Daniel Summers

Dan Summers is a graduate of Williamsville North High School, class of 1973. He was until January 1, 2021, the Tray Technology Manager for Sulzer Chemtech in Tulsa, OK. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science Degree cum laude in Chemical Engineering from the SUNY at Buffalo in 1977, he started his career with Union Carbide’s Separations Design Group in West Virginia. He has also worked for Union Carbide Linde Division (now Linde plc), UOP, Stone & Webster (now Technip Energies), and Nutter Engineering. His entire career has been focused on the development, design, operation, and troubleshooting of all forms of distillation tower internals. These internals would be applied in the hydrocarbon, specialty chemical, refining, fuel ethanol, air separation, and natural gas industries. He is the author of over 70 papers on distillation and is a listed inventor on three US patents (4,711,745, 8,066,264 and 9,849,403). He has travelled the world as an expert on distillation and has been a featured speaker at numerous Chemical Engineering Conferences.

At present, Dan is a consultant for (Fractionation Research Inc.) FRI’s Design Practices Committee & was the Chair of that committee for 12 years. He is currently a Director and the Awards Co-Chair of AIChE’s (American Institute of Chemical Engineers) Separations Division. He is a registered professional engineer in New York and Oklahoma and is a Fellow of AIChE. He is also a recipient of the AIChE Gerhold Award for outstanding work in the Application of Chemical Separations Technology.

Dan and his wife Donna (of 45 years) live in Broken Arrow, OK where they raised 6 wonderful children. All 6 have received their Baccalaureate Degrees and 4 have Masters Degrees. All are happily married and Dan and Donna have been graced with six grandchildren. Dan is active in Catholic Church where he has a 4th degree in the Knights of Columbus.

Dan's hobbies have included; stamp collecting, square dancing and genealogy.