TRS Group, Inc. (TRS)

TRS brings the expertise, experience and knowledge gained from performing Electrical Resistance Heating (ERH) on over 50 projects nationwide to each new remediation site. Since 1997, the TRS team has successfully resolved every unique site condition they have encountered in the field.They have achieved every project and contract goal on each of their projects. The foundation of their technical approach for ERH remediation is based upon lessons learned from the most complex and difficult NAPL remediations, where dynamic and flexible designs and work plans allowed for near-real-time adjustments in the field as unexpected site circumstances and unique data collection opportunities were encountered.

As a result of TRS' vast experience performing ERH, and maintaining a 100% safe working record, they have developed a national reputation for expertise and knowledge when applying ERH on sites with the broadest range of complex subsurface conditions and logistical challenges including performing ERH in public, retail, and industrial areas. TRS has developed a unique and highly effective methodology for in situ thermal remediation using ERH that has been named the “TRS ERH Process.” The roots of this ERH process originate from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories. TRS is licensed by Battelle to apply all of the ERH and Six-Phase Heating patents that Battelle developed on behalf of the U.S. DOE.

TRS Group, Inc. (TRS)  is a Washington State Corporation that provides in situ Electrical Resistance Heating (ERH) remediation services throughout the United States. TRS presently has a staff of 45 working from regional offices located across the U.S.

We promise our customers certainty that their projects will be completed to the performance and budgetary assurances presented in our proposals. We have built solid business relationships based on mutual trust and customer satisfaction backed by superior engineering and customer service. We guarantee our results and complete our projects in a timely manner.

Feedback from our client satisfaction surveys is consistently outstanding. Our customers trust us to provide accurate site evaluations and pricing in the project planning stages and to then follow-up with an excellent product and superior customer support. The following quote is from a response to a recent customer survey.

“TRS is a niche provider of electrical resistance heating services, whose staff blend strong technical and engineering expertise, real world field and project experience, and contractor business acumen.” 

TRS has been responsible for developing the professional engineering and operational standards and procedures for in situ thermal remediation using ERH. No other group in the world has more experience than our team in remediating chlorinated volatile organics, petroleum hydrocarbons and NAPLs using ERH.

TRS ERH Process. TRS has developed a unique and highly effective methodology for in situ thermal remediation using ERH that we call the 'TRS ERH Process.”

Quick and Even Heating. The TRS ERH Process quickly and evenly heats the subsurface to the boiling point of water by passing electrical current through contaminated soil and groundwater. This gentle heating evaporates volatile contaminants in situ and steam strips them from the subsurface. Vapors and steam are then extracted, cooled, and treated using standard methods.

Seamlessly Integrates Other Technologies. The TRS ERH Process properly manages electricity, steam, NAPL, groundwater and vapors for a safe, efficient and effective cleanup. Our process is unique in its ability to transfer heated vapors and liquids to the surface. We have also solved the challenges of hydraulic control and the use of vapor treatment systems in conjunction with ERH.

Flexibility. The TRS ERH Process offers more flexibility and control in subsurface heating than any other in situ thermal technology. The TRS ERH Process can remediate small (less than or equal to 1,000 square feet), medium (several thousand square feet) or large sites (multiple acres). The TRS ERH Process can direct electricity into multiple areas and discrete subsurface intervals simultaneously at varying energy outputs for rapid and aggressive source area remediation or gentle heating for heat enhanced biotic and abiotic in situ contaminant degradation. No other company has perfected the same level of heating flexibility and control.

The Benefits of ERH

Tough Sites Closed. The TRS ERH Process has closed sites where other technologies have been attempted with very limited or no success.

Rapid Remediation. Most sites are cleaned within 6 to 12 months – smaller sites in 2 or 3 months.

Mass Removal or MCLs. ERH can effectively reduce contaminant mass in soil and groundwater by over 99%. MCLs are achievable.

Few Subsurface Limitations. ERH works almost anywhere. Utilities, NAPL, contaminant depth, and subsurface lithology do not limit its use.

Clean Under Buildings and Operating Sites. ERH can be applied under operating facilities and public areas, allowing unrestricted access.

Total Plume Solution. Heat enhanced biotic and abiotic reactions provide continued remedial benefits after ERH. Combined technologies can polish residual contamination or economically treat beyond the source area.

Economical. No other technology can offer equal levels of chlorinated NAPL cleanup in the same timeframe for the same price as ERH.

Guaranteed Performance. Because the TRS ERH Process is so robust and due to our extensive experience and success performing ERH in just about every site condition known, TRS is willing to guarantee price and performance.

Why Use TRS?

Experience. Members of our professional staff have performed over 75% of all ERH projects. They have designed, installed and operated ERH systems at sites across the United States, in almost every lithology that is saturated and unsaturated. Only TRS makes the lessons learned from the largest, the deepest, and the most complex ERH projects available for your site.

Expertise. Our staff consists of nationally recognized experts in each of the crucial aspects of the TRS ERH Process.

Our team of highly skilled and experienced professionals is the world’s most experienced project team in the design, construction, and operations of ERH in situ thermal remediation systems. We are highly experienced in the safe execution of over 80  remediation projects using ERH since 1997 and hundreds of remediation projects using other in situ technologies, from the late 1980’s, including soil vapor and multi-phase recovery. Many of these projects are considered extremely difficult to remediate, for a multitude of contaminants including DNAPLs, LNAPLs, creosote, TCE, methylene chloride, diesel, kerosene, and BTEX constituents. We also have more experience than any group in the world deploying ERH safely and effectively in the presence of underground utilities, buried metallic debris, and underneath operating industrial buildings, shopping malls, and roads.

TRS professionals have been working with the ERH technology since 1997 and have designed or operated the majority of the full-scale ERH applications in the world. TRS founders and employees have over 150 years of combined commercial project experience in the design, construction and operations of in situ soil and groundwater remediation systems including vapor extraction, air sparging, multi-phase recovery, chemical oxidation, bioremediation, and ERH. No other company in the world approaches this level of design capability and application experience.

TRS has been responsible for developing the professional engineering and operational standards and procedures for in situ thermal remediation using ERH. No other group in the world has more experience than our team remediating chlorinated volatile organics, petroleum hydrocarbons and NAPLs using ERH. TRS professional team members have successfully designed, built and/or operated over 75% of all ERH projects worldwide (50 of ~ 65 projects). We are in the process of implementing ERH remediations at the former Navy Base in Alameda, CA, the Pemaco Superfund site in Maywood, CA, the Fort Lewis Army Base in Tacoma, WA, at several sites in the Atlanta, GA area, Everett, WA, El Centro, CA, Paterson, NJ, Richmond, VA, and Glendive, MT.

TRS maintains the largest, state-of-the-art fleet of ERH specialty equipment in the world, including Power Control Units (PCUs), steam condensers and vacuum blowers. Our equipment fleet gives us at least three times greater capacity than any other company in the ERH remediation industry. The number of PCUs in our fleet (8) allows us to service a greater number of projects and clients at one time and the size (500, 700, 950 and 2,000 kW PCUs) of our equipment provides us with the ability to provide more automated energy into the subsurface over shorter periods of time supporting our ability to rapidly remediate NAPLs.

TRS professional team members have successfully designed, built and/or operated ERH systems on 51 commercial projects. All of our projects involve the full-scale remediation of soil and/or groundwater impacted by chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and/or fuel hydrocarbons frequently at NAPL concentrations. All of the TRS projects described are either presently being performed or were performed during the past 3 - 4 years.

Since 1997, we have built on the knowledge base that came from the DOE’s investment of tens of millions of dollars into ERH research and development. We continue to promote a culture of R&D focused on improving the application of ERH based on our experience at each new site. Having now performed ERH on a multitude of sites with varying degrees of complexity, the technical, schedule and budget requirements on our projects are always met and are often exceeded.
 
Our team of professionals is highly experienced using vapor and steam recovery and multi-phase recovery and treatment systems. TRS has vast experience and expertise with vapor, steam, and liquid recovery and treatment using Flameless Thermal Oxidation (FTO), Granular Activated Carbon (GAC), and Catalytic Oxidation (CATOX). The senior personnel at TRS have over 120 combined years of in situ remediation experience. They also possess a substantial knowledge base and expertise in the implementation of these technologies for the treatment of a multitude of chlorinated solvents, semi-volatiles, and petroleum hydrocarbons.

We are proud of our 100% perfect safety record. We have ZERO OSHA recordable accidents in over 150,000 employee hours. Our Experience Modification Rates (EMR) for the past five years are 2001 – 1.0; 2002 – 1.0; 2003 – 1.0; 2004 – 0.90; and 2005 – 0.89. TRS often prepares ERH-specific Health and Safety Plan for its work at a site that complies with the provisions in 29 CFR Part 1910.120.

TRS is committed to providing safe and healthy work environments. Our corporate goal is Zero Accidents and we have achieved that goal every year since our inception.

Safety is equal, or greater, in importance than quality control, scheduling, site operations, cost control, employee relations and all other parts of TRS’s business. Health and Safety, including protection of TRS employees and the safety of others associated with TRS projects, is integral to all parts of our business.

All TRS field personnel are 40 hour Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) certified and maintain 8-hour refresher training. Training certificates for our staff are available upon request.

The specialty ERH equipment used by TRS is of the highest quality available in the industry today. We also have the largest fleet of specialty ERH equipment in the world, giving us at least three times the capacity to perform ERH site remediation projects than any other ERH provider.

Our equipment fleet is valued at just over $4,000,000 and includes one 4,500 kW, four 2,000 kW, one 950 kW, two 700 kW, and three 500 kW Power Control Units (PCUs), nine steam condensers, a half dozen vacuum blower packages, a 1,000 cfm Thermal Oxidizer, and miscellaneous accessories.

Our state-of-the art PCUs, vacuum blower packages, and steam condensers are built by internationally and nationally recognized American manufactures. The U.S. company that manufacturers our PCUs is ISO 9002 certified with over 25 years of experience providing custom and off-the-shelf electrical power supplies to Fortune 100 companies. They are internationally recognized leaders in the design and manufacturing of customized industrial power conversion systems, power centers, and transformers.

Our vacuum blower packages and steam condensers are constructed by a nationally recognized U.S. equipment manufacturer that has over 75 years of combined experience building blowers and vacuum systems specifically for the environmental industry. They are known for producing high quality products that provide trouble free operations, and for their 24-hour support system that helps TRS ensure lost production time is minimized.

All of our PCUs are equipped with advanced remote control and data acquisition systems. These updated systems not only gather information from, and control, the electrodes, they also allow for remote monitoring and control of the ERH support equipment such as the steam condensers, vacuum blowers, and vapor abatement units to be performed in real-time over the internet.

Our 4,500 and 2,000 kW PCUs are the largest units in use today. They are built specifically for TRS using our proprietary designs. Each of our PCUs is accompanied by an autotransformer that allows fine control of the power input at individual electrodes at discrete subsurface intervals.

TRS is committed to providing services of the highest quality while at the same time giving due consideration to project budgets, schedules, and remediation program requirements. Our Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) establishes appropriate measures to ensure that quality factors are considered equally with regulatory codes, professional standards of practice, and contractually imposed requirements during each phase of design, engineering, construction, and operation. The goal of our QAP is to ensure that overall project management is maintained, production and quality are in compliance with contract requirements, and deficiencies are identified and corrected in a timely manner.

TRS has successfully obtained regulatory approval and implemented our QAP on ERH remediation projects for federal, state and local governments as well as private customers on project sites located in all 10 EPA Regions and the following states:

• New York 
• New Jersey
• Massachusetts
• Maryland
• Virginia
• North Carolina
• South Carolina 
• Florida
• Georgia
• Ohio
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Kentucky
• Missouri 
• Texas
• Colorado
• California
• Oregon
• Washington
• Alaska

ERH has also been identified as a preferred technology in the Record of Decision (ROD) at two U.S. EPA Superfund sites including Pemaco, California and Fargo, North Dakota.