Profile

I live in Norwich, with my fiance, Ollie, and my dog, Jasper, and 4 chickens, Hattie, Boots, Red, and Hen Solo. I love to spend time out in nature in the Norfolk Broads or on the beaches of North Norfolk. In my free time I watch Netflix and see friends. I’ve recently bought a house and have loved designing the garden and filling it with wildflowers and bee friendly plants.

I’m a Process (Chemical) Engineer. This means I design the systems that clean, separate, heat, or cool the gas taken out of the underground reservoirs offshore, so that it meets the requirements to be used in your homes in your heating or gas cooker.

The gas is extracted from the ground via an offshore oil and gas platform. It is then sent onshore via big pipelines. I work at Bacton Gas Terminal, which is where all the gas is processed before it’s sent to the National Grid, where it’s then piped to your homes.

At the terminal, we have to separate the gas from the liquids, then cool the gas to condense any remaining liquids. All this requires chemical processing equipment including separators, heat exchangers, pumps, and compressors. All of this equipment has to be designed and specified to do the correct job by a Process Engineer.

I work with several other types of engineers to design this equipment, including Mechanical Engineers, Instrument Engineers, Electrical Engineers, and Automations Engineers.

The gas processing plant is run by a team of operators, and sometimes bits of equipment can break or not work very well. When this happens, it can sometimes be my job to investigate why that equipment isn’t working, and to recommend a solution to fix the problem.

I get to work about 8am, where I mostly spend the day in the office with the other Engineers. Most of my work is completed from a desk via a computer although sometimes the projects i’m working on mean i’m able to go out on site and see the equipment actually working and processing the gas. We often have team meetings to discuss projects, as every project requires teamwork from all the engineer’s working together, and these can be drawings on whiteboards or presentations.

IChemE run a ‘whynotchemeng’ program, and i’d use the money to help promote the chemical engineering profession within schools in the Norfolk area. There is a lot of oil & gas (and other energies) industry in this area so it’d be great to promote that to local schools and colleges.