Steven
Woodard
Montrose Environmental - ECT2
A Bit About
Steven
Steve Woodard, Ph.D., P.E., brings over 33 years of experience in water and wastewater treatment to the ECT2 team where he currently leads as Chief Innovation Officer. Currently focused on developing and commercializing sustainable technologies for carbon capture and the removal of PFAS, selenium and 1,4-dioxane and other emerging contaminants, his responsibilities include leading research and new product development, providing technical leadership on all projects, proposal development, intellectual property, and communication with the engineering and remediation communities. Steve holds 26 patents and has also authored multiple publications, including journal articles and textbook chapters related to his industry knowledge and expertise. Steve holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Purdue University and is a licensed Professional Engineer.
Presentation Details
Selenium is one of the more difficult-to-treat emerged contaminants, and is mostly prevalent in mining, power, refining and construction dewatering wastewaters. With increasing focus on water quality, the US EPA is moving towards tighter selenium discharge limits to as low as 3 µg/L (ppb). Although the US EPA has designated biological treatment as the Best Available Technology (BAT) for selenium treatment, a more efficient, simple, reliable and cost-effective treatment technology is still lacking in the market. This abstract presents a case study of selenium removal from coal combustion residue (CCR) effluent using a new iron-based media. The pilot unit was fed with the CCR effluent, which contained 374 ± 38.2 µg/L of selenium (all selenate) along with co-contaminants such as molybdenum, arsenic, boron, sulfate, and nitrate. The treatment target for selenium was 12 µg/L. In summary, the pilot study demonstrated successful use of this new selenium removal technology for the treatment of difficult CCR wastewater at relatively short EBCT, demonstrating its potential to be established as an effective, disruptive selenium treatment technology.