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Tom Sands, President
Mr. Sands has 32 years of experience in the pulp industry including eight years as an independent consultant for digester control. During this time he was responsible for the installation and programming of automated liquor analyzers, as well as site service, training and documentation.
Mr. Sands was previously with Kvaerner Chemetics, a process technology company with proprietary process systems and plants in the pulp and paper and other industries. During his tenure he was Senior Process Control Specialist, assisting with the design and start-up on the majority of their FT-NIR analyzer installations.
Mr. Sands holds a Diploma in Electronic Technology from Red River Community College in Winnipeg, Manitoba. During his career he has traveled extensively throughout Canada and the United States and has worked with pulp mills across North America. |
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Thanh Trung, VP of Technology
Thanh Trung has over 19 years of experience in the pulp and paper industry. Thanh brings to FITNIR Analyzers a high-level of technical expertise in advanced vibrational spectroscopy (Fourier-transform Infrared Spectrometry, Near Infrared Spectrometry and Raman spectrometry) as well as extensive knowledge and experience in mill operations. Mr. Trung’s research focus has been on the development of online spectroscopic sensors and analyzers for industrial applications and the way in which these process analyzers can address key energy issues of recovery boilers, power boilers and lime kilns, for example.
Prior to joining FITNIR, Mr. Trung was a Senior Research Scientist with FPInnovations (formerly Paprican) for 18 years. His pioneering efforts with FPInnovations in developing novel applications for the pulp and paper industry led to numerous inventorships and co-inventorships of U.S. and International patents. Thanh has also authored over 50 papers relating to pulp and paper applications, has been a guest editor of Canadian and international journals, and continues to contribute to the industry in chemical pulping, chemical recovery, and the integration of process measurements to reduce costs and improve product quality.
Mr. Trung obtained a B.Sc., Honours, in chemistry, specializing in analytical chemistry at the University of British Columbia. He is a member of Pulp and Paper Technical Association (PAPTAC), TAPPI, Applied Spectroscopy Society, American Chemical Association (ACS), Chemical Society of Canada, and the Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Society.
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Jack Porter, Application Advisor
Mr. Porter has spent 34 years working with recovery boilers, power boilers and evaporators. The first 20 years were spent in operations where he worked through all of the operating positions of the recovery department including Superintendent of Recovery and Recaust.
The next 13 years were spent working on utility projects with the largest being the construction of a new recovery boiler. He has been, and is, a session chair for the 1995 and 2007 and 2010 International Recovery Conferences and has authored or co-authored 14 presentations on topics involving recovery boilers and the associated liquor cycle.
Mr. Porter has been a participating member of the University of Toronto’s Research Consortium on Recovery Boilers since 1988 and has worked with FPInnovations and Lakehead University on numerous research projects. Jack retired in December 2008 then started his own consulting business in 2009. |
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