Process Engineer

Francois Tremblay

François Tremblay was 12 years old when he first learned about the job of an engineer. It was then that he began listening to his neighbour, a chemical engineer, tell stories about his days at the local chemical plant. "I remember thinking to myself that it was the coolest job ever.” At the time, François had just discovered chemistry thanks to the chemistry set his parents had given him. "I loved making smoke and making liquids change colours.” Ten years later, François completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Sherbrooke. Today, François is a process engineer with Fluor Canada, an engineering company, working on a project-to-project basis.

His time is divided between the field and the office depending on what stage the project is at. Currently, François is in a management position, completing the construction phase of the Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel Project at the Shell refinery in Montreal. The purpose of the project is to remove sulfur (a pollutant) from diesel fuel as part of new federal government environmental regulations. More than 600 workers are involved in building the process unit. During the project’s design phase, François worked in Fluor’s Calgary office. His days were filled with meetings with the client and working with the project’s team of ten chemical engineers.

His job duties included sketching designs of the processing equipment and interacting with drafters to realize those designs. He also calculated pump sizes, distillation column lengths, and other equipment measurements. Plus he helped develop the safety mechanisms for the chemical process to protect against a potentially disastrous accident. "Our job was to look at how we are going to make this chemical process as efficient and safe as possible for both the workers at the refinery and the environment.” In February 2005, with the project’s design phase complete, François moved into the construction phase, and from Calgary to Shell’s Montreal refinery.

Now that he is in the field, he’s focusing more on the implementation of his designs. "I’m here to oversee and ensure things get built according to my team’s designs.” Sometimes there are problems with the construction of the designs, so François must be on hand to offer solutions. Until February 2006, he will work with the construction engineers to build the new equipment. According to François, the primary drawback of his work is the long hours. While at the site, he’s working 10 hours a day six days a week. "We are all working hard trying to meet the deadline for the new federal government ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel regulation.” However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. "When this project’s done, I will be proud to say I built that to help lower emissions and protect the environment.”