Curriculum Vitae
Prof. Dr. J. Gmehling

­I finished an apprenticeship as a laboratory technician and studied chemistry at the Technical College in Essen, Germany before commencing a course of study leading to the degree of Diplom-Chemiker at the University of Dortmund in 1970 and my doctoral degree (Dr. rer. nat.) from the University of Dortmund in 1973.

After graduation I was initially employed at the Chair of Reaction Engineering (Prof. Dr. Ulfert Onken) in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Dortmund. Besides my duties in teaching (courses such as "Introduction to Chemical Engineering" and "Reaction Engineering") my research activities were directed to thermodynamics and its application for the synthesis and design of separation processes. From 1977 to 1978 I spent one year with Prof. Dr. J. M. Prausnitz at the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University of California in Berkeley/USA.

In 1989 I joined the faculty of the University of Oldenburg as Professor of Chemical Engineering. As a professor my duties include teaching graduate courses and conducting research projects. Every year as well as the obligatory courses "Introduction to Chemical Engineering", “Reaction Engineering", "Unit Operations" and "Chemical Processes" I offer lectures on computer application in chemical engineering, fluid phase equilibria and process simulation. I have written text books on "Thermodynamics", "Phase Equilibria", "Unit Operations" and "Industrial Chemistry". I am the author of 45 data books on "Vapor-Liquid Equilibria", "Heats of Mixing", "Activity Coefficients at Infinite Dilution" and "Azeotropic Data" as well as the book "Vapor-Liquid Equilibria Using UNIFAC".

The research activities of my group are mainly directed to the computer aided synthesis, design and optimization of chemical processes. Our software products Dortmund Data Bank (largest computerized data bank for phase equilibrium data and excess properties) and the group contribution methods UNIFAC, ASOG, modified UNIFAC, the predictive Soave-Redlich-Kwong equation of state (PSRK), the group contribution equation of state (VTPR), or the electrolyte models LIQUAC and LIFAC are well known worldwide. These are models which are integrated in most of the commercially available process simulators (ASPEN, CHEMCAD, HYSIS, PROSIM, SYSTEM 7,...) used throughout the world for the synthesis and design of the different processes in Chemical Industry. Furthermore computerized instruments for the measurement of very precise pure component data, excess properties and phase equilibrium data in a wide temperature and pressure range and a comprehensive sophisticated software package have been developed for the synthesis of chemical processes (reactor, separation processes,..). Pilot plant distillation columns are also available for carrying out experiments for reactive, azeotropic and extractive distillation (see enclosure). The research activities have lead to numerous articles in scientific journals (more than 360) and lectures.

I am also president and CEO of the company "DDB Software and Separation Technology (DDBST), Oldenburg, Germany (www.ddbst.de)" founded by myself and two co-workers in 1989. This company is responsible for the Dortmund Data Bank (DDB) and at the same time engaged in consulting and developing software for the synthesis and design of separation processes. In collaboration with Dr. K. Fischer I founded the "Laboratory for Thermophysical Properties (LTP GmbH (www.ltp-oldenburg.de)" as an "An-Institute" at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in 1999, a company which is engaged in the measurement of thermophysical data (pure component properties, phase equilibria, excess properties, transport properties, reaction rates, etc.).

For the research I received different awards, e.g. the “Rossini lecture award 2008” from the International Association of Chemical Thermodynamics.