“Energy transition is the single biggest challenge our industry faces.”
Mohammad Umer Ansari is a familiar face in the fluid catalytic cracking unit. He first started his career in refining as the FCC Process Engineer at Reliance Petroleum back in 1998 when the unit was still under construction. He found it fascinating to be a part of the commissioning and startup while witnessing firsthand the world’s largest grassroots refinery and petrochemical complex being built from scratch.
“I love the way teams come together to build these complex units to provide energy and other products essential for good life,” he says. “Our industry is constantly innovating to solve current challenges.”
Umer was born in India and has lived in various countries over his lifetime, including Kuwait, Malaysia, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia before moving to the U.S. in 2017. He currently resides in Houston, where he works as the Senior Technologist – Fluidization Tech Support and Design at Shell Catalyst and Technology.
In his current role he is responsible for technical services for optimization, troubleshooting and catalyst selection for FCC units in the Americas region and the design of grassroots and revamp projects for FCC units. He also supports the design and troubleshooting of other fluidization technologies involving various types of solids, and he leads renewable feed coprocessing R&D and implementation.
Umer’s unit is at the forefront of digitization and AI to improve operational efficiency and he has enjoyed implementing these new technologies to make operations safer and more efficient.
One of the biggest challenges he sees the industry facing is the need to provide innovative solutions to address the world’s climate change issue.
“Energy transition is the single biggest challenge our industry faces,” he says. “We need cleaner energy options through circularity, carbon capture, renewables, etc.”
When he’s not solving problems in the unit, Umer loves spending time with his family and traveling to new places. Connect with Umer on LinkedIn.
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