McKinnon Engineering

Water and Wastewater Treatment Consulting

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John McKinnon, PE

John McKinnon, PE | Water and Wastewater Process EngineerJohn McKinnon, PE

John McKinnon is a seasoned industrial water and wastewater process engineer with more than 45 years of experience in design, operations support, and regulatory affairs.  His projects address a range of processes including biological treatment, physical/chemical treatment, sludge and residuals handling, and effluent recycle and reuse.

John has worked on projects in the U.S. and globally across a variety of industries including pulp and paper, plywood and dimensional lumber, petrochemicals, electronic materials, consulting services, and municipal wastewater.

Guiding water and wastewater projects to success

Mr. McKinnon’s water and wastewater work focuses on creating operational improvements, robust and reliable treatment processes, and cost-effective designs.  His innovative thinking has guided projects involving large and small biological treatment systems such as aerated lagoons, conventional and enhanced activated sludge, trickling filters, moving bed biological reactors, and membrane biological reactors.

Mr. McKinnon maintains a deep understanding of physical and chemical treatment processes including coagulation/flocculation; clarification, including sedimentation, dissolved air flotation, sand filtration, fine media filtration, and ultrafiltration; reverse osmosis, softening, direct oxidation, color removal, heavy metals removal, odor and hydrogen sulfide control, pH control, wastewater neutralization, mixing, adsorption, surfactants removal, and disinfection.

Lowering disposal costs

In addition to his water and wastewater treatment skills, Mr. McKinnon is proficient in sludge and residuals handling including trash screening, belt presses, screw presses, centrifuges, recessed cavity plate and frame presses, and fabric filter presses.  The design, operational, and technical advice he provides to clients consistently results in improvements with solids handling and reductions in disposal costs.

Reducing fresh water use in a water-scarce world

Mr. McKinnon has worked with numerous manufacturing sites to reduce fresh water use through effluent recycle and reuse.  The facilities that seek his counsel enjoy increased operational security, reduced environmental impacts, and improved standing with neighbors and regulatory agencies.

Background

John McKinnon began his environmental career as a co-operative student at the GA Water Quality Control Board while attending Georgia Tech.   Following graduation in 1977, he performed reverse osmosis pilot trials and designed wastewater treatment processes for International Paper at its Mobile, AL research lab.

In 1979, John began providing wastewater treatment technical services for the Monsanto Chemical Corporation at their Chocolate Bayou and Texas City, TX petrochemical complexes.   Later, he served as the environmental manager at the Monsanto Electronic Materials Company silicon wafer plant in Spartanburg, SC.

Following a brief consulting tour with Brown and Caldwell, in 1986, Mr. McKinnon became a regional environmental manager for Stone Container (now known as RockTenn), where he handled all regulatory issues, design, troubleshooting, and operations support for air emissions, water, wastewater, and solid and hazardous wastes at 26 of its facilities across seven states.

In 1990, John arrived at Kimberly-Clark Corporation where he served as a senior technical leader on water and wastewater issues for 23 years prior to beginning his private consultancy in January 2014.  During his tenure, he coordinated water and wastewater treatment design and process improvements for more than 55 facilities around the world, including selector technology for control of filamentous bacteria infestations, physical/chemical treatment for difficult wastes, and sludge and residuals handling.  He provided troubleshooting and training for the operators and engineers on water and wastewater treatment equipment and processes.  He also coordinated the corporate water use reduction program, which has eliminated more than 10 billion gallons of fresh water usage to date.

John is a member of The Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) and The Water Environment Federation (WEF).

He holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree and a Master of Sanitary Engineering degree – both from GA Tech.

Connect with John McKinnon on LinkedIn.

Contact John McKinnon

John T. McKinnon, P.E. President
3522 Ashford Dunwoody Road NE #902
Atlanta, Georgia 30319-2002
Office: 678-585-1656
Cell: 678-294-8093
Email: John@McKinnonEngineering.com

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  • Case Studies
  • Testimonials

Testimonials

John worked exceptionally well with the operations teams and has transferred much of his knowledge to build their capability and confidence.

His dedication and commitment to this project has been outstanding, and he demonstrates incredible personal flexibility to ensure a successful outcome.

To recognize John’s achievements, he was granted a “Distinguished Performance Award” in July 2013.
Tony DarnellConsumer Europe Engineering ManagerKimberly-Clark
Without John in our team, we would not have been successful. Without him, and just relying on our turnkey contractor, we would have failed complying with our environmental permit consent, and we would have been forced to restart another project just to correct vendor errors.

By having John on this project, I did save a huge amount of capital reinvestment and waste of time and efforts.
Nicolas ODENProject LeaderKimberly-Clark Europe
I worked with John McKinnon for over a year on a particularly challenging capital project and throughout that time John demonstrated an exceptionally positive and focused skill set and attitude.

John’s water and waste water expertise was paramount to identifying and addressing engineering and process issues, working with a problematic joint venture supplier and the ‘hands on’ provision of communication and training for the client’s employees.

There is no doubt that the project benefi… Read more
Ken BakerManaging Director4A Consulting Ltd

Services

  • Water and Wastewater Regulatory Support
  • Water Treatment System Operator Training
  • Water and Wastewater Troubleshooting
  • Process Optimization
  • Client Advocacy and Consultant Oversight
  • Process and Equipment Design

About McKinnon Engineering

McKinnon Engineering helps clients install and operate reliable, efficient, and effective water and wastewater treatment systems.
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Contact

John T. McKinnon, P.E. President
5456 Peachtree Blvd. #229
Atlanta, Georgia 30341
Office: 678-585-1656
Cell: 678-294-8093
Email: John@McKinnonEngineering.com

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