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CLIENT: Confidential
Owner's Representative for Confidential Client
Ascentarix provides project management and project engineer support as the owner’s representative in executing two new mine water treatment systems. The two projects include a 400 gpm, $28M CAD high-density sludge mine water treatment system for removal of metals and a 400 gpm, $7M CAD 6-year tailings water treatment system. Both systems utilize sulfide precipitation and lime addition/hydroxide precipitation for metals removal.
CLIENT: Confidential
Industrial Wastewater Treatment Plant PCB and Acid Break System Alternatives Analysis and Design
Ascentarix performed an alternatives analysis and then designed an upgrade project for an acid break water treatment process. The acid break upgrades project included upgrading an existing acid break oil emulsion breaking process that is no longer meeting performance requirements for synthetic oil breaking using a DAF, sludge stabilization process, and oil recovery process for oil reclamation. Ascentarix provided bench testing and pilot testing of a DAF and ultrafiltration process and compliance assessment under NPDES for several parameters, including metals and oil and grease.
Projects
CLIENT: Confidential
Owner's Representative for Capital Projects
Project engineer and process engineer supporting as owner’s representative in executing large capital and environmental projects with projects ranging in approximate costs from $50K to $60M in capital expenditures. Projects including optimization of existing water treatment and water management systems including an RO process, an acid break water treatment process, a trace oil filtration process for PCB removal and identification of options for overall plant-wide water reduction and reuse strategies to meet sustainability goals including meeting stringent requirements for metals and organics for water reuse.
CLIENT (FORMER EMPLOYER): U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Bunker Hill Superfund Site Treatment Plant
The Bunker Hill Superfund Site Treatment Plant included design, construction, commissioning, and operating a mine water and groundwater treatment plant under the United States (US) Army Corps of Engineers and the US Environmental Protection Agency. The project also included a 7,500-foot-long bentonite grout slurry wall, a groundwater collection system with over 14,000 feet of piping and 9 extraction wells, and a three cell 10-acre double-lined sludge impoundment area at the Bunker Hill Superfund site.
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The existing plant was upgraded to accommodate 8,000 gallons per minute (gpm) of contaminated mine water from the Bunker Hill Mine and groundwater that flows beneath the existing Central Impoundment Area as well as to change processes from a low-density sludge plant to a high-density sludge plant. Following treatment, effluent from the plant is pumped to the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River for discharge via an in-stream diffuser system. Water treatment construction was substantially complete in March 2020 and operations, maintenance, and monitoring services were provided meeting high quality effluent consistently through October 2021.
CLIENT (FORMER EMPLOYER): B&L
Woodwaste Groundwater Treatment Plant
The B&L project included engineering services for implementing the final remedy for a former landfill containing wood waste mixed with slag from a former copper smelter. The slag contained high levels of arsenic that leached to groundwater that migrated downgradient toward the Commencement Bay-Nearshore Tidal Flats Superfund Site. The final remedy included a slurry wall around the landfill, strategic recovery of contaminated groundwater beneath and downgradient of the barrier wall with 21 extraction wells and a level monitoring and control system, and treatment and discharge of recovered groundwater under an NPDES permit. Arsenic discharged from the treatment system was consistently below 5 micrograms per liter.​
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The treatment system was a 60-gpm system that involved oxidation, pH adjustment, coagulation, flocculation, and filtration. We performed groundwater extraction optimization to meet performance objectives and process optimization to reduce treatment plant operating costs and to improve treatment plant performance and reliability under Washington State Department of Ecology. The groundwater extraction system was able to be shut down in 2017 because of a very successful strategic pumping
CLIENT (FORMER EMPLOYER): TECK
Pend Oreille Mine Water Treatment
The Pend Oreille Mine Water Treatment project included design management and process engineering support for the Pend Oreille Mine with a $20M tailings impoundment area water management project to facilitate closure of the tailings disposal facility as the design manager and process engineer. Water management included strategy to dewater approximately 500 million gallons of wastewater, permitting strategy working with the Washington State department of Ecology, and design of two water treatment systems. One water treatment system includes a modular temporary 600-gpm water treatment plant using reverse osmosis and sludge treatment system to meet low discharge limits for metals, sulfate, nitrate, and ammonia for discharge to groundwater under a State Waste Discharge Permit. The other treatment system includes a long-term passive water treatment process comprised of biological and ion exchange for metals, sulfate, and ammonia discharge to groundwater.
CLIENT (FORMER EMPLOYER): Blue Origin Enterprises
Wastewater Treatment System Design
The Blue Origin Enterprises wastewater treatment system design included process engineering and design management for the renewal of a King County pretreatment permit for a rocket test facility; developed a wastewater treatment system design including performing treatability testing to assess treatment for pH neutralization and copper and zinc removal to meet wastewater discharge limits. The design was for a fast-paced construction project for an industrial wastewater treatment system. The process design involved neutralizing low pH wastewater from a metal passivation process at an average daily flow rate of 35,000 gallons.
CLIENT (FORMER EMPLOYER): KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON
Cedar Hills Regional Landfill Lagoon Improvements and Arsenic Treatability
The King County Solid Waste Division Cedar Hils Regional Landfill wastewater project was a $15M project for organic arsenic discharge water treatment and detailed design including upgrades to two existing 7 million gallon leachate lagoons. Lagoons will be designed to manage approximately 500 gpm; comprised of source control and volume management strategies and biological pre-treatment for discharge to the POTW under a King County pretreatment permit. Source control design for organic arsenic species water treatment process including biological and physical/chemical treatment processes that will be pilot tested. Charles served as the engineer of record, design manager and project engineer.
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