International Tar Association

2007 – 2012: University of chemistry and technology, Prague, Czech Republic.
2012 – 2020: Process engineer on nitric acid production plant (fertilizer production), Lovochemie, a.s., Czech Republic.
2020 – now: R&D specialist (focus on coal tar distillation), DEZA, a.s., Czech Republic.

Dr. Zygmunt Stompel received his MSc diploma in coal science from Silesian Technical University in Gliwice, and immediately after joined the Institute for Chemical Processing of Coal in Zabrze, where he spent the next 20 years. In the Research & Development sector Dr. Stompel specialized in processing of coal tar, with particular attention paid to pitch and pitch coke. His PhD thesis (in 1978) was devoted to the subject of manufacturing of pitch coke of improved graphitizability.
In 1991 Dr. Stompel left the Institute and has established a private company Coal-Chem Engineers & Consultants. As a consultant he participated in several international projects aimed at improving efficiency of coal tar industry in Poland and abroad.
Dr Stompel taught coal tar science at Silesian Technical University in Gliwice and Academy of Mining and Metallurgy in Krakow. He is active as a consultant on coal tar matters for various Polish and international organizations.

Graduated from Tianjin Foreign Languages Institute and majored in International Trade. 1994 – 2002, worked in a famous international trading house named Nichimen Corporation in Tianjin, China and deeply engaged in international business, including machinery, auto parts, bearings, electric appliances and chemical products.
1992 – 2006, worked in JECT Corporation Beijing office, mainly working for all kinds of carbon business, including Needle Coke, Graphite Electrode, Green Petroleum Coke, Calcined Petroleum Coke, Metallurgical Coke, Foundry Coke, Coal Tar Pitch and recarb etc. Heavily provided raw materials to steel, aluminum and chemical industries with rich experience and technical knowledge.
Since 2007, worked in East River Asia Limited as consultant to provide professional services to the customers all over the word with Chinese carbon and chemical industries.

Mr. Tim Bart is the owner of Carbon Management International, a consulting company formed in 1999. Since 2017, Mr. Bart has been working with Mr. Guercio reporting on carbon black feedstock through the CBO Monitor publication. Prior to 2017, Carbon Management was primarily involved in global coal tar and coal tar distillation, consulting and sourcing distillation products for related downstream industries. Mr. Bart is also involved with the management of the International Tar Association, serving as the association’s president since 2014. Mr. Bart received degrees in Environmental Science, Masters of Business Administration, Masters of Communications and Masters of International Relations from Rutgers University, Fairleigh Dickinson University and Seton Hall University.

Vince Guercio has a chemical engineering degree and over 50 years’ experience in the international petrochemical, petroleum and natural gas businesses. For the past 40 years, he has been an independent consultant providing commercial and technical advice about the interactions that occur at the refinery/LPG/petrochemical interfaces. He specializes in the utilization of steam cracker byproducts such as butadiene, C5s and carbon black oil (CBO). Due to his ethylene byproduct experience, in 1982 Vince became heavily involved in carbon black feedstock from naphtha crackers, FCCs and coal tar. Since then, he has offered consulting services in the pricing, marketing, evaluation and acquisition of CBO. Since 1988, he has published the CBO MONITOR which provides reliable market intelligence about worldwide CBO and carbon black. Vince was educated by Catholic University of America, Princeton University and the U.S. Army. His corporate experience includes Mobil Oil, Lummus and Foster Wheeler.

Zaid Aljanabi is a global lead analyst covering the aluminium value chain worldwide. Prior to joining the aluminium analysis team, he spent six years with CRU’s consulting division as head of aluminium consulting. He also worked for several years at Emirates Global Aluminium where he led the market research unit and held various positions within marketing and sales, corporate strategy, and finance. He previously worked in London for several commodity-focused firms as an analyst, including Thomson Reuters and Diapason Commodities Management. He began his commodities research career in 2002 as a petroleum economist with AUPEC. Zaid holds an MA in Economic Science from the University of Aberdeen and an MSc in Economics from the University of Amsterdam.

Deng Xiaoxing graduated from China Foreign Affairs College, majoring in Business English. He has twenty years experiences of all kinds of carbon business, including Met Coke, Foundry Coke, Green Coke, Calcined Coke, Coal Tar Pitch, Anode, Cathode, Needle Coke, Graphite Electrode and recarb etc. He is heavily involved in steel, coke, aluminum, and chemicals industries and possesses a tremendous understanding and technical knowledge of carbon industry and also has vast experiences in logistics. 1992 - 2005, he was a key staff member in Nichimen and JECT Corporation, a Japan based trading company, and positioned as General Manager of the Beijing Office 2002-2005. He also set-up a J/V tar distillation plant in China for JECT in 2003, and worked as V.P. responsible for Pitch sales for both domestic and export markets. 2005, he set up own company, focusing on consulting services for the carbon and chemical industries.

Dr. Fengqin Liu is a Professor of Engineering and recipient of various government subsidies as well as the National Technical Talent award. She is the Technical Manager at the China Non-Ferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co. Ltd.; Deputy Director of China Non-Ferrous Metals Institute Light Metal Academic Committee; Director of Aluminum-used Carbon Research Committee; and is a member of the China Non-Ferrous Metals Association Expert Committee.
As the well-known expert in aluminum smelting and aluminum-used carbon fields, Dr. Liu was in charge of setting up technological development planning and standards for relative industries. She led dozens of major scientific and technical projects at both provincial and national levels, solving a series of technical problems in the aluminum smelting industry. She hosted three international aluminum-used carbon conferences. As a scientist and expert in her field, she was invited to visit and conduct collaborative research in Australia, the U.S. and Switzerland, and gave large-scale presentations at several international metallurgy conferences.
Some of Dr. Liu’s published achievements include: “The Key Technology of Quality Carbon Anode for Aluminum Smelting”, “The Integrated Technologies to Improve the Life Span of Aluminum Smelting Cell”, “The Technology of New Structure for Aluminum Smelting Cell”, and “The New Technology of Wettable Cathode Production”. She is the recipient of the National Science & Technology Progress Award, has won the Provincial & Ministerial Award three times, and many other awards in recognition of her technological contributions and she has designed 50 national patents.
Dr. Liu is published in English as well: “Chinese Raw Materials for Anode Manufacturing”, “Production Technology of Aluminum Smelting" and “Production Technology of Aluminum-used Carbon” under the series of China Non-Ferrous Metals book selection. She is also the main author of the Carbon Volume for the “Encyclopedia of Metallurgy”, “Manual of Aluminum Production Technology" and “Advances of Nonferrous Metals” and has delivered over 40 papers on the importance of technical conferences and journals both at home and abroad.

Kris Vanherbergen is Executive Vice President of Carbon Distillation and Advanced Materials at Rain Carbon BV. In 1995, he began his career at RÜTGERS where he served in various technical, operational and marketing management positions. He became the head of RÜTGERS’ coal chemical refining business in 2008.
As part of the Rain integration process, Mr. Vanherbergen became the head of the commercial area of RÜTGERS’ parent company, Rain Carbon Inc. in 2015. Subsequently, he was named the Chief Commercial Officer in 2016, and assumed his current role in early 2019. Mr. Vanherbergen also serves on the board of the Russian joint venture RÜTGERS-Severtar.
Mr. Vanherbergen was born in Sint-Truiden, Belgium. He studied electro-mechanical engineering with a post-graduate degree in loss prevention from the University of Louvain.

Dr. Igor V. Barsukov, an Executive MBA with the University of Illinois and an Honorary Professor KNUTD, is AETC’s Technology and Business Development Manager, as well as a company officer. Dr. Barsukov is well known for his work with carbons and batteries. Within 1998-2009, Dr. Barsukov has developed and commercialized several grades of carbon, which presently directly benefit the US battery market, including Alkaline, Lead Acid, Lithium-Ion, and Li primary batteries. New materials, developed under Dr. Barsukov’s efforts complemented critical technological advancements in the following well-known consumer battery platforms: “Energizer® New Advanced Formula®”, “Energizer® e2”, “Rayovac Maximum Plus™”, “Cegasa Super AlkalineV, “Rayovac Infinity Gold®”, Varta® High Energy, etc. As of 2009 he and the rest of AETC team have put on the market 16 new graphite & carbon products and 5 unique long calendar life Lithium battery systems for specialty applications.