Chad P.J. Bennington, Ph.D., P.Eng. NSERC/Paprican Chair in Chemical Pulping Technology Professor Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering The University of British Columbia 2360 East Mall, Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6T 1Z3 phone: +1 (604) 827 3537 or Pulp and Paper Centre, UBC 2385 East Mall, Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6T 1Z4 phone: +1 (604) 822 8573; fax: +1 (604) 822 8563 e-mail: cpjb@chbe.ubc.ca

Chad Bennington obtained his B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of British Columbia in 1979. Following graduation, he worked for two years as a process engineer/chemist at MacMillan Bloedel's Powell River Mill. In 1981 he returned to UBC to pursue post-graduate studies in the Department of Chemical Engineering, completing his M.A.Sc. in 1983 and his Ph.D. in 1988. In 1988 he joined Paprican at the UBC Pulp and Paper Centre where he worked as a Senior Research Engineer (with Paprican - now FP Innovations) and as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. In March 2002 he was awarded an NSERC/Paprican Chair in Chemical Pulping Technology and in 2006 was appointed Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Dr. Bennington is a member of the APEGBC (Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia), CSChE (Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering), ICICS (Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems), NAMF (North Americal Mixing Forum), and PAPTAC (Pulp and Paper Technical Association of Canada). He is a founding member of ISIPT (International Society for Industrial Process Tomography) and currently serves on the executive council of NAMF.

Dr. Bennington's research interests are in chemical reaction engineering (including fluid and multiphase systems) applied to a wide range of pulp and paper unit operations. These include mixing and mass transfer in pulping and bleaching operations, reactor design for improved generation of bleaching chemicals, the mechanical aspects of recycling and deinking operations, and fluid flow in chip digesters. Work in these, and related areas, are carried out at the Pulp and Paper Centre and Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at UBC.

Chemical Reaction Engineering Applied to Pulping and Papermaking Processes

• Research Projects
• Publications (since 1995)
• Ongoing Group Projects:
  • Dynamic Mixing in Agitated Pulp Stock Chests [Sponsored site - logon required]
  • Autonomous Flow Folowing Microsensors for Deployment in Multi-phase Chemical Reactors" also known as "SmartChips" in Kraft Pulp Digesters
  • Electrical Energy Reduction in Mechanical Pulping Operations [details to come]

Research and Study Positions Available

• Research Projects Available for Post-Graduate Students [Updated July 22, 2009]
• Recent openings for Post Doctoral Fellows available for Sptember 2009! [Updated July 22, 2009]

Upcoming Conferences and Events of Interest

• Mixing XXII will take place from June 20 to 25th, 2009 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. This the NAMF's biennial mixing conference, and has occurred since 1964. Come join us in Victoria to share and discuss the latest research developments in mixing. Participants come from academia, industry, and private and government research institutions in North America and all around the world. The conference web site is now open. The call for papers has now been issued. Come join us in June 2010 and participate!!
• The 6th World Congress On Industrial Process Tomography (WCIPT6) will be held in Beijing, China, from September 6 to 9 in September, 2010. The first call for papers has now been made.

General Publications from our Reseaech Group

• Mixing Operations in Pulp and Paper Processes: Can. Chem. News, Jan. 1998
• The State of Bleaching in Canadian Kraft Mills: Pulp. Pap. can 107(4) 2006 (pdf)
• Mixing Dynamics in Agitated Pulp Stock Chests (pdf). Fluent News Fall 2006.
• Optimizing Pulping Processes (pdf). Article in ICICS Newsletter Focus, Fall 2008.

Special Interest

• You're Never Too Young to Make Paper
• When not mixing try kayaking!

University Courses

• UBC CHBE 242: Chemical and Biological Engineering Processes
• UBC CHBE 345: Unit Operations II (2009/10)
• UBC CHBE 402: Chemical Pulping Technology (offered in the fall semester 2009/10): The kraft pulping process is the dominant choice for production of chemical pulp having high strength. It is this strength, and the pulps ability to be fully bleached to high stable brightness, that allows its use in a wide range of paper products, from corrugated containers to fine papers. In addition, the kraft process has a well developed recovery cycle that enables the recovery of energy and process chemicals for reuse. In North America, the pulp and paper industry is undergoing immense change. Some of the changes include implementation of the biorefinery (including modification of the kraft process to produce value-added products, including chemicals and transportation fuels) as well as developing novel products with unique properties (e.g. nano-crystaline cellulose). The course will cover the basics of kraft chemical pulp production, including cooking, bleaching and recovery operations, as well as the optimization and modification of the standard process in response to changing economic conditions.
• UBC CHBE 550: Advanced Reactor Design
• UBC CHBE 559T: Pulping, Bleaching and Recovery Engineering (offered fall 2009): See the course description for CHBE 402.
  Material for the above courses (when currently offered) is available on the UBC Chemical and Bilogical Engineerng web site: www.chml.ubc.ca
• University of Victoria MECH 450D: Pulp and Paper Technology (Students only - logon required)

Links to Sites of Interest

• Academic
  • Department of Chemical and Bio-Resource Engineering, UBC
  • Graduate Studies at the University of British Columbia
  • ICICS (Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems)
  • The University of British Columbia
  • 2007/2008 UBC Calendar
  • NSERC
• Mixing and Tomography
  • North American Mixing Forum (NAMF)
  • Virtual Centre for Industrial Process Tomography (VCIPT)
  • International Society for Industrial Process Tomography (ISIPT)
• Pulp and Paper
  • FP Innovations - Paprican
  • PAPTAC: Pulp and Paper Technical Association of Canada
  • Pulp and Paper Centre
  • TAPPI: Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry
• Professional Associations
  • Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia (APEGBC)
  • Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering (CSChE)
  • American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)

last updated November 13, 2009.