Hello from the lab (and the field)

Welcome. If you found this page, you are probably dealing with water that is more interesting than it has any right to be — suspended solids that will not settle, organics that drive membrane fouling, PFAS treatment loads that outlast your GAC or ion exchange budget, or a municipal or industrial plant designed for yesterday's influent. You are in good company.

I am Chris Fetters. I am a chemical engineer and a P.E., and I have spent more than twenty-five years in environmental engineering, infrastructure, and the kind of projects where the spreadsheet and the wet well both have to be right. I started with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at ERDC, moved through consulting leadership roles, and eventually put that experience to work building Flotration and commercializing CAST — Capillary Action Separation Technology. Fancy name. Simple idea: treat smarter upstream so everything downstream works better.

A little about me that does not fit on a business card: I like hard problems. I like operators who tell me what is really happening on the night shift. I like data that survives contact with a pilot. And yes, I will occasionally crack a joke in a scoping call — not because the chemistry is funny, but because people solve problems better when they are not drowning in jargon. If I use a big word, it is because it earned its keep.

Here is what gets me up in the morning about Flotration and CAST. We do not ask you to tear out your plant. We tee in. Small footprint — compact modules (three ship on a standard 48×40 in pallet) — no additional power requirements for the separation step, no moving parts in the heart of the unit. You can bypass us with a valve during a pilot. When something fouls, you lift the internals and pressure-wash; aluminum is remarkably forgiving that way. Scale by adding modules in parallel. Patent pending, and we prove it on your water first with a paid pilot before anyone talks long-term commercial terms.

The commercial model is meant to align us with you: after we prove performance, we share in the savings — media life, chemicals, downtime, haul-off — rather than selling you a box and disappearing. Deloitte serves as an independent advisor for CAST — evaluating pilot data, verifying results, and helping shape water-as-a-service. Engaged since 2024; not an investor in Flotration or CAST.

I will use this space to share what we are learning: pilots, bench work, honest boundaries, and the occasional war story from a site where the water had other plans. If you have a constituent of concern, a train that is working too hard, or a pilot idea you want to pressure-test, start an intake or ask us a question. I read them.

Thanks for stopping by. Let's make your downstream equipment look smarter than it did last quarter.

— Chris