Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 2014
  • Dipl.-Ing., Mechanical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Germany, 2008
Licenses & Certifications
  • Professional Engineer Chemical, California, #7005
  • Professional Engineer Chemical, Kentucky, #41319
  • Professional Engineer Chemical, New Jersey, #24GE06249300
  • 40-Hour Hazardous Waste Operation and Emergency Response Certification (HAZWOPER)
  • Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI)
Professional Affiliations
  • American Institute of Chemical Engineers (Senior Member, AIChE)
  • National Association of Fire Investigators (NAFI)
  • National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
  • - Principal Member of the Committee on Hydrogen Technology responsible for NFPA 2 Hydrogen Technologies Code
  • - Alternate Member of the Committee on Classification and Properties of Hazardous Chemical Data responsible for NFPA 704 Standard System for the Identification of the Hazards of Materials for Emergency Response
  • International Council on Large Electric Systems (CIGRE)
  • - Member of Joint Working Group C5/C1.35 Integration of hydrogen in electricity markets and sector regulation
  • CSA Group
  • - Member of the Fuel Cell Technical Committee
  • - Member of the Hydrogen Generators – Fuel Processing Technical Subcommittee
  • - Member of the Stationary Fuel Cell Power Systems Technical Subcommittee
  • Verein deutscher Ingenieure (VDI)
Languages
  • German

Dr. Wechsung applies his 17+ years of chemical and mechanical engineering expertise to investigate industrial incidents and analyze issues arising over the life cycle of industrial processes ranging from design, engineering, and construction through operation and maintenance extending after operations ceased. He also investigates product releases, fires and explosions and their origin and cause.

Dr. Wechsung consults for process industry clients such as alternative energy including hydrogen, petrochemical, chemical and industrial processing, oil and gas, pulp and paper, power generation and utilities. His expertise includes process safety, fire and explosions, product releases, risk analysis, historical site operations, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory accounting and lifecycle assessments (LCAs), and advanced modeling.

Dr. Wechsung has investigated incidents at petroleum refineries, chemical, industrial and waste processing plants and storage facilities and fires and explosions at residential and industrial sites. He has analyzed the flows of contaminants of concerns such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other hazardous substances through industrial sites from receipt through processing to waste treatment and discharge and testified at deposition. Dr. Wechsung has supported clients in international arbitrations concerning the design, engineering, construction, and commissioning of chemical plants and power generation systems and authored multiple international arbitration reports.

Dr. Wechsung is experienced in modeling, simulating, and optimizing industrial processes and process networks. He leverages his understanding of multi-component thermodynamics, fluid dynamics and reactive systems to analyze process scale-up, upsets, loss of containment, runaway reactions, and product releases from process systems and product storage. He is skillful in using commercial chemical process simulators such as Aspen Plus© and interpreting process historian data.

Dr. Wechsung also advises clients on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory accounting as it relates to corporate climate change disclosures and voluntary carbon offset markets. He has conducted lifecycle assessment (LCA) to quantify greenhouse gas emissions and understand the benefits of re-used and recycled products.

Dr. Wechsung has evaluated infringement and validity of patents and trade secrets for petroleum technologies. He has performed dust hazard analyses (DHA) for manufacturers handling combustible organic and metal dusts, hazard identification (HAZID) workshops and process hazard analyses (PHA) such as HAZOPs.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Wechsung worked in multiple roles for BASF, one of the world's largest chemical companies. There, he held key roles in multiple industrial process development projects, including methane pyrolysis for sustainable hydrogen production with a reduced carbon footprint. He has successfully supported pilot plant operations for process scale-up and has worked closely with major multinational engineering companies to bring new technologies to the market. He led research project teams and conducted thorough risk assessments. He advanced digital capabilities of BASF's research and development organization including steady-state and dynamic process modeling and simulation tools. Additionally, he has advised senior management on the impact and mitigation of incidents affecting chemical production at the world's largest integrated chemical complex in Ludwigshafen, Germany, a site with more than one hundred plants. He understands the value contained in industrial data sets and is experienced in analyzing these with state-of-the-art methods to draw actionable conclusions.

Previously, he conducted his Ph.D. research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the Department of Chemical Engineering. His research focused on developing cutting-edge numerical methods for optimization of nonlinear models and their application in case studies taken from liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing and coal combustion.