INVESTIGATIONS OF CHEMICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL SYSTEMS

Some of the services R. W. HEIDEN ASSOCIATES  provides are listed below:  

                                     *Waste Stream Definition                *Diagnostics          

                                *Water Recycling/Purification Conceptualizations

                         *Process Monitoring                          *Corrosives Investigations

                *NPDES Permit Excursion Mysteries             *Odor Characterization  

                                            *Water Born Deposit Analysis

   *Data Analysis and Review                                       *Instrumentation Review

       *Laboratory Development                         *Treatment Technology Evaluations

                    *Pilot Studies                               *Analysis Methodology Evaluations

                                                    *Water Chemistry

Do you need to define or document an environmental process or the migration of contaminants such as fuel hydrocarbons, residual solvents, mercury or other heavy metals ?  How do you remove  unwanted entities from a waste stream ?  How fast does a petroleum or other organic contaminant in water degrade ? 

Use our extensive knowledge of and experience with air contaminants, water chemistry, wastewater treatment technology, water purification, microbial conversions, hydrocarbons in soils, green chemicals, and environmental process chemistry to give a project the needed answers and credibility.  

Use our laboratory and field experience with water chemistry and microbial processes to provide definition to a process waste stream, or diagnose a condition that causes excursions of your NPDES discharge or potable water limits with our diagnostic testing.   Are you employing  membrane purification processes, such as reverse osmosis, or biological or chemical removal of nitrogen or phosphorous nutrients, to meet NPDES permit limits?   With our process diagnostic tools we can assist in developing a program to delineate the variability which compromises process effectiveness, and find the root cause of the variability. Are unexpected toxic components having a catastrophic effect on the treatment process dynamics,  such as in an upflow fluidized bed anaerobic reactors, fixed film and activated sludge plants ? We can find out for you....

Corrosion is one of the most damaging environmental processes. The costs of corrosion are staggering-hundreds of billions of dollars per year in the US alone*. What's causing the formation of deposits on piping or equipment installations ?  We use our laboratory and field technology observations to guide us in finding the source of corrosion deposits caused by exposure to air or water born corrosive agents.  The source of corrosion can originate locally or at distant locations, such as is the case in most forms of acid rain. Corrosion can also be caused by microbial conversions that result in the formation of corrosive agents. Knowing the cause can result in a clear course to correct the condition, and we get to the root cause.

We have conducted numerous investigations of Odor generating materials and conditions that cause aromas and malodors.   We have used specially developed test methods to define difficult to analyzed substances that are associated nuisance odors. Give us a call ! We also work with engineering firms to assist with ground water evaluations, water purification technologies to prevent corrosion, deposit formation, or contamination of ground water.

Dr. Heiden's experience in this area starts from early days in graduate school where he worked on projects involving some of the most beautiful and "clean" lake environments of the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York.  The purpose of these studies was to define the distribution and  the potential sources of heavy metal contaminants while studying  how chemical interactions, biochemical conversions, and the forces of nature determine the way chemicals move around in our environment, and can be attenuated or exacerbated by microbial activities. 

While working in industry he devised environmental sampling programs, planned and facilitated laboratories for EPA air, water wastewater and OSHA compliance,  studied and developed refinements to standard methodologies used by the various environmental agencies for monitoring, and evaluated new wastewater abatement and membrane purification technologies.  He also planned and successfully executed numerous investigations of microelectronic device failures caused by yield reducing contaminants in clean room environments and in ultra pure chemicals. chemical processes on numerous projects associated with breakdown or removal of chemical entities from waste streams. 

*National Association of Corrosion Engineers supported study.