2019 Speakers

Recruited by Syncrude Canada Ltd. in Hong Kong, 1989, as a Senior Instrument Engineer (specializing in water analyzers), Gerald Liu was the Environmental Protection Office for China Light and Power Company – a power company producing a total of 5000 MW for Hong Kong and China. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, in 1972 with a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering, and has been working in instrumentation since 1977. While with Syncrude, he took master courses for credits in advanced process controls from the University of Alberta (and other Universities from Canada), by inviting Professors from the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering of the University of Alberta to teach in Fort McMurray. (Note 1). He co-authored with Albert S. Tenney III, Ph. D., in 'Project Justifications --- Replace Analyzer Panel and Select Honeywell Dissolved Oxygen Sensor' in Honeywell Journal, around 1997. Since 2005, he mostly worked on engineering problems related to severe service control valves applied in high pressure steam led down, boiler feedwater, recycled cooling water, oil extraction from tar sands, bitumen upgrading etc. in Syncrude. He retired from Syncrude in 2009 as the Control Valve Specialist, Advisor of Reliability and Maintenance, and Senior Investigator in control valve failures. He served as the Chairman of ISA 75.10 on pinch valves in 2008 until he retired again in March 2012. At present he is the Chairman of ISA 97 on in-line sensors. Organizing 23 instrument courses, he has successfully taught for about six years full time in the 1980's within the Castle Peak Power Plants, raising more than 60 instrument technicians for China Light and Power Co. Ltd., Hong Kong, and in 1988 he was promoted as the Environmental Protection Officer for the Company. He was the specification holder of Control Valves for Syncrude Canada Ltd. since 2000 and has been a voting members of ISA SP 75 for Control Valve Standards since 2008. He co-authored with Herb Miller and Larry Stratton in an ISA Paper “Establishing Control Valves Trim Flow Velocity” in 2004 for ISA Conference, and with Herb Miller and Joe Steinke in a Valve World Paper “Comparing Pressure Control and Discharge Energy Control in Cavitating Services” presented at Maastricht, The Netherlands, 2006. His article on 'Diffusing Bubble Bombs', published by Control Global in November, 2009, justifies the use of 70 psi trim exit kinetic energy as a criteria for selecting control valves in general; the same article was presented at Tundra Process Solution Valve School on January 29, 2013 in Edmonton, Alberta, when he was the Keynote Speaker. He is also a professional artist in Chinese Painting specializing in Flowers and Birds. Some of his work and bio related to painting can be viewed at domain geraldliu.com. His other hobbies include traveling and photography. Note 1: (This invitation was a joint effort initiated by his colleagues, Edgar Tamayo, William Lam and himself yearly for about ten years continuously from mid-1990 to mid-2000. This advanced process control course having about ten attendants combined from both Syncrude Canada Ltd. and Suncor Energy Ltd. lasted for eleven full days yearly, and financed by Syncrude Training).