Industry news
Filtration+Separation November/December 2015
Calgon Carbon creates two new operating divisions
Alfa Laval names new president and CEO Lars Renström is to retire next year from his position as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Alfa Laval Group. Renström, who has led the Swedish company since 2004, will be succeeded by Tom Erixon who is currently president and CEO of the Ovako Group, a producer of engineering steel for customers in the bearing, transport and manufacturing industries.
impressed by the growth and performance of the company under Lars Renström’s leadership over the last decade and my ambition is to continue this successful journey of profitable growth,” said Erixon. Erixon will succeed Renström from 1 March 2016. www.alfalaval.com
“It has been an honour and a privilege to lead Alfa Laval. It is natural that I retire next year when I turn 65 and the board of directors’ decision to appoint Tom – whom I know from my period at Seco Tools – makes it easier for me to step down,” said Renström. “I feel proud and excited to join Alfa Laval which I know as a solid global industrial leader with a strong company culture. I am
Photographer: Peter Philips.
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Tom Erixon, Alfa Laval’s new president and CEO. Image courtesy of Ovako.
Air Liquide acquires PoroGen Air Liquide has bought PoroGen Corp, a Massachusetts manufacturer of porous polymeric membranes for the oil and gas, refining and petrochemicals, energy, power generation and aerospace industries. The PoroGen product line is based on polyether ether ketone (PEEK) membrane materials for a range of applications, including gas separation, gas/liquid transfer, hybrid absorption, nanofiltration and microfiltration. PoroGen membrane technology complements Air Liquide’s MEDAL line of polymeric membranes. “We are happy to announce the acquisition of PoroGen, a company that shares our commitment to innovation in membrane science, and I am pleased to welcome the PoroGen team to the Air Liquide www.filtsep.com
family. We are always looking for new opportunities to expand our offers and exceed the needs and expectations of our customers. The acquisition of PoroGen enables us to further expand our portfolio of industry-leading membrane technologies, as well as our production capacity, to meet growing demand in many sectors,” said Ole Hoefelmann, CEO of Air Liquide Advanced Technologies US LLC. Ben Bikson, president of PoroGen, said: “Combining PoroGen and MEDAL technology platforms affords unique synergies and value creation for customers, company employees and shareholders. The technology benefits will now be available to a broad range of global customers.” www.us.airliquide.com www.porogen.com
Calgon Carbon Corp will have new senior leadership and operating divisions in place from 1 January 2016. Current chief financial officer Steve Schott has been promoted to executive vice president of the newly formed Advanced Materials, Manufacturing and Equipment (AMME) Division, while senior vice president Jim Coccagno has been promoted to executive vice president of the newly formed Core Carbon and Services (CCS) Division. AMME will manage the Specialty Carbon business unit in North America and the Global UV technologies business unit. Chemviron Carbon, a registered branch of Calgon Carbon located in Europe, will report to this division.
CCS will focus on traditional Industrial and Municipal markets in North America, including reactivation, and will have global oversight for the Asian and Latin American regions. Virgin production sites will be overseen by Schott and AMME, and US reactivation sites by Coccagno and CCS. “This essentially does three things; it positions us for future growth, it effectively utilises our intellectual and capital assets, and finally it brings additional clarity to the management of the bottom line,” said Randy Dearth, chairman, president and CEO of Calgon Carbon. www.calgoncarbon.com
Aquatech secures ZLD project for Chinese coal-to-liquids plant US water purification technology company Aquatech is to provide a water treatment facility that includes a Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) plant for a coal to liquid fuels conversion project being developed by China’s Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Co Ltd. The ZLD plant will recycle over 55 million litres per day (2300 cubic meters per hour) of wastewater generated by the 4 million tons per year CTL plant and eliminate all wastewater discharge. The recycled water will be reused in the process facility. Aquatech will design, engineer and supply the integrated water facility, and supervise installation and commissioning. Aquatech will supply a fully integrated and automated system that it has developed for the CTX
market. This system uses the company’s AquaEZ technology consisting of conventional UFRO, HERO (High Efficiency Reverse Osmosis), Unseeded Falling Film evaporators, followed by crystallizers at the back end to achieve complete zero liquid discharge. Aquatech will also supply the post-treatment of the recycled water with an ion exchange process to give high purity water to be used back in the process. “We have previous experience and strong operating installations in projects under similar conditions in China. This project strengthens our position as a leader in ZLD, especially in this part of the world,” said Tom Tseng, general manager, Aquatech China. www.aquatech.com