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At Birchtech, the development and deployment of advanced water-treatment technologies are driven not only by scientific leadership, but by the highly skilled support staff working within our Analytical and Carbon Development Design Centers. These professionals deliver the technical rigor, analytical precision, and operational excellence that enable water utilities to make informed, data-driven decisions about granular activated carbon (GAC) solutions—including the evaluation of reactivated GAC as a cost-effective and sustainable option.
Our Design Center teams provide comprehensive analytical and pilot-scale testing services that help utilities determine the most appropriate GAC media for their contaminant profile, treatment objectives, and system configuration. Support staff conduct controlled bench-scale adsorption studies, rapid small-scale column tests (RSSCTs), and full-scale media performance modeling to evaluate breakthrough behavior for PFAS, disinfection byproduct precursors, organic contaminants, and other trace compounds.
The Analytical Design Center in Grand Forks, ND, is overseen by analytical specialists that manage sample preparation, instrument calibration, and method execution to ensure defensible datasets. Their work supports comparative evaluations of virgin GAC, chemically enhanced media, and specialty formulations—allowing utilities to quantify adsorption kinetics, operational lifetimes, and replacement intervals under site-specific conditions.
At the Carbon Development Design Center, State College, PA, technical personnel support pilot-system fabrication, field deployment, and performance monitoring. By operating pilot adsorption columns under real-world flow, loading, and backwash conditions, the PA team generates operational data that guide media selection, changeout scheduling, and system design recommendations. This applied testing helps utilities validate model predictions and optimize treatment strategies prior to full-scale implementation.
A key area where Design Center support staff provide insight is in assessing whether reactivated granular activated carbon (rGAC) can meet a utility’s performance, cost, and sustainability requirements. Through controlled comparison testing, staff quantify differences in adsorption capacity, regeneration loss, and treatment-life variability between virgin GAC and reactivated alternatives.
They also coordinate carbon characterization analyses—such as iodine number, BET surface area, pore-size distribution, and ash content—to confirm whether rGAC meets specifications for PFAS treatment, taste-and-odor control, or organics removal. These evaluations allow utilities to understand the lifecycle cost implications and environmental benefits of incorporating reactivation into their carbon-management strategy.
What distinguishes Birchtech’s Design Centers is the coordinated workflow between bench chemists, field technicians, data specialists, and system operators. Their combined efforts ensure every dataset is validated, every pilot operated according to protocol, and every recommendation grounded in reliable, application-specific evidence. This integrated approach accelerates decision-making and provides utilities with a clear understanding of how GAC and rGAC will perform across varying influent conditions and regulatory requirements.
With a disciplined, technically rigorous support structure across ND and PA, Birchtech’s Design Centers deliver the applied science that utilities rely on to design effective, cost-efficient treatment systems. From initial contaminant characterization to side-by-side media performance analysis, our support staff play a central role in ensuring every water-treatment solution is backed by industry-leading precision, quality, and technical insight.
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