A warm welcome to our fifth Newsletter.

A Letter from Doug Kelley, President of IER

“So, just a few months ago we thought we had COVID in the rear-view mirror, but along comes the Delta variant, and the battle goes on. Massive forest fires in the West and record-setting floods in the East. As this is likely our new normal, we’ll need everyone globally to pull together around the foundations of science to address these challenges.

My thoughts and prayers are particularly focused on those in communities most ravaged by the increasing power of nature.

In the midst of this battle, IER has added some troops! Joshua Howard and Scott Langner have joined IER’s team of regional experts, bringing their knowledge in wastewater operations and technical problem solving to serve IER’s customers. With Joshua in Houston and Scott in Sioux Falls, IER has dramatically expanded our resources to support our Midwestern customer base. Welcome to the team, Joshua and Scott!

As we expand our sales and service team, we know that we can always rely on tremendous support from the home front – our Administrative Team! In this newsletter you’ll be introduced to our long-standing Customer Service Manager, who cares deeply about each customer’s needs and strives to orchestrate the very best logistical solution even under emergency situations. In the world of wastewater treatment, especially for our industrial customers, there are times when the bacteria in the plant are behaving dramatically differently today than they were yesterday. This could be due to a seasonal upset, or perhaps someone up in the plant dumped a chemical down the drain that they shouldn’t have. It takes an extremely committed and capable administrative person to juggle all the internal and external resources in order to meet the fluctuating needs of our growing customer base.

We are also highlighting in this newsletter the tremendous benefits of IER’s Magnesium Hydroxide products for controlling odor and corrosion in sewer lines. We refer to this application as “killing two birds with one stone”, meaning that by feeding AMALGAM-60 (60% Mg(OH)_₂) into a lift station for collection system odor and corrosion control, the increased pH and alkalinity entering the treatment plant greatly minimizes or eliminates the need for added alkalinity in order to maintain effective nitrification. We hope you enjoy reading this technical story!

While the COVID battle continues, we encourage all to follow the guidance of science and to be as thoughtful as possible toward the health and safety of all those we encounter. This philosophy is identical to IER’s philosophy of providing sound scientific solutions while supporting our customer’s applications with world-class technical service. These times are still far from “normal”, but we can best reach a successful new normal by pulling together around the foundations of science.”

A warm welcome to our fourth Newsletter.

A Letter from Doug Kelley, President of IER

“As we move from Spring into Summer we are all feeling extremely rejuvenated by the dramatic decline in COVID-19 cases in the States, allowing us to get outdoors to enjoy the warming weather and outdoor fun. IER is also experiencing rejuvenation after passing through the most difficult Winter season imaginable, being able to make a full conversion and upgrade to our Magnesium Hydroxide product line while having to navigate through the pandemic and the Texas power outage!

We couldn’t have done it without our dedicated team of delivery specialists, men who take great pride in meeting or exceeding our customers delivery needs. In this newsletter you’ll get the chance to meet one of our longest employed delivery specialist, who not only takes great care of our customers, but is a tremendous resource of ideas and service in and around our manufacturing facility.

We are also highlighting in this newsletter a lesser-known benefit of Magnesium Hydroxide, that being its coagulation properties which can provide a dramatic benefit in the dewatering of wastewater sludge. In this newsletter, an article describing the chemistry behind flocculation and sludge compaction, and an actual case study that documents the reduction in sludge hauling fees when replacing NaOH with Mg(OH)₂, will be useful reading for those experiencing sludge treatment challenges. Perhaps a change to a safer alkaline additive can also have a significant impact on the overall cost performance of your system!

Finally, we have decided to include in this newsletter a simple and scientifically sound method that we developed for testing the comparative dosing rates for different alkaline chemicals. We call it the Vinegar Test, named accordingly, as you’ll see, for obvious reasons.

It sure feels like we’re nearing the end of the COVID tunnel, and the light is looking brighter and more like normal. Never thought we’d all be so desperate for . . . normal!!

Wishing everyone the very happiest and safest Summer – you deserve it!”

A warm welcome to our third Newsletter.

A Letter from Doug Kelley, President of IER

“As amazing, challenging, sobering, and enlightening as 2020 was, we have now made the turn and are off and running in 2021!

Actually, these are very exciting times in IER, primarily because we have taken what we’ve learned from the hard work of research and development in 2020 and have  converted our manufacturing processes into the sale of new, world-class formulas for our AMALGAM Magnesium Hydroxide products!

By combining IER’s multiple years of chemistry, engineering, and operational experiences, along with strong guidance from our Calix partners in Australia, our team of dedicated professionals has reached new milestones in the development of formulations of magnesium hydroxide (AMALGAM-60, 60% Mg(OH)₂) and blended alkaline additives (such as AMALGAM-55, blend of Mg and Ca hydroxides). These new formulations exhibit improved reactivity and settling stability with dramatically reduced viscosity, providing more reliable dosing under all wastewater application conditions.

In this newsletter, we are highlighting one of our key employees who played a central role in the development of these formulations.  Interestingly, he is not a Ph.D. chemist, nor a degreed engineer (though he is getting close to that achievement!).  Most importantly, he is a very curious person who is powerfully driven, each day looking to improve the efficiency of our processes and the effectiveness of our products.  His passion to learn and succeed has resulted in his rise within our organization to a position of oversight into nearly every project we perform.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy having the chance to meet him in this newsletter.

In our last newsletter I mentioned how we are rapidly expanding into the treatment of odor and corrosion in lift stations and collection systems.  While this is not a new application for magnesium hydroxide, IER’s team is bringing a unique focus on this application in order to address the overall performance of the collection system, as well as the wastewater treatment plant at the end of the pipe.  I am very excited to share in a future newsletter some very encouraging findings concerning the replacement of two hazardous chemicals with one nonhazardous AMALGAM product to completely mitigate collection system/lift station odor and corrosion, while simultaneously optimizing the alkalinity at the treatment plant for effective nutrient removal!

Finally, I want to wish all reading this newsletter the very best with the physical and mental health for yourself, your family members, and your co-workers.  This past year brought stresses into each of our lives that we’ve simply never had to face before.

Keep looking out for each other – the light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter each day! “

A warm welcome to our second Newsletter.

A Letter from Doug Kelley, President of IER

“It’s hard to believe it has been one year since IER joined forces with Calix, and what an amazing challenge it has been trying to grow together in the midst of a worldwide pandemic.  Through the miracle of webinars and emails we have shown incredible resiliency in our efforts to come to know each other and to really enjoy working with each other, confirming how our two companies – now one! – are mutually committed to advancing new technologies that cost-effectively sustain all life here on Earth!

IER has been focused on upgrading our core technologies related to magnesium hydroxide.  Our primary product, AMALGAM-60, has been reformulated to provide exceptional performance and stability. This has resulted in improved feed reliability and cost reductions related to customer handling and maintenance of slurry storage and feed systems.

In this newsletter, we are highlighting one of our key employees who transitioned from the food processing world over a decade ago to join IER and has been extremely successful in growing our business in Western Washington and Oregon.  His primary focus has been to replace the use of sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) with magnesium hydroxide (AMALGAM-60), with the simple and clear message that it is safer for employees to handle, better for the environment, and costs less to use.  By working closely with the customer to optimize each storage and feed system, while providing exceptional customer service, he has been able to build a strong network of very happy customers.

With the coming new year, IER is poised to grow in our applications of magnesium hydroxide for odor and corrosion control in wastewater collection systems.  Armed with a very high-surface area product (ACTI-Mag), we are prepared to expand into this market with a highly cost-effective technology having over 20 years of proven applications success in Australia and SE Asia.

Finally, I want to wish all reading this newsletter a very safe, healthy, and peaceful end to 2020, and the same in 2021.

The virus pandemic has certainly changed the way we do business, and many of these changes will likely remain with us.  However, my hope is that we all renew our efforts to remain connected to those that are important to us – family and friends.  In many cases, some of our best friends are our customers.  Here’s to the strengthening of old relationships and the excitement of new beginnings in 2021!

Merry Christmas, All!

Doug”