QED Environmental Systems announces it was part of a team that won a 2016 GreenGov Presidential Award, celebrating outstanding achievement in the pursuit of President Obama’s Federal sustainability goals. QED was part of the team that won the Keeping It Clean Award for an innovative groundwater treatment system at a former nuclear weapons production facility in Rocky Flats, Colorado. The system runs on battery power and recharges with solar power. This design enhances safety, improves groundwater treatment reliability, reduces long-term maintenance and costs, and reduces waste.
The GreenGov Presidential Awards recognize Federal civilian and military personnel, agency teams, agency projects, facilities, and programs. The QED team was honored for a project that used air strippers to reconfigure the East Trenches Plume Treatment System (ETPTS) at the Rocky Flats site to improve treatment effectiveness and meet strict water quality standards. The air strippers remove volatile contaminants from the groundwater by transferring them into the air. The equipment blows high volumes of air through the contaminated water; contaminants are quickly dispersed, diluted, and often degraded in the air discharge. Frequently the air concentrations are low enough that further treatment is not required.
Air stripping can require significant amounts of energy to power the air blower and any other process components, such as pumps and controls. The de-commissioned facility no longer had on-site electrical power, presenting a significant challenge to the engineering team to find a treatment configuration with a highly efficient energy footprint. QED custom-designed a process and controls that operates with limited 12 volt DC solar panels and batteries. A unique control panel design, using innovative on- and off-cycle programming, along with sizing features, enabled the equipment to remain within the required power budget for around the clock unattended operation.
QED was brought on board to work with the project team by S.M. Stoller Corporation, which provides technical consulting and engineering services to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). QED worked with Navarro Research and Engineering Inc., a contractor to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management.
Dave Fischer, Vice President of Technology at QED acknowledged the award, saying, “We have designed equipment for large high flow air strippers for drinking water utilities that were sensitive on energy use, but had never before had to consider timing and power demand for this type of equipment. We thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and are proud to be part of this great accomplishment.”
For more information, visit www.qedenv.com.