UOP technologist receives trade association award

Des Plaines-based UOP LLC technologist Dr. Santi Kulprathipanja will receive the 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ Gerhold Award, UOP, a Honeywell company, announced.

Kulprathipanja was recognized for the development of process technology used to produce a key ingredient for polyester and food packaging.

“Santi is one of UOP’s most distinguished researchers. He currently holds 112 patents, which is the highest number of patents for any individual at UOP,” said Dr. Rajeev Gautam, president and CEO, Honeywell’s UOP. “This award from AIChE is a well-deserved testament to Santi’s hard work and outstanding leadership in the Research and Development group, and it demonstrates UOP’s ongoing commitment toward the development of groundbreaking technologies in the industries we serve.”

One of the most significant adsorptive separation processes developed by Kulprathipanja is Honeywell’s UOP MX Sorbex process for highly efficient and selective recovery of high-purity meta-xylene (m-xylene), a feedstock used in the manufacture of polyester fibers and resins for food packaging, films and advanced composites. Prior to the MX Sorbex process, m-xylene was expensive and in short supply, inhibiting discoveries and developments of new applications.

This process, first commercialized in 1998, accounts for more than 70 percent of the world’s m-xylene capacity, or the equivalent of about 490,000 metric tons annually.

In addition to his innovations in separation technology, Kulprathipanja was a member of the team that developed Honeywell’s UOP ADS-47 Parex adsorbent. Adsorbents are critical to the success of many processes in the energy industry, where they are used to remove contaminants in crude oil and natural gas streams.

ADS-47 is used in Honeywell’s UOP Parex process to recover high-purity para-xylene. The adsorbent yields higher capacity and requires lower energy usage than previous technology, making it the largest step-change in Parex adsorbent technology in more than 40 years.

Kulprathipanja is currently a Fellow for Industrial Research and Development at Honeywell’s UOP, where he mentors, leads and partners with scientists and engineers to improve existing processes and develop innovative technologies.

Kulprathipanja has written more than 65 technical publications and is the editor/co-author of two books and many book chapters. He is a visiting professor at The Petroleum and Petrochemical College at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, teaching Industrial Separation Technology, and at the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the National University of Singapore, teaching Innovative Industrial Research and Development.

Prior to joining Honeywell’s UOP, Kulprathipanja did post doctoral research at MIT and Harvard University. Kulprathipanja earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, and a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from Iowa State University.

AIChE is the world’s leading organization for chemical engineering professionals, with more than 40,000 members from more than 90 countries. The Gerhold Award is named for Clarence G. Gerhold, who was a leading researcher and technologist for Honeywell’s UOP for more than 40 years. www.aiche.org.