As an internationally known expert in chemical-reaction
technology and process scale-up with The Dow Chemical
Company,
Hank Kohlbrand (CHE ’73) has traveled the world. Among a
veritable bazaar of mementos from his visits to faraway lands,
on display in his office at Dow headquarters in Midland,
Michigan, is a marble elephant Kohlbrand purchased in India.
Within the elephant is carved a smaller elephant and within
that one, an elephant that is smaller yet. What gives the piece
its unique appeal, says Kohlbrand, is the artistic rendering of
all three elephants together, forming a most interesting
whole.
“In a country like the United States, where we sometimes
take for granted much of what we have,” he says, “being able to
think about other places is oftentimes a thought-provoking
reminder that you shouldn’t just look at how things may have
changed since yesterday, but look instead at the absolute
situation and appreciate it.”
Hank Kohlbrand (CHE ’73)
Taking a global view—both literally and philosophically—is
something that Kohlbrand has been doing since his days at IIT
Armour College of
Engineering, when he quickly discovered that to perform
well on his thermodynamics quizzes, he would need to understand
and apply both prior learning and new lessons. It is a vision
Kohlbrand has also adopted as incoming president of the American Institute
of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), where he has garnered a
reputation for finding answers based on his longtime
involvement with the organization and his progressive attitude.
Kohlbrand will begin his presidency in 2010 after serving this
year as president-elect.
“Hank Kohlbrand’s experience with AIChE over the past
30-plus years, coupled with his leadership skills and forward
thinking, will provide AIChE with a truly outstanding
president,” says H. Scott Fogler, Vennema Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of
Michigan and AIChE president. “I have observed firsthand
how Hank defines and thinks through the tough problems AIChE is
facing and then suggests innovative solutions.”
Besides continuing the strategy begun by his predecessor,
Kohlbrand will work to increase AIChE membership, keep programs
timely and relevant, and ensure that activities accommodate an
ever-broadening definition of chemical engineering—one that
places more emphasis on biotechnology, sustainability, and
process safety, for example. He says that today’s chemical
engineers also need to recognize the great impact they can have
on addressing some of the world’s major social issues.
“Solutions to the problem of having potable water, for
example, will reside in many cases with the chemical engineer
taking scientific principles and putting them into action,
analyzing processes and equipment,” says Kohlbrand, Dow’s
global research and development (R&D)
director of engineering and process sciences in core R&D.
“There’s a societal aspect whereby if you could take away the
burden of having potable water, it will allow people to spend
their time on other things that will improve their lives.”
Through its Institute for Sustainability, AIChE is
involved in projects to convert solar, wind, and ocean wave
energy into forms that are accessible and affordable. Youth
outreach and teacher mentoring is another focus area of the
institute, as AIChE looks for ways to encourage K–12 students
to consider careers in engineering, science, and mathematics as
well as provide them with an outlet to address their sense of
social consciousness and satisfy their yearnings to make a
difference in the health of the planet. AIChE members and
student chapters have joined with the group Engineers
Without Borders on various projects, which gives chemical
engineering students the opportunity to work together as a team
with students in other engineering disciplines to help solve
critical problems affecting developing global communities.
Kohlbrand recalls his own experience as part of a Dow engineering team whose effective internal collaboration produced an innovation of far-reaching benefit. In 1974—the year that Kohlbrand became a Dow employee—he and some 20 colleagues began searching for ways to more safely work with materials that were stored in large quantities at Dow, a multibillion-dollar diversified science and technology corporation. The team’s four-year effort resulted in the accelerating rate calorimeter (ARC™), designed to simulate runaway chemical reactions in large containers such as railcars, storage tanks, or even chemical reactors. The calorimeter went through a series of patents, was commercialized in 1978, and won several industry honors, including the John C. Vaaler Award, the A. O. Beckman Award, and two R&D 100 Awards, which qualifies a product as being one of the most innovative ideas of the year.
Kohlbrand led the sub-team that converted data from the ARC to predict real-world scenarios as well as the efforts to license the invention to a company that heard about the calorimeter and wanted to develop a commercial version.
“Many people who use scientific instruments only see the final product,” says Kohlbrand, who is chair of the IIT Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering Advisory Board. “They don’t realize that when something is new, it doesn’t look elegant—it doesn’t have nice paint or flashy dials. The calorimeter was really kind of an ugly thing when we first started. It was actually designed to blow up; that’s one of the reasons you get such good data,” he adds with a chuckle, noting that the tiny ARC only held about 10 grams, or 10 cc, of sample but was contained within a mini-refrigerator-sized safety containment. “The process of watching the calorimeter evolve—from a concept to a device that worked to a commercial entity that turned out to be very successful—was quite an eye-opening experience.”
With the ARC still in use at many companies, Kohlbrand is now largely responsible for determining which projects Dow is capable of undertaking in the areas of process chemistry, process development, reaction engineering, modeling, fluid mechanics and mixing, process separations, and solids processing. He also plays a significant role in managing interactions between R&D and manufacturing, focusing on the development of new products and process technology.
High-priority projects Kohlbrand’s division is developing include alternative feed stocks, such as the use of plant oils as chemical feed stocks; green chemistry procedures; process synthesis, intensification, and reliability analyses; integrated photovoltaic cells; coal-to-chemicals conversion; water purification methods; and a number of new product proprietary projects for Dow’s many clients.
“The scope of what we can do today has increased tremendously,” says Kohlbrand, about the changes he has seen in business and technology over the course of his career. “Our ability to use computer modeling to enhance our experimental programs has allowed us to fundamentally change the way that we develop technology and understand science. We can use computers to explore many different design options for a plant instead of putting together one design and tediously going through calculations by hand. On the business side, when I started in the industry, companies were led and organized geographically and functionally. There is a lot more customer focus now, with commercial leadership. We are much more directed by the markets that we serve than by the products that we make.”
While Kohlbrand recalls that there was a high school chemistry teacher and a grade school science teacher whom he admired, he most respects leaders who have made an impact on the world, from Joseph Smith, the Mormon Church founder who created a series of influential governing principles, to Benjamin Franklin, who made contributions to printing, science, and government.
“Patton was not a particularly nice guy, but he sure showed the tenacity and the ability during the war to really make a difference,” says Kohlbrand. “He was wired for conflict.”
In 2002, Kohlbrand was recognized for his lifetime of career accomplishment with IIT’s Professional Achievement Award and in 2009, the Charles W. Pierce Distinguished Alumni Award. In 1997, Kohlbrand added an especially unique credit to his name: he was selected as the Ralph Peck Distinguished Lecturer, in a longtime tradition that honors the former Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering chair and thermodynamics professor whose 10-minute quizzes taught Kohlbrand not only a tough science, but how to incorporate all of the component parts into a most interesting and valuable whole.
American Institute of Chemical Engineers: www.aiche.org
The Dow Chemical Company: www.dow.com
Engineers Without Borders: www.ewb-usa.org
