Sovereign Awarded 2012 Technology Merit Award for Water/Wastewater from EBJ
Sovereign was awarded the 2012 Technology Merit Business Achievement Award for Water/Wastewater from the Environmental Business Journal (EBJ).
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Sovereign’s mining group, based out of the Northwest, designed and pilot tested a sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) reactor for passive water treatment of coal-mine discharges to tributaries of the Monongahela River in Pennsylvania. The new treatment system will save $300,000 per year in hydrated lime cost and prevent the need to install and operate a multi-million dollar reverse osmosis (RO) system to meet the new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) requirements. The installation of a 100 gallon per minute pilot system is planned for 2013 with a full-scale operation expected for 2015.
“Our hope is to help mature industries, such as coal mining, and provide solutions that allow our clients to remain viable and be competitive, despite changing regulatory requirements for effluent discharges. We’re very excited about the SRB reactor technology’s potential to improve water quality and lower water and electricity usage demands for water treatment,” stated Bill Walker, Ph. D., Senior Geochemist and Office Manager at Sovereign’s Seattle, WA branch. Bill, the project engineer, Tyler Chatriand, PE, and the project geologist, Bob Byer, PG, P.HGW, have presented their results to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, students and alumni at the Montana School of Mining, and members of the Nevada Mining Association. Abstracts and presentations to the mining industry and academic community will be held at the Tailings and Mine Waste Conference and the Pacific Northwest Mining Association Meeting in 2013.
The 2012 EBJ awards will be presented at a special ceremony at the Environmental Industry Summit XI in Coronado, California on March 6-8, 2013. For more information regarding the event, visit http://ebionline.org. For more information about the project, please watch the Sovereign News & Events page for upcoming presentations.