Presentation
AVGI is a Belgium SME engineering consulting company expert in optimisation of steam cracking for olefin production. AVGI has publications on olefins production and steam cracking modelling, besides the ownership of software for steam cracking thermal prediction. AVGI has been previously involved in projects as IMPROOF and OPTIMAL with UGENT.
Main tasks in ELECTRO
AVGI is the leader of WP4 “Grid integration, environmental assessment, scalability and replicability” and will develop the activity of technoeconomic evaluation, scalability and replication. AVGI will also develop predictive simulation model for Roto Dynamic Reactor.
Key people on the project
Guy B. Marin is emeritus professor of Ghent University. After a stay as Fulbright fellow at Stanford University and its spin-off Catalytica Associates, he has been teaching at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry of Eindhoven University of Technology. His research on chemical kinetics and engineering, aimed at the modeling and design of chemical processes and products all the way from molecular up to industrial scale, led in 2015 to AVGI a spinoff company of Ghent University. In that year he was also elected as member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and Arts. He co-authored two books: “Kinetics of Chemical Reactions: Decoding Complexity” and “Advanced Data Analysis and Modelling in Chemical Engineering”, as well as more than 700 papers in high impact journals and is co-inventor in 5 filed patents. He is executive editor of the “Chemical Engineering Journal” (with highest impact factor of the core chemical engineering journals) and co-editor-in-chief of “Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering”. He has ample experience as member of International Scientific Advisory Boards and is “Master” of the 111 project of the Chinese Government for overseas collaborations in his field. His ERC Advanced grant on “Multiscale Analysis and Design for Process Intensification and Innovation” paved the way towards transdisciplinary collaborations in the context of the transition from a linear to a circular economy.
David Brown is the Senior R&D Manager at AVGI bv in Ghent, Belgium. AVGI is a Ghent University spin-off company that develops and licenses the cracking furnace simulation programme ‘COILSIM1D’ and provides consultancy services. David has 47 years’ experience in the petrochemicals industry, specializing in cracking furnace design and operation. Before joining AVGI in 2017, he worked for 8 years for TotalEnergies (Feluy, Belgium); for 28 years for Stone & Webster (now part of Technip Energies), in both the UK and the USA; and spent the first 5 years of his career at ICI, Wilton, UK (now SABIC UK Petrochemicals).
David is the co-inventor of 7 allowed patents of innovation in thermal cracking. He has published papers and presented at conferences all over the world, primarily on topics related to combustion and CFD. He is a Fellow of the British Institution of Chemical Engineers; a former Session Chair for Fundamentals & Technology (Ethylene Producers’ Conference); and a former member of various European Ethylene Producers’ Committee (EEPC) Issue Groups. David has M.A. and M.Eng. degrees from the University of Cambridge, and a D.Phil. from the University of Oxford.
Ismaël Amghizar is a chemical engineer holding a Master’s degree from Ghent University. Following the completion of his Master’s program, he started an enriching journey at the Laboratory of Chemical Technology at Ghent University. Under the guidance of Profs. Kevin M. Van Geem and Guy B. Marin, his focus was on the modelling of steam cracking of hydrocarbons derived from diverse sources, including both fossil and renewable feedstocks.
Presently, he works as Modelling Researcher at AVGI, a Ghent University spinoff renowned for its comprehensive state-of-the-art steam cracking simulation software package COILSIM1D and its consultancy services to the ethylene industry. In this role, he further enriched his expertise in mathematical modelling of complex steam cracking kinetics. He is part of a dedicated team that drives innovations and enhancement, with a special emphasis on elevating and expanding the microkinetic model CRACKSIM, i.e. the core of COILSIM1D.
Lin Chen is an R&D engineer who joined AVGI in 2019, holding both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the Beijing University of Chemical Technology in China. She is primarily focused on researching and developing models and simulation software for the petrochemical industry. With over two years of experience in process simulation and modelling, particularly in scaling up Citral plants.
In the eLECTRO project, Lin Chen will be involved in Work Package 2, which focuses on the optimized valorisation of hydrocarbon mix.
