INNOVATION July-August 2014

2O13 2O14 PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Teck Metals – No. 1 Acid Plant Teck Metals has contracted with Chemetics (A Jacobs company) to design and supply a new sulphuric acid plant for its Trail Operation in BC, which was scheduled for commission in the second quarter of 2014. The new acid plant will replace two ageing plants at the site and is expected to improve operating reliability and flexibility, reduce downtime and maintenance costs and improve environmental performance using a stainless steel converter (with dual internal exchangers), radial flow gas-gas exchangers, acid coolers and SARAMET ® distributors and piping. Estimations predict the total SO 2 emissions will be reduced between 10 – 15% per year from current levels. Chemetics: Tom Wacker, P.Eng.; Dale Wright, P.Eng.; Herbert Lee, P.Eng.; Donald Mah, P.Eng.; Anish Trikha, EIT; Alan Collier, P.Eng.; Hans Keijser, P.Eng.; Harnam Trehin, P.Eng. Teck Metals: Dale Webb, P.Eng.; Larry Doskoch, P.Eng.; Tom de Groot, P.Eng.; Dan Hill; Gord Masuch, P.Eng.; Jeff Alexander, P.Eng.; Robert Zwick, P.Eng.

Green Images According to Business Insider , there are currently over 3.3 billion PCs, smartphones and tablets in use worldwide. Display consumes around 35% of total energy in desktop computers and up to 50% in mobile devices. Therefore, even a small reduction in energy required for display translates into an enormous amount of energy saved worldwide. Researchers at Simon Fraser University have developed an image processing method that changes the pixel values of digital images so that they require less energy to display, and yet make the processed images look better than the originals. The technology has been licensed to Dolby Laboratories. Of the two images, the first image is the original and the second one is the processed image, which would require 4% less energy to display and yet has a higher perceptual quality according to an extensive subjective quality test. Project team: Dr. Ivan V. Baji ć , P.Eng.; Dr. Parvaneh Saeedi, P.Eng.

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Kamloops Sewage Treatment Centre Upgrade

The KSTC upgrade involves the conversion of one lagoon-based plant into two—the first continues to be lagoon-based processing effluent destined for reuse as irrigation, with a capacity of 25,500 m 3 /day, and the second is a hybrid lagoon-mechanical plant processing effluent destined for the Thompson River, with a capacity of 254,500 m 3 /day. The two plants share a common headworks and primary treatment in a covered anaerobic lagoon. The hybrid plant uses a biological nutrient removal process; utilizing volatile fatty acids produced from the anaerobic lagoon to support the biological phosphorus removal component. Capturing and flaring methane from the anaerobic cell is estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 8,900 tonnes per year. Owner: The City of Kamloops. Primary consultants: Urban Systems (engineer of record: Chris Town, P.Eng.; contract administrator: Peter Coxon, P.Eng.)

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J U LY/AU G U S T 2 014

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