Petroleum Radiation Processing

Yuriy Alexandrovich Zaikin, Ph.D., currently serves as chief technology officer of PetroBeam Inc., Sweetwater, Tennessee, USA. PetroBeam is developing a new radiation technology for heavy oil upgrading based on his and Dr. Zaikina's invention that proved the phenomenon of self-sustaining chain cracking reactions in liquid hydrocarbons at lowered temperatures. He has published more than 250 articles in the field of radiation physics and chemistry, petroleum radiation processing, radiation methods for the development of materials with enhanced properties, and physics of condensed matter, including detailed studies of diffusion and internal friction in irradiated solids. From 2006 to 2010, he served as an expert consultant on oil radiation processing for IAEA in Saudi Arabia.

Raissa Fuatovna Zaikina, Ph.D., currently serves as chief research scientist in PetroBeam, Inc., Sweetwater, Tennessee, USA. She received her M.S. in 1972 from Kazakh State University and her Ph.D. in physics of condensed matter in 1991 from the Institute of Physics and Technology, Almaty, Kazakhstan. She performed research and contributed to more than 100 publications and 7 patents in the field of radiation processing, studies of radiation effects in semiconductor compounds, and radiation technologies for petroleum processing. Since 1991, she has been conducting systematic research on radiation-induced conversion of petroleum and developing basic experimental approaches to radiation processing of heavy and high-paraffin oils.