Art Krenzel - engineer

Art Krenzel graduated from the University of North Dakota with a BS in Chemical Engineering in 1963. Recruited by the DuPont Company, he worked solving production problems on a variety of chemical processes while with the Engineering Department for the next five years.

Despite having a critical skill deferment as an Engineer with the DuPont Company, Mr. Krenzel was drafted into the military at the height of the Vietnam War. He was successful at converting an enlisted foot soldier future into an officer's position flying the Phantom, a Mach 2 fighter aircraft, performing photo reconnaissance missions over North Vietnam . After successfully completing 175 combat missions when 100 missions were considered a full tour, he was transferred to the UK to fly missions in support of NATO and train other pilots as an Instructor Pilot teaching Air Combat Maneuvering. Career Awards and Decorations were a Silver Star for Bravery, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with 16 Oak Leaf Clusters, a Bronze Star plus numerous unit awards.

After leaving the military, Mr. Krenzel went to work for Reaction Instruments in Mclean , VA designing, fabricating and operating instrumentation used to record events during train wrecks. These experiments were conducted for the Federal Railway System at the High Speed Ground Test Center in Pueblo , CO over a period of two years.

Taking a turn toward sustainability, realizing he did not have the investment power to create oil, he embarked on a venture to save oil by manufacturing and installing thermal insulation. As one half of the management team of K2 Industries, Mr. Krenzel designed, built and operated an insulation manufacturing facility in Ft. Collins, CO for 12 years.

After selling K2 Industries in 1988, Mr. Krenzel took a mid-career break to work on a wide range of personal growth projects. In one project, he designed a total organic recycling system for the Biosphere II project located in Oracle, AZ. This system was necessary to permit the Biosphere to operate as a closed, self sustaining system.

After completing this project, Mr. Krenzel moved to Oregon where he became involved in the issue of open field burning of grass seed fields. Working with the farmers, he was able to demonstrate a biological field process which performs the same residue removal necessity as fire. Composting grass straw residues has the added features of improving the soil while reducing fertilizer and fuel inputs necessary to grow grass seed. This venture is now the world's largest composting project that produces over two million tons of organic matter annually which is naturally incorporated back into the soil.

After five years of training the local farmers and being active in agriculture related politics in support of the composting project, Mr. Krenzel went to work for an Industrial Water Remediation in Co. in Portland , OR where he designed and built a wide range of water reuse and reclaim systems.