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BeneTerra News

BeneTerra News

We seek scientifically sound solutions for our clients. BeneTerra has aligned itself with top research organizations as part of our commitment to continuous improvement. Our staff is encouraged to take leadership roles in their respective fields of endeavour to produce meaningful research.

December2017

BeneTerra Addresses Landfill Leachate Reduction at WasteQ Conference

Chief Technical Officer, John Zupancic and chemical engineer, Harini Pani, presented a paper entitled, “Landfill leachate volume reduction and chemical transformation with BeneVap submerged combustion treatment” at the Waste Management Association of Australia Queensland (WMAA) Conference last October. Both presented findings of chemical analyses of leachate before and after evapoconcentration within the BeneVap system.

The BeneVap submerged combustion technology not only reduces leachate volume by more than ninety percent but several significant chemical changes were noted between the leachate and concentrate. For example; over ninety eight percent of the ammonia in the leachate was lost from the solution and numerous metals were made insoluble as they combined with carbonates, phosphate and silicate.

John Zupancic

When asked about the potential for source term depletion of leachate constituents over the life of a landfill cell, Zupancic said, “We believe that in the future, we will be able to customise previous and post treatment to optimise ammonia loss and sequester metals in the BeneVap concentrate.”

Pani specialises in predicting chemical transformation of varying leachate qualities to anticipate the effects of heating and concentration during the BeneVap treatment.  She performs lab bench simulations and runs computational models to estimate the effects of evapoconcentration. Currently, she’s gathering more empirical data to refine the predictive models.

John Zupancic is also Managing Director of BeneTerra with offices in Brisbane and Sheridan, WY, USA. His background in soil and water chemistry has aided in solving wastewater and land related problems for over 30 years.  He holds a BSc degree from Colorado State University and an MSc from the University of Nebraska.

October2017

BeneTerra Welcomes New Intern

Alastair Berking, our newest intern and avid rugby player, specifically chose BenTerra because it’s environmental services offered are unique and incorporate numerous ideas and concepts that are possible groundbreaking technologies in the near future. “I believe BeneTerra is the perfect place to be for that reason,” Berking said.

The fourth year Griffith University student is in his final stages of completing a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering. For the last two years, his primary focus has been wastewater and stormwater treatment systems.

The soon to be graduate has hit the ground running at our Toowoomba site. During his internship he’ll be assisting engineers on the active Benevap projects with tasks including; the conducting of experiments  and tests, collecting of data and compiling of operational/safety procedure  documents. It’s also the people at BeneTerra Alastair is enjoying “I like the practical application and collaboration of working with other engineers,” he said.

June2017

BeneVap™ employed at landfill after cyclone

BV300 evaporating mixed leachate and stormwater

BeneTerra completed the evapoconcentration of landfill leachate that had made its way into a stormwater pond following weather events that followed Cyclone Debbie. The BV300 reduced 470,000 litres to 3,500 litres over a few days and nights during which time clean steam was released to atmosphere. The constituents in the leachate were concentrated and placed back into the landfill.

June2016

BeneTerra completes difficult pipeline corridor rehab

Our Aussie team recently completed a very difficult rehabilitation of a pipeline corridor in central Queensland. Previous contractor’s attempts at erosion control had failed. and The worst section was 120 metres long and the average slope was 30% slope.

November2015

Bailey presents paper in Minneapolis, USA

BeneTerra Land Resources Leader, Glenn Bailey, presented a paper on November 17th, 2015 in Minneapolis at the Soil Science Society of America meetings. It was entitled “Pedological Implications for Rehabilitating Coalbed Methane Ponds – using soil material identification to deconstruct water storage ponds and rehabilitate pasture land.” The paper, co-authored by John Zupancic, discussed techniques developed by BeneTerra in Australia to rehabilitate pond sites where the original soil materials had been scattered and blended during construction making it difficult to re-establish productive pasture land. To view or download the presentation click here.

Soil scientist characterising soil profile

Soil scientist, Glenn Bailey, characterising soil profile

May2015

BeneTerra commissions its first mobile BeneVap™ unit

BeneTerra has just commissioned its first mobile BeneVap™ unit, the BV-300. She is affectionately named Rhonda and is ready to go on the road to demonstrate her prowess vaporizing the toughest wastewater. This system is designed to connect to natural gas sources – particularly where it is being flared.

December2014

Comprehensive mobile water treatment system deployed for coal seam gas water

de-watering ponds servicesWe recently employed a comprehensive mobile water treatment process in a remote location to de-water a pond holding saline water produced during gas production. The water was passed through disc filters, microfilters and reverse osmosis. The RO permeate was used for road dust suppression and the RO reject was further concentrated with BeneTerra’s EvC™. The dense concentrate was then hauled to a fit-for-purpose brine dam. By dispersing permeate and concentrating in-situ over 40,000 km of truck movements were eliminated.

 

October2014

BeneTerra receives Q2 “Go Further Award” from Arrow Energy

BeneTerra was selected as Arrow Energy’s winner of the quarterly “Go Further Award” for Contractor Visible Safety Leadership in Q2 2014. A letter from CEO, Andrew Faulkner, to BeneTerra stated that the award was in recognition of outstanding efforts and contributions .. of particular note were –

  • consistent delivery of 12 dam decommissioning projects on time and under budget
  • exceptional safety record with strong documentation
  • proactive environmental solutions
  • active engagement with Arrow, including open and transparent executionBene terra - land and water stewardship award

 

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