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Emergencies Engineering Technologies Office,
Environmental Technology Centre


The Emergencies Engineering Technologies Office (EETO), through an on-site contractor (SAIC Canada), supports the development and maintenance of a range of prototype clean-up equipment to demonstrate and adapt innovative methods for on-site mitigation of water or soil contamination caused by pollution emergencies or insecure hazardous waste sites. Spill response equipment, primarily for marine spills, is also developed and evaluated.

SAIC Canada supplies approximately 15 engineers, engineering technicians, chemists, support staff and students. The staff are involved in developing, implementing, demonstrating, and evaluating new technologies for containing and cleaning up air, water, and soil contaminated with chemicals and oils. These technologies include the following:

Thermal Processes:
combustion and thermal desorption technologies for removing hydrocarbons from soil, gravel, cobble, and debris.

Extraction Processes:
soil washing enhancement technology and solvent extraction enhancement technology for excavated soils.

Pumping and Treatment:
advanced oxidation and steam stripping processes for the treating groundwaters contaminated by organic compounds and concentrated liquids from membrane processes, and effective pre-treatment technologies for groundwaters with high concentrations of iron, calcium, and manganese.

Oil Spill Containment and Recovery:
sorbents, skimmers, barriers, pumps, and oil/water separators.


The Emergencies Engineering Technologies Office

  • implements an average of 20 engineering projects annually, totalling approximately $600K, to design, develop and improve processes and techniques for treating and disposing of spilled environmentally hazardous materials and for cleaning up leaking contaminated sites.

  • works in cooperation with others, including provincial government agencies, the Canadian National Research Council, the Canadian Coast Guard, the Department of National Defence, various Industry groups and experts, and colleges and universities in Canada and the United States, plus external agencies such as the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Minerals Management Service, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and various spill response organizations.

  • conducts bench- and pilot-scale treatability studies leading to the implementation and operation of full-scale treatment systems for remediating contaminated sites.

  • evaluates oil spill response equipment, such as barriers, pumps, skimmers, sorbents, oil/water separators, shoreline cleaning techniques, and bioremediation application techniques.

  • evaluates the technical and economic content of proposals submitted to the division and other government agencies. The office provides technical advice and information to the scientific community by writing reports, presenting papers at conferences, and conducting workshops and training courses on cleanup processes and techniques.

  • works with the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) to develop standards for cleaning up oil and chemical spills. Staff participate in the following sub-committees of the ASTM Committee F20 on Oil and Hazardous Material Spills: Barriers, Pumps, Skimmers, Sorbents, Shoreline Cleanup, Bioremediation, Chemical Spill Countermeasures, and Initial Response and Training.

  • is interested undertaking joint research and development projects with firms requiring technologies for the cleanup or remediation of oil and chemical spills, and contaminated waters and soils. EETO's experience in solving environmental challenges will be of particular interest to environmental engineering firms, the chemical manufacturing and process industry, and petrochemical refiners.  The charter of the Emergencies Engineering Technologies Office allows for the commercialization of the technology through licensing or other technology transfer agreements. The EETO can also enter into joint development projects, or it can act as a gateway between industry and the research community.
For more information on the Emergencies Engineering Technologies Office, or SAIC Canada, please contact:
Dr. Carl E. Brown, Manager, EETO
Tel: (613)991-1118, or

Bill Wong, Manager, SAIC Canada ETP
Tel:  (613)991-1840
Fax: (613)991-1673
Mail Address:
Emergencies Engineering Technologies Office
Environmental Technology Centre
Environment Canada
3439 River Road
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A OH3


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