Duplicate. water treatment plant

"Knowledge NEVER goes waste"

If you think you learn a lot in the realms of machinery >metal working> mechanisms

and you love that kind of work- do not take to water.

You might have to stagnate your earlier hard learning process.

BUT-- if you want to pick up good new lines like Water-WasteWater-Treatment-- then you ought to learn and work towards rediscovering ElectroCoagulation which is the future way to solve most problems in these areas.

Agree and adding:

Engineer never stops learning !! (...and not only with courses)

There is some ambiguity about the term "electrocoagulation" which (according to Wikipedia) can either mean a near-field RF process used in medicine for killing tissue or a flocculation technique using consumable metal anodes to provide metal ions for linking flocs to improve gravity settlement of suspended solids in wastewater. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrocoagulation

I agree that RF water treatment offers some exciting possibilities. See http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8025801.pdf

But I do not agree that improved gravity settlement by flocculation is the future, although it has a long history. The sludge ponds of Alberta have not settled as anticipated decades ago when the dumpsites were approved. It may be the ultimate chemical treatment to settle suspended solids, but mechanical treatment (shear) to break up the electrostatic attraction that links suspended solids into yogurt-like colloids looks simpler and more scalable. Maybe the OP is the mechanical engineer to make it work.

I would not say that wastewater treatment is the particular turf of chemists, biologists, civil engineers, or mechanical engineers. A manager would probably be expected to have a background in all of these disciplines, and Captain Moosie has provided a roadmap for future learning. But right now a mechanical engineer can make a contribution without taking a deep dive in other knowledge. For example, filters, pumps and flow control equipment can be improved without waiting on advances in chemistry and biology.

Wastewater treatment is a sleepy field. The API separator commonly used at refineries for oil-water separation was invented in 1933 and is still the industry standard despite its large footprint and huge maintenance cost. Prolonging the life of aging assets is what improves earnings per share and investing in technology development is considered a waste of money by Wall Street. See

It all depends on how much you like the area. Mechanical Engineering is one of the core branches of engineering and it is versatile one. If you have studied environmental engineering as a part of your degree course it will be more useful. Many mechanical engineers are working in water treatment plants in GCC.

Clearly it is, as the position is currently occupied by a mechanical engineer that has been selected from a short list of n candidates, n-1 of which were less suitable for the role.

Let me answer this question by a question, is this something you want to do. If it is a job that one, makes you happy and you enjoy the this type of work, then by all means follow you heart. Being happy and content in the work you do is the most important aspect of working for a leaving. When you set down and figure the hours a day spent at doing something that is fulling and makes your day better, vs working a job that is none of the latter. The choice is simple.