Chemical Technician

Southern Company•Billingsley, AL

5d•Onsite

About The Position

This role involves providing guidance to individuals operating a water treatment plant, which includes ultrafiltration, demineralization processes, and mixed resin beds for producing demineralized water. The technician will review results to ensure they are within acceptable limits and provide chemical protection for steam generating equipment to minimize outages due to corrosion and deposits in steam and cooling water cycle components. Key responsibilities include ensuring proper water chemistry limits in the water/steam cycle system and cooling water chemistry cycle through analysis and corrective actions, evaluating problems, writing condition reports, and overseeing or performing maintenance and improvements on water treatment plant and water chemistry system equipment. The position also requires assisting in monitoring plant environmental, safety, and health regulations, performing calibrations and maintenance on laboratory instrumentation, and taking on system owner responsibilities for various water chemistry-related systems.

Requirements

B.S. degree in Chemistry or other field of science with a minimum of 12 semester hours or 25 quarter hours of Chemistry required
Experience in operation, calibration, and maintenance of lab equipment required
Proficiency in various Microsoft applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and Outlook.
Demonstrate ability to utilize online Work Order systems to plan and execute work (Maximo).
Ability to understand mechanical and electrical theories and fundamentals.
Ability to read and interpret information presented in graphic form (examples are blueprints, diagrams, drawings, graphs, and plots).
Understanding requirements of handling hazardous materials.
Ability to obtain and maintain aerial lift and powered industrial trucks certification.
Applicants must successfully qualify on the EEI Technician Occupations Selection System (TECH) Test.

Nice To Haves

Previous experience in water treatment plant and water/ steam cycle operation preferred
Previous experience as system owner preferred
Preferred knowledge of state and federal environmental regulations regarding water discharge and waste disposal.
Broad knowledge of environmental and water chemistries required.
Experience and competence in the use, calibration, and maintenance of laboratory instrumentation / equipment.
Perform QA/QC on instrumentation; Maintain and calibrate bench top/in-line instrumentation.
Knowledge of proper analytical methods and techniques is required.
Previous experience in water treatment facility is preferred. This would include operating and maintaining ultrafiltration, mixed bed resin, CEDI and reverse osmosis.
Knowledge of Plant and Lab Operations as it relates to environmental systems i.e. wastewater systems, cooling water waste streams, oil water separators, etc. preferred.
Ability to troubleshoot mechanical systems, read and understand schematic diagrams and identify plant water process problems is preferred.
Project management skills.

Responsibilities

Provide guidance to individuals operating the water treatment plant, consisting of ultrafiltration, demineralization process and mixed resin beds for the production of demineralized water and review results to ensure within acceptable limits.
Provide chemical protection of the steam generating equipment to minimize outages due to corrosion and deposits in the steam and cooling water cycle components.
Ensure proper water chemistry limits in the water/ steam cycle system, and cooling water chemistry cycle by reviewing and/ or collecting and performing analytical analysis and taking any necessary corrective actions.
Evaluate problems, write necessary condition reports, oversee or perform the work required to maintain and improve the water treatment plant and water chemistry system equipment.
Assist in monitoring plant environmental, safety and health regulations to assure compliance.
Perform calibrations, maintenance and maintain laboratory instrumentation to ensure accuracy.
System owner responsibilities will be required over various systems related to water chemistry.
Collect and analyze samples from inside the labs, water treatment plant, and other locations around the plant for monthly and quarterly samples.
Maintain proper water chemistry limits in the HRSG, and cooling water chemistry cycle by collecting and performing analytical analysis of water samples and taking any necessary corrective actions.
Evaluate problems, write necessary work orders, oversee or perform the work required to maintain and improve the water treatment plant and water chemistry system equipment.
Support plant data analysis system, Pi, for real time results and trending.
Manage third-party vendors and provide oversight of work product and scheduling. Examples include sample analysis and coordination with 3rd party laboratory regarding water treatment waste streams, all cooling water waste streams, solid waste, lab sample panel waste and chemical disposals, emergency mobile water treatment trailers etc.
Lead projects from start to finish involving planning, budgeting, contract implementation, project oversite, material ordering and contractor evaluations.
Participation in SCS Chemistry peer group, assist in fleet peer reviews, and compliance assessments.
Serve as a system owner of the lab and water treatment plant as well as other plant systems.
Work with individuals in other departments of the plant and collaborate with them to make decisions that are based on good chemistry practices and proper chemistry metrics.