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Dr. John Rosenblum has been an industrial water and energy efficiency consultant for 18 years. For 2 years he was also a partner in Provimetrics Corporation, “mining” industrial control data to identify cost-effective energy efficiency improvements. Before becoming an independent consultant, John was Senior Environmental Engineer at National Semiconductor Corporation's Santa Clara plant, where he was responsible for waste treatment and environmental compliance of metal-finishing and semiconductor-fabrication operations.
John has a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering and a M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering from the Technion in Israel, where the focus of his education was design and operation of wastewater treatment systems. His Ph.D. is from Stanford University’s department of Civil Engineering, where his research focused on solar cogeneration, energy efficiency, and waste minimization in the food-processing industry.
John has been involved in many industrial water efficiency projects that have reduced process wastewater volumes and loads by 30-90%, with operational savings that pay for the capital investment in 0.5-2.0 years. He has helped develop innovative incentive programs for industrial/commercial water efficiency and wastewater reduction for several SF Bay Area cities. Examples of John’s experience include:
- In semiconductor “fabs”, process rinsing efficiency with advanced wastewater recycling can reduce the enormous cost of ultra pure water, with payback periods of less than 2 years. Further comparisons with regional water/wastewater infrastructure investments reveals effective and equitable incentives for water efficiency.
- In precision plating, and in the manufacture of disc-drives and printed circuit boards, combining process chemistry changes, more efficient rinsing, recovery of metals from wastewater, and wastewater recycling reduces the costs of water purification and wastewater treatment. Demonstration projects revealed that unit water use could be reduced 60-90%, with payback periods of 1-3 years.
- In food processing plants, reducing product loss and improving cleanup operations can reduce wastewater volumes and organic loads by 50-90%. Besides reducing the cost of upgrading wastewater treatment systems, these changes often help resolve regulatory problems. Simultaneous efficiency improvements in refrigeration and water heating save electricity and natural gas to provide 2-5 year paybacks.
- In municipal wastewater treatment plants, improving aeration efficiency helps reduce electrical energy use by 30-60%, while improving treatment. Combined with peak power savings and utility incentives, payback periods range from 2-5 years.
- In municipal water supply, optimizing operation of pumps and storage can reduce demand charges for a relatively low investment. Accelerated conversion to more efficient pumps can produce even larger savings in annual energy use, resulting in payback periods of 2-4 years.
Current projects:
- Integration of water and energy efficiency into the expansion of several wineries.
- Integration of water and energy efficiency into the design of a large semiconductor “fab”.
- Identification of cost-effective Greenhouse Gas reductions in urban water and wastewater systems. Identification of energy savings from process optimization in several municipal wastewater treatment plants.
- Evaluation of biogas cogeneration and solar energy applications for a municipal wastewater reclamation plant.
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