Commercial/Industrial Blog

Although many refineries in the United States are operating under grandfathered National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits that do not require upgraded equipment, market forces are driving equipment upgrades.

Two Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations, intertwined and consistently in flux, are having an impact on waste streams in power plants.

Approaching the removal of selenium in coal ash ponds with a chemical solution can save money and time investing in extra treatment equipment to address this contaminant. Standard wastewater treatment that removes both arsenic and selenium can provide the solution.

Mobile water or wastewater treatment equipment can provide an immediate solution to the problem of interrupted service.

Mobile units require a smaller commitment of resources for treatment, reduce operating costs and environmental footprint, and allow water projects to use a temporary solution before investing in a full-scale installation.

Water management is a high priority for power plant owners. There are many factors that can make it a particular concern, such as stricter environmental restrictions on wastewater discharge, regional water shortages, and the public perception of power plants. Implementing Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) can help solve these issues.

The Water Research Center (WRC) is a research facility established in 2012 at Georgia Power’s Plant Bowen. The WRC facilitates the development and demonstration of water treatment and conservation technologies.

The facility, which is the first research center of its kind in the U.S., is a collaborative effort between the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Southern Research (SR), Southern Company, its subsidiary Georgia Power, and 14 other utilities.

Originally published in Water Environment Federation's World Water Magazine.

In a corporate-academic partnership unique to algal research, WesTech Engineering, Inc. and Utah State University’s Sustainable Waste-to-Bioproducts Engineering Center (SWBEC) are developing processes for more efficient harvesting of algae from municipal wastewater and other nutrient-rich sources. Floyd Griffiths of WesTech Engineering, Inc. reports on joint research efforts for converting algae into high-value bioproducts.

Corporations frequently establish joint research partnerships with universities in diverse fields; however, such collaboration seldom occurs in algal research, which has almost exclusively remained within the province of universities.