?" and "How to comprehend ultimate customer needs?" To meet these challenges, PAPRICAN's strategic plan is to support the strategy of member company advantage by:

* exploring new technology

* matching product quality and value with customer needs and

* leveraging resources through partnerships and linkages.

In this plan, PAPRICAN has focused on three main areas - the environment, cost competitiveness, and product quality and value in its goal to provide the competitive advantage to its member companies.

Following the plenary, an extremely interesting talk was given by Bruce Peachey, MCIC of New Paradigm Engineering Ltd. Peachey's 'Global Climate Change and Chemical Engineers - A Challenge' examined perceptions on C[O.sub.2] levels.

Canada is one of the worst in contributing C[O.sub.2] to the environment and Alberta has the worst record in Canada (27 percent of Canada's C[O.sub.2] comes from Alberta). Recently, industry has acknowledged that C[O.sub.2] levels are increasing and that it should do something about it.

Carbon is accumulating in the environment at the rate of 3.4 Gt per year, but with available indicators (via emissions), between 2 and 4 Gt are going missing each year. Where is this missing carbon? Research by Peachey and Thomas showed that 0.6 Gt is going into landfill sites and that as much as 2 Gt can be going into the oceans as untreated sewage.

This leaves a very interesting challenge for chemical engineers - looking for other anthropogenic and working to quantify, them. What else can be done? Develop better indicators (ones that measure waste vs. use), define the human factors involved and improve models relating to the problem.

Annual General Meeting

Tuesday evening, the Annual General meeting (AGM) of the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering was held. Society members in attendance heard Alistair Miller, FCIC, the outgoing President of the Society, report on the significant accomplishments of the Society over his term (for more information, please see his report in ACCN, November/December 1997, pp.44-45). He specifically noted the work of the Society Board on its Strategic Plan and the signing of the London Communique during the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the Institution of Chemical Engineers in Britain.

Treasurer Dave Berg, MCIC emphasized that the finances of the Society continue to be strong due to a sizable equity developed over past years. He noted that this strength would be available to push forward with new projects for the Society.

Miller also handed over the traditional gold hardhat to incoming President Maja Veljkovic, FCIC and wished her well during her term.

Conference Banquet

The social event of each annual conference is its Banquet. This year's was no exception. Delegates enjoyed a wonderful meal of prime Alberta beef and then listened to a Presidential Address from the incoming Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering President Maja Veljkovic, FCIC.

In her address, Veljkovic pledged to serve members to the best of her ability. She outlined the course of the Society as expressed through its Strategic Plan. The importance of partnerships to success in these areas was emphasized. For the complete text of her speech, see ACCN, November/December 1997, pp.45-56.

Then came the entertainment. First came the Red Thunder Dance Troupe performing three different styles of plains dances. Among them were a hoop dance and the coyote dance. The performance was wonderful with a commentary before each performance to explain its significance.

This was followed by Alberta's famous Ukrainian dance troupe, Shumka. Again there was a variety of dances. The speed, footwork and energy levels were amazing.

The Final Day

Sangtae Kim, Wisconsin Distinguished Professor at the University of Wisconsin, provided Wednesday's Plenary Lecture. His topic was 'The Web and Flow of Technology', another focus on the Conference's theme "The Competitive Advantage".

He spoke about getting the most power out of the computers that you have by creating a network of workstations which can work like a supercomputer in the aggregate. At the University of Wisconsin, the ethernet extends through university buildings and it joins over 600 workstations. This type of network involves little new cost (as it already exists for e-mail purposes) and workstation owners are only sacrificing idle cycles.

These idle cycles are delivered, essentially for free, via a central server providing power to solve complicated problems. The system transparently moves the last saved image to the next idle machine.

Kim said that this type of network, using idle cycles, allows a competitive advantage in scientific computation. The speed of such computations is amazing in that several stations may each compute a part of the problem and then all is summed on one station.

Following Kim's talk, there were a variety of sessions available to delegates with the final sessions ending at 4:30 p.m.

Conclusion

The Edmonton Conference was superb, drawing a record number of delegates to the annual Conference of the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering. Strong industrial involvement provided an excellent technical program and the social program itself was smooth and well planned. Congratulations to the Organizing Committee on a spectacular job!

Next year we look forward to seeing you for the 48th annual Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference to be held at the Westin Hotel in London, ON from October 4-7, 1998. Look for more information about the London Conference in the June 1998 issue of ACCN.

Conference Sponsors

The Organizing Committee is pleased to acknowledge the following companies which have provided financial support for the 47th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference.

Le comite d'organisations du 47ieme Congres Canadien de genie chimique est heureux de remercier les compagnies qui ont genereusement contribuer au financement de cet evenement.

AGRA Monenco Agrium Alberta Research Council Bantrel Inc. Biomira Centre for Engineering Research Inc. CANMET Celanese Centauri Computers City of Edmonton Colt Engineering CONRAD DB Robinson Dow Chemical Economic Development Edmonton Edmonton Transit Edmonton Tourism Fluor Daniel GKO Design Consultants Inc. Husky Oil Limited Imperial Oil Limited Meloche Monnex Inc. New Paradigm Engineering Ltd. NOVA Chemicals PTAC RG Auld Memorial Fund Shell Canada Sherritt SNC*LAVALIN Suncor, Inc. Syncrude The Co-op Refinery/Upgrader Complex Thermo Design Engineering TransAlta Utilities University of Alberta, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering Weyerhaeuser

RELATED ARTICLE: Thank You to the Organizing Committee

I would like to thank the Organizing Committee and the many volunteers involved in bringing about the 47th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference. The members of the Organizing Committee have worked very hard on behalf of our Society to present a remarkable conference. The Board of Directors of the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering acknowledges the contributions of each of the following Committee members: P. Ambrose, MCIC (Conference Vice-Chair); B. Anderson (Student Program - Social); E. Barr (Student Program - Tours); R. Batycky, ACIC (Signage); C. Bennington, MCIC (Pulp and Paper); A. BenZvi (Student Program - Competition); N. Boucher (Student Program - Tours); J. Carroll, FCIC (Peng-Robinson); K. Chuang, FCIC (Separation); J. Clark (Industrial Issues); B. Cott, MCIC (Process Control); J. Czarnecki (Colloids); A. Day, ACIC (Environment); I. Dalla Lana, FCIC (Conference Secretary, Gas Processing); M. deJong (Special Events); D. Dembicki (Ethylene); P. Douglas (Education); H. Dupilka (Student Program Co-Chair); J. Elliott, MCIC (Student Program); P. Fink (Ethylene); F. Forbes, MCIC (Session Assistants); M. Gray, FCIC (Biotechnology); M. Guirguis (Student Program - Speakers); R. Gurak, FCIC (Treasurer); D. Heaton, MCIC (Registration); C. Hensch (Student Program - Speakers); A. Howell-Pick, ACIC (Special Events); J. Hyne, FCIC (Gas Processing); M. Kardash, MCIC (Environment); S. Kresta, MCIC (Program Book, Education, Transport Phenomena); S. Liu (WebSite); J. Martineau (Public Relations); J. Masliyah, FCIC (Technical Program Chair); A. Mather, FCIC (Peng-Robinson); G. Mayr (Student Program - Finance); J.-L. Midgley (Student Program - Volunteers); K. Moti (Signage); J. Newman (Student Program - Volunteers); D. Nowak (Student Program Co-Chair); F. Otto, FCIC (Conference Chair); B. Peachey, MCIC (Fund Raising); A. Penlidis, FCIC (Polymers); K. Porteous, FCIC (Logistics); B. Pruden, FCIC (Hydrogen); M. Reid (Student Program - External); J. Silvers (Tours); L. Trytten, MCIC (Publicity); K. Vadori (Student Program - Social); T. van de Ven, MCIC (Colloids); J. Vela Estrada, MCIC (Kinetics); J. Vera, FCIC (Thermodynamics); G. Whitcombe (Responsible Care[R]); L. Wilson, MCIC (Responsible Care[R]); R. Wood, MCIC (Exhibition); and E. Yildirim (Oil Sands).

Alistair I. Miller, FCIC CSChE President