Chuck Dyke received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Ohio University, and accepted a position of Research Assistant in the Chemical Engineering department at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, graduating with a Master of Science degree in Chemical Engineering. He did his thesis work on the catalytic hydroliquefaction of lignite coal.
He gained practical engineering and operating experience working as a Utilities Engineer for Sohio (now part of British Petroleum) at their Toledo, Ohio, refinery. This was followed by work as a Process Engineer at Arthur G. McKee E&C (now part of Kvaerner E&C), and a Project Engineer at the corporate headquarters of The Lubrizol Corporation. He began his R&D career in the Strategic Research Division of Texaco's R&D Department in Beacon, NY, managing the 24-hr/day operations of the lab's coal liquefaction pilot unit. He studied and developed other processes for: coal gasification; shale oil retorting; microbial fermentation and ultrafiltration (UF) membrane separation to produce biopolymers; catalytic processes to produce higher alcohols from syngas and dimethyl carbonate from the partial oxidation of methanol.
In the late 1980's, Chuck began working on separation problems for Texaco, eventually becoming a company specialist in the application of membrane separation technologies for advanced wastewater treatment and water reclamation. He developed a process to recycle coal gasifier quench water using reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. He demonstrated the use of nanofiltration membranes to reduce oil and grease in offshore oil platform produced waters to below discharge limits. He was a principal member of the team that developed and patented an RO membrane process to turn oil field wastewater into irrigation-quality water. Working with analytical chemists, he developed x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and molecular modeling techniques for identifying RO membrane foulants and predicting how to change the process conditions to eliminate them. His work earned him a corporate Outstanding Contributor award.
In 1993, he led a team of engineers, technicians, and operators that in two years researched, designed, built, and demonstrated an RO-based zero-liquid-discharge process that reclaimed 99.8% of the Texaco Bakersfield Refinery's 720,000 gallon-per-day wastewater stream, at an annualized cost of less than 1/2 cent per gallon. The team also developed a separate RO process to remove 97% of the selenium from refinery stripped sour water.
Chuck was a co-developer of the Texaco Fluid Management (TFM) wastewater treatment process and business. This process uses UF membrane technology to reclaim over 90% of the water in oily-water waste emulsions and metalworking fluids, allowing them to be recycled back into plant operations or sewered. He managed the start-up and operation of the first full-scale TFM wastewater plant.
In 1998, he worked on the production scale-up of novel polyimides, the fabrication of hollow-fiber membranes from these polyimides, and field-tested and demonstrated the superiority of these new membranes for separating carbon dioxide from natural gas. He was appointed Chairman of his division's Process System Safety Committee, responsible for reviewing and approving all pilot plant design and operations.
Chuck began work as a consulting engineer in 1999 with the Chazen Companies in Poughkeepsie and Dufresne-Henry in Newburgh. He was approved by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection as a Project Manager for New York City Watershed wastewater treatment plant regulatory upgrade projects, which involved the design of microfiltration systems to remove Cryptosporidium and other enteric pathogens from domestic wastewater. He was responsible for construction oversight and startup of the first DualSand tertiary filtration system to go onstream in the New York City Watershed Wastewater Upgrade Program.
Chuck relocated to southwest Florida in 2003, and worked for Dufresene-Henry as they expanded their water and wastewater treatment consulting business in Sarasota and Charlotte counties. He currently works as a project manager and senior consultant for CH2M HILL, and is responsible for project quality control, implementation of strategies for development and transfer of best practices, engineering services during construction, and permitting in Collier, Lee, Sarasota, and Charlotte counties.
Chuck has presented his work to numerous professional audiences throughout the world, conducted professional training seminars, and has been a National Engineer's Week speaker at local schools. He has also worked as an educational consultant, developing database analysis methods to track the results of innovative curriculum, and has assisted in writing New York State Regents Exam questions in Chemistry and Physics and statistically analyzing Exam results.