Edward C. Myers, Consultant
About ECMC
Ed Myers has extensive experience in process control design and industrial automation, particularly in water applications. Ed initially founded ECMC in1988 to focus on operator interface application development for the emerging IBM PC based Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. Although ECMC had been on hold from 2000 until early 2018, its Principal, Ed Myers, continued, as an employee, to bring process control design and industrial automation expertise to many innovative projects.
Process Automation Background
Before starting ECMC, Ed gained experience in instrumentation, control, and data processing while employed at Chevron Research. The pilot plants used in Chevron’s alternative fuels and refinery process development efforts used sophisticated instrumentation, such as combustion emissions analyzers, and a mass spectrometer. These instruments were interfaced to data acquisition systems and the data exported to visualization software, to allow automated plotting of experimental data.
SCADA Application Development
At the start of ECMC, Ed developed expertise in Intellution software, one of the IBM PC based SCADA pioneers, and engaged with a sales representative to support implementation of the software. ECMC developed operator interface applications for a variety of clients, including the City of Benicia’s water treatment plant. Later, custom reporting programs were developed using “C” language and Visual Basic for Applications within Microsoft Excel. One example was an Excel based automated reporting system developed for Southern California Edison at a groundwater remediation site in the Central Valley.
Technical Assistance
ECMC also provided telephone and on-site support to Intellution software users, including Marin Municipal Water District. For two years, Ed joined Intellution as an application engineer, and continued to provide customer support, along with assuming marketing, sales training, and competitor evaluation responsibilities.
Energy Efficiency SCADA Data Mining
At the time of the 2000-2001 California “Energy Emergency”, Ed founded Provimetrics, a firm focused on improving process energy efficiency in municipal water utilities, to help clients combat escalating power bills. A technique called SCADA Data Mining was developed to analyze large volumes of historical data to find means to reduce energy waste and cost, and guide the design of energy saving improvements. Clients included the Sonoma County Water Agency and the City of Santa Rosa's Utilities Department.
Engineering Design for Process Control
As a Project Engineer and later Project Manager for Lescure Engineers, a Santa Rosa civil engineering firm, Ed led the technical development of a novel tertiary municipal wastewater treatment system for the community of Graton. The design documents included Process and Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs), piping layouts, hydraulic calculations, and dynamic flow balances. Specifications were developed for the equipment vendors, pumps, piping, and controls. A case study is here.
Energy Efficiency Engineering
During his Lescure Engineers tenure, Ed led a partnership with a utility funded municipal wastewater energy efficiency program called CalPOP (California Process Optimization Program). CalPOP provided no-cost energy audits to facilities, along with cash incentives and interest free loans for upgrades. This effort led to sixteen successful capital upgrades, yielding a cumulative $400,000 annual energy cost savings for facilities. Improvements in instrumentation and controls were typically a key component of the upgrades. In the case of pumping energy optimization, variable speed pumping spreadsheet models were developed to find the best combination of pump sizing and design, and speed control and sequencing. Design documents including Process and Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs), piping layouts, pump and instrumentation specifications, were developed for public bidding. Two large reclaimed water pump stations owned by the City of Santa Rosa cut power costs by nearly half through these efforts, and became easier to operate (case study here).
Water Treatment Design
While employed as a Senior Project Engineer at Summit Engineering, a multidisciplinary firm in Santa Rosa, Ed guided the design of novel water treatment systems. One example project was at a small elementary school in eastern Napa County with a surface water source. The existing water treatment system was in violation of chlorine disinfection by-product (CDBP) standards. Furthermore, its manually operated water filtration system was prohibitively expensive. A nanofiltration solution was proposed to eliminate the CDPB precursors, which received approval by Napa County and the state Division of Drinking Water. The proposed system will be fully automated and remotely monitored by the contract operator, who will only need to visit occasionally. Another project was at a large new winery (5 million gallons/year) in Solano County. They planned to source water from a well with very high dissolved solids, and found they could not use standard water softening. A reverse osmosis membrane system was chosen to reduce dissolved solids, and incorporated into a fully automated process and potable water storage and delivery system. The winery has a dual plumbed delivery system, which used treated process wastewater for toilet flushing and other winery uses not requiring potable water.
Academic Background
B.S. Chemical Engineering, Ohio State University; M.S. Chemical Engineering, UC Berkeley
Social Media
A LinkedIn profile is here with more about Ed's professional background.
Professional Associations
California Water Environment Association (CWEA)