Water. Desalination + reuse
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/86284
BUSINESS AQUA-CHEM ANNOUNCES BRAZILIAN JOINT VENTURE Desalination equipment manufacturer Aqua-Chem announced on 8 March 2012 a strategic joint venture to manufacture and assemble in Brazil. An agreement has been reached with Vicel Group, located in Rio Das Ostras, an industrial district close to the heart of the oil and gas industry in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The new company will exceed 60% of local content in reverse- osmosis desalination systems in the first phase of the production plan, which is scheduled for the third quarter of 2012. David Gensterblum, Aqua-Chem CEO said, "We've been working on an agreement for more than a year, designed to meet the market-growing demand for products with national content as established by the rules of the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas & Biofuels. This alliance will prove to be highly beneficial for our customers and our companies." VOLTEA GETS FUNDING FOR TWO DESALINATION APPLICATIONS Dutch desalination innovator Voltea BV announced on 21 February 2012 that it had completed a € 4.5 million funding round to support the commercial rollout of its Capacitive Deionization (CapDI) technology The funding came from its existing shareholders, Pentair Inc, Rabo Ventures and Unilever Ventures, as well as from the management team. The funding will be used for a number of activities including the commercialization of two products: treating water in cooling systems and residential water softening. It will also go towards increasing the production capacity at the facility in Sassenheim, Netherlands. CapDI, which was described in an article in D&WR (May/June 2011) is a simple and innovative way to remove dissolved salts from water with a high recovery rate and low energy consumption. GERMAN UF DEVELOPER INNOWA TAKEN OVER German hollow-fibre membrane developer InnoWa has been acquired by Stuttgart-based Mahle Industry GmbH, a manufacturer of industrial filtration equipment. InnoWa specialized in development, application and manufacture of high-performance filter systems based on ultrafiltration technology. The company emerged from the former EBG GmbH and currently employs 20 people who will be transferred. In future, InnoWa will operate under the name Mahle InnoWa GmbH, headquartered in Stuttgart. InnoWa Membrane, a technology leader, manufactures hollow fiber membranes for ultrafiltration. Ultrafiltration is used, for example, as a process step in the treatment of drinking water from rivers, surface waters, or springs, and as a preliminary step in sea water desalination. This technology allows even minuscule particles such as germs, viruses, and bacteria to be filtered, opening up additional areas of application in home and building services engineering, for example. Mahle Industry already has a globally active sales network and an excellent reputation in the market. The integration of InnoWa Membrane into the Industrial Filtration division creates a new platform within Mahle Industry with a focus on water treatment. | 14 | Desalination & Water Reuse | May-June 2012 Paul Swaim PEOPLE NEW MEMBRANE AND DESALINATION LEADERS IN CH2M HILL CHANGES A number of leadership changes to the top water team of engineer CH2M Hill were announced on 5 April 2012, including new leaders for membrane and desalination technology. Water treatment engineer Dr Russell Ford is the new water infrastructure global service leader. With over 25 years of experience in developing, evaluating, and designing treatment processes to remove a variety of contaminants from drinking water, Ford has a strong working knowledge of current state and federal drinking water regulations; the design and construction of water treatment facilities; and water allocation. He will lead CH2M Hill's technology and client service for water treatment, reuse, desalination and membrane projects. Dr Russell Ford His deputy will be Paul Swaim, who brings more than 20 years of experience in the successful completion of water treatment and water reuse projects including process selection, pilot studies, facilities plans, design, construction, and startup. He is a technical expert in water treatment process selection, treatability (bench and pilot scale) testing, granular activated carbon disinfection and advanced oxidation. Lee Odell has been appointed as the new water treatment global technology leader. Odell has 22 years of experience as an engineering consultant and 6 years of experience as a water treatment plant operator and operations supervisor. He has a wide range of experience managing projects in water resources, water quality and treatment, water reuse design, and facilities planning. Joe Elarde is the new membrane global technology leader. Elarde is a recognized specialist in membrane technology with more than 15 years of experience in the study, piloting, design, construction, commissioning and operation of several membrane filtration, membrane softening, brackish water desalting, and seawater desalting facilities. Elarde will replace Jim Lozier, who takes a new position as desalination global technology leader. He has more than 30 years of professional service in the water treatment industry, and is an internationally recognized authority on membrane technologies. One of CH2M Hill's technology fellows, Lozier specializes in the application of membrane in and associated pre- and post- treatment processes for water treatment, desalination and water reuse. Larry Schimmoller will remain in his position as the water reuse global technology leader.