Senior Process Engineer
About the role
Kunin Technologies is revolutionizing the critical mineral supply chain by implementing advanced separation technologies to capture value from overlooked resources. Metals are everywhere, in solar panels, smartphones, electric vehicles, but as ore grades plummet globally, traditional extraction methods are failing. China dominates critical minerals markets by developing superior separation technologies that extract value from materials American mines discard as waste. Utilizing Kunin Technologies' breakthrough performance, ion-exchange media significantly more value can be produced from each resource, reducing waste, and unlocking metal abundance. To achieve metal abundance, humanity must bring separation science down its own Moore’s Law: fix the idiot cost index for micro and nano scale separation materials. This requires mass manufacturing novel ion-exchange media form factors which previously struggled from high costs. The plant is built and operated by our partner; Kunin owns the process, the design package, the performance guarantee and the training of the operating team. You are the process engineer who turns the bench and mini-pilot results into the plant. In the first six months you scale the mini-pilot data from both process development programs into the design basis, then you own the basic engineering package under the VP of Engineering: process flow diagrams, heat and material balances, process datasheets for every equipment item, materials-of-construction selection for HCl, chlorine and metal chloride service, the control philosophy, HAZOP preparation, and the utility and effluent summaries that the partner-country contractor and skid fabricator build from. Through detailed engineering you review the contractor's P&IDs and datasheets against process intent, evaluate vendor bids for the process-critical equipment and witness factory acceptance tests. At commissioning you are on site with the commissioning lead. You work with the Lead Process Engineer, the distillation process engineer, the mechanical process engineer and the process chemists in Chattanooga, and with the VP of Capital Projects on schedule and cost. This is the first of a series of Kunin-designed metal recovery and conversion plants. You are a founding member of Kunin's Capital Projects team, whose goal is 100 critical metal projects in 10 years. Once this plant is through its gates you are expected to be executing design and delivery work on two to three projects in parallel. By 7 May 2027 we expect both design bases issued. By 21 May 2027, the basic engineering package. By 17 March 2028, a plant that passes its performance test on recovery, purity and throughput.
Responsibilities
- Scale-up of mini-pilot data into the process design basis: mass and energy balances, recovery, reagent and effluent basis for the oxide and solid feed sections
- The basic engineering package: PFDs, balances, process datasheets, materials of construction, control philosophy, HAZOP preparation, utility and effluent summaries
- Detailed engineering review of the contractor's P&IDs, datasheets, piping and instrument specifications against process intent
- Vendor technical evaluation and factory acceptance tests for reactors, columns, lined equipment, chlorine systems and ion-exchange modules
- Commissioning support, performance test execution and the operating procedures the partner's operators are trained on
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in chemical engineering required; Master's preferred.
- 7+ years of process engineering in hydrometallurgy, specialty chemicals, chlor-alkali or electronic materials, including at least one basic engineering (FEED) package delivered to an EPC contractor.
- Has built heat and material balances and process datasheets for a plant that was subsequently constructed; has sat in a HAZOP as process owner.
- Working knowledge of corrosion and materials selection for HCl, chlorine and chloride service (glass-lined, PTFE/PFA-lined, graphite, Hastelloy).
- Proficient in Aspen Plus or equivalent process simulation; AutoCAD Plant 3D or equivalent P&ID tools.
- Ability to work in fast paced and demanding atmosphere.
- Creative problem solving that brings together process chemistry, equipment design and plant operation to get a first-of-a-kind plant to nameplate.