Regulatory Permitting & Compliance Advisory

Dr. Meisam Peiravi has led environmental permitting, compliance, and regulatory initiatives for major mining, municipal, and industrial facilities through his experience with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX), and Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts (LACSD).

Representative Project Experience

Major Mining & Industrial Permitting – Led the technical review and issuance of Aquifer Protection Permits (APP) for complex mining and industrial facilities at ADEQ, including the regulatory review of the largest tailings storage facility in the United States.
Municipal & Industrial Environmental Compliance – Managed environmental permitting, regulatory reporting, stormwater compliance, operational inspections, and UST program coordination for landfills, compost facilities, wastewater treatment plants, and solid waste operations under NPDES, Wastewater Discharge, Title V, and Solid Waste permits.

This combined regulatory and operational experience provides clients with practical, technically sound guidance for navigating complex environmental permitting and compliance challenges.

Regulatory Permitting

Air Quality Compliance & Emissions Management

Zagros USA brings representative experience supporting air quality compliance and emissions management for major municipal utility infrastructure, including wastewater treatment plants, landfills, composting facilities, and advanced treatment systems.

Representative Project Experience

Air Quality Compliance – Managed Title V air permit compliance, CAM/SAM reporting, and SCAQMD Rules 1150.1 and CEMS Rules 218.2/218.3 for landfill and composting operations.
Pure Water Project ($6.2B, Los Angeles, CA) – Supported environmental emissions testing for one of the nation's largest water reuse programs, including advanced Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) treatment systems.
Emissions Inventory & Atmospheric Modeling – Supported emissions inventories, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reporting, Annual Emissions Reports (AER), and air dispersion modeling using AERMOD.
Source Testing & Emissions Analysis – Supported emissions source testing for turbines, flares, boilers, and MBR systems, contributing to regulatory compliance.

Air Quality Compliance

Industrial Water Treatment & Process Engineering

Representative experience in the design, evaluation, and optimization of treatment systems for mining and industrial water applications, including process water, sulfate-impacted groundwater, acid mine drainage (AMD), and high-TDS water.

Representative Project Experience

Sulfate Removal Pilot Plant (Arizona) – Designed and evaluated a pilot-scale treatment system for sulfate-impacted groundwater associated with mining operations.
High-Density Sludge (HDS) Optimization (Colorado) – Supported testing and optimization of an HDS treatment process for the removal of dissolved heavy metals, including iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and aluminum (Al).
Reverse Osmosis (RO) System Design – Developed reverse osmosis treatment systems for complex industrial and mining water applications using advanced membrane design and process modeling software.
Water Treatment Process Engineering – Developed treatment strategies for high-TDS process water, sulfate-impacted groundwater, AMD, and other complex industrial water streams.

Industrial Water Treatment & Process Engineering

Rare Earth Process Development, Evaluation, and Optimization

Zagros USA provided engineering consulting services to Western Rare Earth to evaluate and optimize a multi-stage rare earth element (REE) extraction process for deposits in Arizona and Wyoming.

Project Highlights

Evaluated alternative REE extraction and recovery technologies.
Reviewed laboratory data, process flowsheets, and metallurgical test results.
Developed recommendations to improve recovery efficiency, reduce costs, and support environmentally responsible process development.
Supported process selection for commercial-scale implementation.

Process Development

Rare Earth Element (REE) Research & Process Development

Built on Dr. Meisam Peiravi's research and engineering experience, this work includes the development of a novel rare earth element recovery process from copper leach solutions that advanced to a patent application, along with peer-reviewed research on REE extraction from conventional and non-conventional resources.

Representative Experience

REE Recovery from Copper Leach Solutions – Developed a novel hydrometallurgical process for recovering rare earth elements from copper leach solutions.
Process Development & Technical Evaluation – Supported the evaluation and optimization of REE extraction technologies for emerging critical mineral applications.
Peer-Reviewed Research – Authored highly cited publications on REE extraction from coal ash, iron ore tailings, and phosphate byproducts.

Selected Publications

REE process deve

Regulatory Permitting & Compliance Advisory

Representative Project Experience

Major Mining & Industrial Permitting – Led the technical review and issuance of Aquifer Protection Permits (APP) for complex mining and industrial facilities at ADEQ, including the regulatory review of the largest tailings storage facility in the United States.

This combined regulatory and operational experience provides clients with practical, technically sound guidance for navigating complex environmental permitting and compliance challenges.

Air Quality Compliance & Emissions Management

​Zagros USA brings representative experience supporting air quality compliance and emissions management for major municipal utility infrastructure, including wastewater treatment plants, landfills, composting facilities, and advanced treatment systems.

​

Representative Project Experience​

Air Quality Compliance – Managed Title V air permit compliance, CAM/SAM reporting, and SCAQMD Rules 1150.1 and CEMS Rules 218.2/218.3 for landfill and composting operations.

Pure Water Project ($6.2B, Los Angeles, CA) – Supported environmental emissions testing for one of the nation's largest water reuse programs, including advanced Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) treatment systems.

Emissions Inventory & Atmospheric Modeling – Supported emissions inventories, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reporting, Annual Emissions Reports (AER), and air dispersion modeling using AERMOD.

Source Testing & Emissions Analysis – Supported emissions source testing for turbines, flares, boilers, and MBR systems, contributing to regulatory compliance.

Industrial Water Treatment & Process Engineering

Representative experience in the design, evaluation, and optimization of treatment systems for mining and industrial water applications, including process water, sulfate-impacted groundwater, acid mine drainage (AMD), and high-TDS water.

​

Representative Project Experience

Sulfate Removal Pilot Plant (Arizona) – Designed and evaluated a pilot-scale treatment system for sulfate-impacted groundwater associated with mining operations.

High-Density Sludge (HDS) Optimization (Colorado) – Supported testing and optimization of an HDS treatment process for the removal of dissolved heavy metals, including iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and aluminum (Al).

Reverse Osmosis (RO) System Design – Developed reverse osmosis treatment systems for complex industrial and mining water applications using advanced membrane design and process modeling software.

Water Treatment Process Engineering – Developed treatment strategies for high-TDS process water, sulfate-impacted groundwater, AMD, and other complex industrial water streams.

Rare Earth Process Development, Evaluation, and Optimization

Zagros USA provided engineering consulting services to Western Rare Earth to evaluate and optimize a multi-stage rare earth element (REE) extraction process for deposits in Arizona and Wyoming.

Project Highlights

Evaluated alternative REE extraction and recovery technologies.

Reviewed laboratory data, process flowsheets, and metallurgical test results.

Developed recommendations to improve recovery efficiency, reduce costs, and support environmentally responsible process development.

Supported process selection for commercial-scale implementation.

Rare Earth Element (REE) Research & Process Development

Representative Experience

REE Recovery from Copper Leach Solutions – Developed a novel hydrometallurgical process for recovering rare earth elements from copper leach solutions.

Process Development & Technical Evaluation – Supported the evaluation and optimization of REE extraction technologies for emerging critical mineral applications.

Peer-Reviewed Research – Authored highly cited publications on REE extraction from coal ash, iron ore tailings, and phosphate byproducts.

Zagros USA brings representative experience supporting air quality compliance and emissions management for major municipal utility infrastructure, including wastewater treatment plants, landfills, composting facilities, and advanced treatment systems.

Representative Project Experience