Irwin Wiehe

Biography

Irwin (Irv) Wiehe is a internationally recognized expert in the chemistry of petroleum fouling mitigation, crude oil compatibility, and the science of heavy oil conversion. The annual Petrophase Conference, founded by Irv in 1999, has become the premier international conference on petroleum science. Since 1998, Irv has been president of Soluble Solutions, a consulting company, after 22 years with Exxon Corporate Research. In addition to consulting, Soluble Solutions provides proprietary tests on individual crude oils that enable predicting the proportions and order of blending any number of crude oils for minimum organic fouling of heat exchangers and furnace tubes. Representing Soluble Solutions, Irv has taught 38 short courses for 31 institutions in 13 countries and 4 continents.  He has a doctorate in chemical engineering from Washington University (St. Louis) and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Irv has held most of the elected offices in the Fuels and Petrochemicals Division of AIChE, including chairman, and founded the International Refinery Conference for AIChE in 1998. Irv’s work spans the gamut from basic research to direct refinery applications. He is at home working on a new theory with chemists and physicists one day and advising refinery engineers and operators of better operating conditions the next.

Education

D.Sc., Chemical Engineering, Washington University (St. Louis)

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Petroleum Chemistry
Solution Thermodynamics and Petroleum Phase Behavior
Thermal Kinetics of Petroleum

Books