Water. desalination + reuse

BUSINESS coRpoRAte chAngeS WooNgjIN BackS calIforNIa fo mEmBraNE-makEr Korean membrane maker Woongjin Chemical Company has signed an agreement with California startup Porifera Inc providing investment for the Silicon Valley company to develop, manufacture and commercialize forward osmosis (FO) membrane at high volume. Porifera will also gain access to Woongjin's global sales and marketing channels. Porifera's FO membrane has 2-3 times higher flux and lower salt passage than today's commercially available cellulose-acetate FO membranes. They are particularly effective in treating challenging waters that foul most membranes. Woongjin and Porifera anticipate these membranes will open up large markets, particularly in Asia, for cost-effective treatment of highly fouling industrial wastewaters. There is also a significant North American market opportunity for treatment of high-fouling waters resulting from hydraulic fracturing. Porifera successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of its FO membranes through continuous long-term testing under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program of the US Department of Defense. Porifera's membranes were able to treat "challenge" water created by DARPA - containing silt, dust, organic matter and other particulates designed for the express purpose of fouling the membranes. Despite DARPA's efforts to compromise the membranes, Porifera says that its system ran continuously with virtually no flux decline over the duration of the tests. "We are very impressed with Porifera's FO membrane performance", says Woongjin CEO Chankoo Park. "It is clearly one of the highest performing FO membranes available today. The Woongjin-Porifera partnership will jointly allow us to become the leading suppliers of FO membranes to customers worldwide." IDE/clEaN HarBorS tIE-Up aImS at oIl SaNDS Desalination designer and constructor IDE Technologies Ltd and US waste and wastewater specialist Clean Harbors today announced a joint research and development (R&D) program to increase the availability and reliability of mechanical vapor compression (MVC) evaporators for treating oil sands produced water in Alberta, Canada. The R&D project will focus on improved operation, service and maintenance capabilities of MVC evaporators by integrating IDE's unique horizontal evaporator design with Clean Harbors' chemical development and cleaning procedures expertise. IDE's modular horizontal falling-film evaporation technology provides a more reliable, energy-efficient, and cost-effective steam assisted gravity drainage produced water treatment solution. In addition, the unique design of the MVC evaporator incorporates an embedded clean-in-place system for online and offline internal tube-bundles cleaning (both for descaling and fouling removal). "Treatment of Alberta's oil sands produced water is challenging because of the high scaling and fouling potential, as well as | 12 | Desalination & Water Reuse | August-September 2013 occasional process excursions. MVC evaporators are a critical step in the water treatment process as they provide boiler feed water quality," said Chris Porter, Clean Harbors' senior vice president, Canadian Industrial Services. "We believe we can deliver the ideal solution to the marketplace through IDE's experience providing MVC evaporators for produced water treatment over the past two decades and our expertise in the field of industrial chemical cleaning and ultrasonic technology." "We are pleased to launch this R&D partnership with Clean Harbors, which will enhance the operation and maintenance procedures of the MVC evaporation technology," said Avshalom Felber, CEO of IDE Technologies. "By promoting novelty and creating added value for customers in the water treatment market, we continue to develop more reliable, sustainable and economical solutions." UNItED ENvIrotEcH to acqUIrE SINgaporE mEmBraNE-makEr Singapore's United Envirotech Ltd (UEL) is to acquire its own membrane manufacturing capability by spending S$ 293.4 million (US$ 231 million) on a 100% stake in Memstar Pte Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Memstar Technology Ltd, also of Singapore, plus certain assets. UEL provides water treatment solutions using its proprietary advanced membrane technologies, such as membrane bioreactor (MBR) and continuous membrane filtration technology. It has designed and built several of the largest wastewater treatment plants in Asia using MBR technology. Memstar manufactures and supplies polyvinylidene fluoride hollow-fibre membrane and membrane products, with a global presence. It has strong research and development capabilities and manufacturing facilities in Singapore and China. Its membrane products have been used extensively by UEL in its water and wastewater treatment projects. The acquisition will make the combined entity a vertically integrated water solutions provider with enhanced competitiveness to capture the opportunities in the fast-growing membrane-based water and wastewater treatment industry. Dr Lin Yucheng, chairman and CEO of UEL said, "The transaction marks a new milestone for both companies. Memstar has been a long-term supplier and partner of UEL, and we believe that the combination of the two companies will ensure higher quality water treatment solutions and sharpen our competitive edge to give better service and bring better value to our customers. We look forward to working closely with the Memstar management team to capture the enormous growth opportunities, particularly in China's environmental and water treatment sector." Dr Ge Hailin, CEO of Memstar commented, "We are delighted by the combination of the two companies. I strongly believe that this transaction will create a win-win situation for both UEL and Memstar. Our membrane manufacturing business will benefit from UEL's strong customer networks and extensive water plant portfolio in China and we can significantly strengthen UEL's R&D capabilities especially in the fast growing membrane-based water treatment market. We believe this

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