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    Pharmaceutical Operational Readiness Programs

    Many Life Sciences companies struggle to minimize downtime, ensure safe operations, and reach tight production schedules while maintaining consistent, quality output in a demanding environment, but you can boost efficiency and reliability through our field-tested methodologies.

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    Global Site Partnership Network

    Accelerate your clinical trials with an expansive network of over 2,000 high-quality, trusted clinical trial sites across Australia, New Zealand, United States and Canada. 

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    Pre-Approval Inspection (PAI) Readiness

    Our team of experts are equipped to guide you through every step of any Inspection, especially Pre-Approval Inspections, due to the nature of their criticality.

  • Turbidity Plus
    Turbidity Sensors

    Turner Designs turbidity sensors provide accurate, stable measurements of suspended particulates in natural waters. With low power requirements and a compact design, they integrate easily into process control or field platforms. Rated to 200 meters, these sensors support sediment transport studies, water clarity monitoring, and coastal change research, delivering reliable turbidity data in real time.

  • PRI
    PRI-SC® Technology

    Sulfide odor control within sanitary sewers has been practiced for over 50 years, yet only recently have substantive advances been made. Where once the choice of chemical treatment was either chlorine or iron salts, safer and more environmentally benign technologies based on nitrates, hydrogen peroxide, and/or magnesium hydroxide have gained acceptance. These new alternatives, however, can increase treatment costs substantially and present limitations in themselves. Therefore, it makes sense to explore new avenues for lessening the adverse impacts of the older, cheaper mainstays, particularly iron salts (ferrous/ferric chloride or sulfate) that provide other benefits to wastewater treatment operations.

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About Nutrient Removal

Nutrient removal from wastewater consists of treating wastewater to remove nitrogen and phosphorus before it reenters natural waterways. High levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in wastewater cause eutrophication, a process where excess nutrients stimulate excessive plant growth such as algal blooms and cyanobacteria. The decomposition of the algae by bacteria uses up the oxygen in the water causing other organisms to die. This creates more organic matter for the bacteria to decompose. In addition, some algal blooms can produce toxins that contaminate drinking water supplies.

As authorized by the Clean Water Act, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program regulates point sources, such as municipal wastewater treatment plants, that discharge pollutants as effluent into the waters of the United States. In recent years, many of the States’ environmental bodies have lowered nutrient limits to arrest eutrophication. Maryland’s effort to protect the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries is perhaps the most notable example of nutrient removal in the US. Nutrient removal continues to be a growing area of focus for wastewater treatment throughout the world.   

The removal of nitrogen and phosphorus require different nutrient removal processes. To remove nitrogen, the nitrogen is oxidized from ammonia to become nitrate through a process called nitrification. This process is then followed by denitrification where the nitrate is reduced to nitrogen gas which is released to the atmosphere and removed from the wastewater.

Nitrification is a two-step aerobic process which typically takes place in aeration tanks. Denitrification requires anoxic conditions to encourage the appropriate biological conditions to form. The activated sludge process is often used to reduce nitrate to nitrogen gas in anoxic or denitrification tanks.

Phosphorus can be removed biologically using polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) which accumulate large quantities of phosphorus within their cells and separate it from treated water. Phosphorus removal can also be achieved by chemical removal. Once removed as sludge, phosphorus may be stored in a land fill. However, many municipalities and treatment facilities are looking to resell the biosolids for use in fertilizer.