Irwin A. Wiehe

After doing research on the least valuable, nonvolatile fraction of petroleum (resids) for 22 years for Exxon Corporate Research, I (call me Irv) decided a less structured work environment was better for me. Therefore, I retired from Exxon (now ExxonMobil) and formed a consulting company, called Soluble Solutions. Immediately, my plan was to write a book about what I learned during those 22 years because I projected having free time between consulting jobs. I consulted on conversion of heavy oils and resids to transportation fuels, on petroleum fouling mitigation, and performed tests on crude oils to predict which oils refineries could blend without precipitating organic solids. As it turns out, I did not have as much free time as expected because the consulting business was good and because as the sole employee I had to be secretary, accountant, publicist, etc. even though my title was President. Also, there were several gaps in my research from making a complete story, forcing me to do research and write technical papers to fill the gaps. As a result, the writing of my book, "Process Chemistry of Petroleum Macromolecules" took 10 years after retiring and 8 years after signing a contract with the publisher. At least I had a chance to develop and practice the material by teaching 28 short courses, sponsored by 21 different organizations in 9 different countries and on 4 continents. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the experience of writing this book so much that I am scoping out ideas for a second book.

Here is more about my background. I grew up in Lockland, an industrial suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. I obtained a BS from University of Cincinnati, a MS from Virginia Tech, and a PhD from Washington University (St. Louis), all in Chemical Engineering. I taught chemical engineering at University of Rochester and developed new organic materials for copying machines at Xerox before joining Exxon Corporate Research. My specialties before Exxon were polymer engineering and solution thermodynamics. This is why I was attracted to the largest molecules in petroleum and applied solution thermodynamics to devise a phase-separation kinetic model for coke formation and the oil compatibility model. I am a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and founded two international conferences that have met annually for over ten years: the International Conference for Refinery Processing for AIChE and the International Conference for Petroleum Phase Behavior and Fouling. These and other conferences allow me to make and continue my international friendships and to keep up with the technical literature.