About Us
Optimized Gas Treating, Inc. (OGT) was established in 1992 by Ralph Weiland and Jack Dingman with the intention of providing a commercial version of a Windows-based software package for simulating acid gas removal specifically with aqueous alkanolamines. The ProTreat software is distinguished by its exclusive use of a fundamental mass and heat transfer rate approach to column modeling and is gradually being expanded to include physical and hybrid solvents, as well as dehydration and sour water stripping. ProTreat is the culmination of more than 30 years of research in gas treating supported by government and industry in both academic and commercial environments. ProTreat is our sole product. Consequently, it receives our undivided attention in maintaining and enhancing its capabilities so that it remains the premier software package for gas treating with amines. OGT’s principals are recognized world experts in most aspects of gas treating — they offer a total of nearly 60 years of relevant experience.
People
Ralph H. Weiland
Ralph began working in the area of gas treating as an M.A.Sc. student in 1965 and has been active in basic and applied research in this field ever since. He received B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto, then spent two years as a post-doctoral fellow in applied mathematics at the University of Western Australia. He taught Chemical Engineering for 30 years at universities in Canada, Australia, and the U.S.A. and directed graduate research in gas treating. Ralph led the development of an earlier version of a mass transfer rate-based model for amine columns and commercialized its concepts in the pre-Windows software package, GasPlant-Plus, now part of WinSim. In addition to the development of the Windows-based ProTreat process simulation package with OGT, Ralph spent ten years with Koch-Glitsch LP, Dallas, TX primarily in tray development.
Nathan A. Hatcher
Nate joined Optimized Gas Treating, Inc. as Vice-President, Technology Development in 2009. After graduating from the University of Kansas with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, he spent 7 years with Black and Veatch Pritchard, Inc. where he was involved with the design, evaluation, training and start-up of H
2S and CO
2 removal and sulfur recovery technologies. Nate spent the next 7 years with ConocoPhillips, Inc as Treating and Sulfur Processing Best Practices Network Lead, where he became an expert
ProTreat user in providing technical support and troubleshooting services for refinery treating and sulfur recovery operations. He is currently a member of the
Amine Best Practices Group as one of only a few non-operating company representatives. Nate has spent nearly his entire career in amine treating and sulfur recovery, most recently with Trimeric Corporation, and has extensive experience in the practical application of process simulation to operations, troubleshooting and training.
Jaime L. Nava
Jaime joined Optimized Gas Treating, Inc. in 2003 and is currently Manager, Software Sales and Licensing. He has over 10 years experience in the Natural Gas Processing Industry, primarily in acid gas simulation. Jaime has provided front-line assistance to ProTreat licensees needing technical support and helped develop the first basic training course for ProTreat users. He has been providing ProTreat training to engineers in the US and Latin America and conducts the ProTreat training session at OGT’s Advanced Seminar in Gas Treating. He is a fluent Spanish speaker and has provided ProTreat simulator training in Spanish to engineers in Mexico, Bolivia and Venezuela. Jaime received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.
Robin B. D'Ombrain
Robin has been developing
ProTreat's GUI since 1992. Before migrating to chemical engineering, he spent 10 years in electrical engineering at a steel works in NSW, Australia. He has been involved in software development since 1970. Robin’s earliest work used punch cards on IBM mainframes but in the late 1970s he turned his attention to micro-computers, the first having an 8080 processor and 8-inch floppy disks. He has developed microcomputer applications ever since.
Robin has written software for such applications as collating results for the Australian Smallbore Rifle Championships, an entry management system for the Maitland International Photographic Exhibition, a retail inventory control system (all of which are still in use), as well as numerous laboratory data logging systems and process control simulators.
