1. Dr. ZBIGNIEW E. RING
Mobile: (630) 815-1564
e-mail: zbigniew.ring@gmail.com
CORE EXPERTISE
Hydrocracking, hydrotreating, residue hydroconversion, refinery process troubleshooting, catalyst testing,
reaction engineering, kinetics, thermodynamics, scale-up, heat and mass transfer, and reactor modelling.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
 BP North America, Naperville, IL USA
Lead Principal Engineer, Hydroprocessing (2010– current)
Led large projects aiming at:
 Measurement and then prediction of adsorption parameters of nitrogen compounds on catalyst sites
for application in a Langmuir-Hinshelwood type of kinetics hydrotreater process model
 Hydrotreating and hydrocracking strategies for Fischer-Tropsch diesel and wax streams
Conducted successful trouble shooting investigations that brought multi-million-$ benefits to refineries on:
 Catalyst slumping problems in ebullating bed LC-Finer reactors (3-phase hydrodynamics)
 Hydrotreater plugging with “ultra-fines” while processing Canadian synthetic crudes (filtration)
 Color formation in a large multi-reactor diesel hydrotreater (heat transfer in catalyst particles)
Other projects:
 Hydroprocess development and catalyst testing pilot plant programs for various refineries
 Development of methods for improved interpretation of GCxGC/S, /N, and /FID chromatograms
 Conceptual development of hardware and operating procedures for new pilot plants
Leader, Technology Development, Residue Hydrocracking (2007 – 2010)
 Led a group of scientists working on the development of the VCC residue hydrocracking technology
including planning and execution of pilot plant experiments to optimize the technology, catalyst
development, development of analytical support, and mathematical modeling of experimental results.
 Developed a research program leading to new hydroprocessing technologies and in support of current
refinery operations.
 Design improvements and construction of large primary and secondary upgrading pilot plants.
 National Centre for Upgrading Technology, NCUT, Devon, AB Canada
Senior Scientist (1994-98), Technical Leader, Secondary Upgrading & Refining (1998 - 2005),
NCUT Program Manager (2005 - 07)
 Created and led a group of researchers working on internally-funded and contract research on the
development of: secondary upgrading and refining processes for bitumen-derived crudes, catalysts,
advanced characterization methods for refinery streams, and process models. Clients included: Shell
Canada, PetroCanada Ltd, Suncor Energy Inc., Syncrude, Husky Oil, Irving Oil, Pengrowth Energy,
ExxonMobil, BP, UOP, Shell Global Solutions, Corning Inc., Criterion Catalysts, Topsoe Catalysts,
Citgo, Conoco, KBC, US DOE, OMV (Austria), VKG (Estonia), and Pertamina (Indonesia).
Conceived concepts and methodologies, and oversaw research on:
- Novel highly efficient diesel hydrotreating process,
- Novel materials to enhance the performance of hydroprocessing catalysts,
- Investigation of naphthenic acid removal from bitumen-derived streams,
Address:
595 Grosvenor Ln.
Aurora, IL
60504

2. - Speciation methods based on Quantitative Structure Property Correlation for sulphur, nitrogen and
hydrocarbon type based on GCxGC results for refiner streams including heavy distillates,
- Derivation of molecular representations of refinery streams,
- By-boiling-point distributed characterization of refinery streams,
- Processability of bitumen-derived heavy gas oils in FCC,
- Development of hydroprocessing process models and neural-network product quality models.
 Developed and led pilot-plant process-development-support and hydroprocessing-catalyst-evaluation
services (including: the development of testing and quality assurance procedures, data modeling and
interpretation, and scale-up procedures). This activity has consistently delivered over $1M per annum
in contract research revenue in addition to research detailed above.
 Created and led Upgrading Catalyst Development Network – an NCUT/university network (7
universities) focusing on development of catalytic processes to improve the quality of bitumen-
derived distillates as refinery feedstocks.
 As an adjunct professor at Canadian universities of: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ottawa, New Brunswick,
and Laval University co-supervised Ph.D. Students.
 Shell Canada Ltd., Oakville Research Centre, Oakville, ON Canada
Research Engineer (1987 - 90) and Senior Research Engineer (1990 - 94)
 Research and commercial plant support in the area of hydrocracking:
- Conducted precision testing of commercial hydrocrackers and hydrotreaters in support of refinery de-
bottlenecking and process optimization studies,
- Developed a hydrocracker process model software for on-line optimization (implemented and
successfully running on-line at Shell Canada's Scotford refinery since 1993), conducted the related
pilot plant research and developed parameter estimation software,
- Conducted pilot plant programs for catalyst evaluations, process development, and modeling support
for Shell Canada and in support of Shell Group catalyst development research at KSLA, Amsterdam,
- Conducted research and developed a mathematical model of accumulation of polycyclic aromatics in
recycle loop of the hydrocracker including testing of remedial technologies.
 Research in the area of residue hydroconversion:
- Development and design support of the HYCON Peace River bitumen upgrader,
- Developed a scale-up model for moving-bed hydro-demetalization reactors that accounted for the
presence of both catalytic and thermal reactions,
- Conducted pilot plant programs for standardized catalyst testing , modeling support and process
development.
 Institute of Chemical Engineering, Technical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
Research Assistant (1976-82)
 Mathematical modeling of chemical reactors and distillation processes.
 Teaching Chemical Reactor Theory, Reaction Kinetics, and general engineering courses.
EDUCATION
Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, University of Toronto, 1988
"Trickle-Bed Reactors: Effect of Wetting Geometry on the Overall Effectiveness Factor"
B.Sc./M.Eng. in Chemical Engineering, Technical University of Warsaw, 1975
"Decomposition Kinetics of Aluminum Hydroxide under Dynamic Temperature Conditions".