- Email: [email protected]
Initiative aims to standardize MBR technology
NEWS Editorial Office: Elsevier Ltd P O Box 150, Kidlington Oxford OX5 1AS, UK Tel: +44 (0)1865 843239 Fax: +44 (0)1865 843971 E-mail: [email protected]
Editor: Steve Barrett
Contributing Editor: Simon Atkinson Tel/Fax: +44 (0)1865 751611 Email: [email protected]. com
Production Controller: Russell Purdy Editorial advisory board: Dr P Ball (Pall Europe), Dr D Bessarabov (Ballard Power Systems), Prof. M Cheryan (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Prof. A Fane (University of New South Wales), Dr T Franken (Membrane Application Centre Twente), Prof. E Gobina (Robert Gordon University), Dr A Merry (Aquious–PCI Membranes), Prof. M Nyström (Lappeenranta University of Technology), Dr G Pearce (Kalsep), Dr P Pfromm (Institute of Paper Science & Technology, GA, USA), Dr R Philpott (Whatman International), Dr A Turner (AEA Technology), Prof. R Wakeman (Loughborough University of Technology), Prof. A Yaroshchuk (Ukrainian Academy of Sciences). Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier Rights & Permissions Department, PO Box 800, Oxford OX5 1DX, UK; tel: +44 (0)1865 843830, fax: +44 (0)1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@ elsevier.com. You may also contact Rights & Permissions directly through Elsevier’s home page (http://www.elsevier.com), selecting first ‘Customer Support’, then ‘General Information’, then ‘Permissions Query Form’. In the USA, users may clear permissions and make payments through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA; tel: 978 7508400, fax: +1 978 7504744, and in the UK through the Copyright Licensing Agency Rapid Clearance Service (CLARCS), 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 0LP, UK; tel: +44 (0) 171 436 5931; fax: +44 (0)171 436 3986. Other countries may have a local reprographic rights agency for payments. Derivative Works Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution. Permission of the publisher is required for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. Electronic Storage or Usage Permission of the publisher is required to store or use electronically any material contained in this journal, including any article or part of an article. Contact the publisher at the address indicated. Except as outlined above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher. Address permissions requests to: Elsevier Rights & Permissions Department, at the mail, fax and e-mail addresses noted above. Notice No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Because of rapid advances in the medical sciences, in particular, independent verification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made. Although all advertising material is expected to conform to ethical (medical) standards, inclusion in this publication does not constitute a guarantee or endorsement of the quality or value of such product or of the claims made of it by its manufacturer.
02095 Printed by Mayfield Press (Oxford) Ltd.
2
SWM module has extended lifespan Researchers at Universiti Sains Malaysia have developed a spiralwound membrane (SWM) module which, they claim, has a greatly enhanced lifespan and will be of great benefit to the water purification and wastewater treatment industry. The demand for SWM modules for water purification and industrial wastewater treatment – especially in wafer fabrication and the electroplating industry – has increased dramatically worldwide over the past 10 years. SWM modules that are currently available in the market place generally possess a lifespan of between one and two years. To extend this, the researchers have developed a spacer element called ‘Spacetec’ that exhibits features which help to combat fouling and enhance permeation flux. The product has been designed and fine-tuned using computational fluid dynamics simulation and has been further tested and verified experimentally. Spacetec includes a novel configuration of spacer filaments and a minimum contact permeation area. According to the researchers, it has great potential for commercialization because it helps to create durable SWM modules that are capable of high permeation rates. Contact: Professor Abdul Latif Ahmad, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Penang, Malaysia. Tel: +604 6533 888, www.usm.my
Millipore improves protein fractionation using UF Massachusetts-based Millipore has developed a protocol for efficiently ‘compartmentalizing’ protein solutions using ultrafiltration (UF) in a centrifugal mode. Traditional fractionation techniques use size-exclusion chromatography, which is both laborious and time intensive. The company says that the new approach, based
on its Amicon Ultra centrifugal device, is quick and efficient. The device’s bi-vertical housing limits membrane polarization, while the hydrophilic micro-structure of the low-binding Ultracel UF membrane enables efficient protein separation. This method assist the progress of fractionation by minimizing process steps, such as setting up columns, optimizing column flow rates, and collecting and concentrating various fractions. Fractionation is a process for separating a mixture into its component parts to eliminate the complexity of the proteome. Common applications for this technique include bio-marker analysis from serum, protein purification, 2D-PAGE and sample preparation for mass spectrometry analysis for use by scientists performing protein research at universities, pharmaceutical and biomedical laboratories. Contact: Millipore Corporation, 290 Concord Road, Billerica, MA 01821, USA. Tel: +1 978 715 4321, www.millipore.com
H2O Innovation wins Canadian and US contracts H 2 O Innovation (2000) Inc recently signed four sales contracts for drinking-water plant processing installations in the municipality of Peribonka, in Lac St-Jean, Québec, Canada, and in three cities in the US. The combined value of these projects is worth over C$1.3 million. The construction and engineering firm Dessau-Soprin has selected a membrane-based filtration process to treat the surface water of the Peribonka River. This option has bee n recommended to treat trihalomethane, colour and organic matter contained in the water. ‘The implantation of the process cycle will allow the municipality to meet the standards imposed by the Ministère de l’Environnement as well as providing safe and high quality drinking water,’ said Madeleine Tétrault, Manager of H2O Engineering. Based on nanofiltration, the filtration process uses 32 membranes, and will treat a water supply that serves
around 560 citizens. According to the company, this process may also offer a promising way of treating water that contains cyanobacteria. This blue–green algae has been found recently in drinking water sources in a number of municipalities in Quebec. H2O Innovation has also signed contracts covering drinking water supplies in three US cities – Bruneau in Idaho; Dunes, Florida; and Santa Cruz, California. A low-pressure, reverse osmosis (RO) unit will be used in Bruneau to treat groundwater with a high iron content. This factory-assembled unit, which has a capacity of about 190 litres 50 gallons) a minute, will require 14 membranes. Membrane Systems Inc, H2O Innovation’s subsidiary based in California, won the Dunes public tender for the treatment of brackish groundwater. The complete RO system will have a capacity of around 1700 litres (450 gallons) a minute and will make use of 112 membranes. The Santa Cruz project includes a pilot plant that will be used in a comparative analysis of specific parameters which are needed to optimize the design of the final system. All of the membrane-based filtration units will be assembled at the company’s facility in Ham-Nord, Quebec. Contact: H2O Innovation (2000) Inc, 420 Boulevard Charest Est, Suite 240, Québec City, Québec G1K 8M4, Canada. Tel: +1 418 688 0170, www.h2oinnovation.com
Initiative aims to standardize MBR technology AMEDEUS, a consortium of organizations and companies involved in the development of membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems, has performed a comprehensive study on the market expectation and technological potential of the standardization of MBR technology in Europe. Veolia Water’s research centre Anjou Recherche and Belgian company Aquafin, both major operators of MBR systems in Europe, were in charge of this study that was under-
Membrane Technology January 2007
NEWS taken in liaison with the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). They surveyed a panel of 45 selected market players operating in the MBR industry. The scope of the analysis focused on two aspects: •
•
standardization of MBR filtration systems, for example, geometry and capacity; and standardization of characterization methods such as fouling and module integrity.
This initiative is expected to lead to an appropriate standardization process for MBR technology, which should benefit the European MBR industry. The outcome of the study was presented on 24 November 2006 in a workshop in Berlin hosted by the German Institute for Standardisation (DIN). A ‘White Paper’ on MBR standardization will also be made available on the MBR-Network Web-site. Coordinated by Germany’s Berlin Centre of Competence for Water (KompetenzZentrum, Wasser Berlin GmbH), AMEDEUS is one of four research projects financed by the European Commission and dedicated to the development of the MBR technology from 2005 to 2009. The coalition of projects – the MBR-Network – gathers around 50 European and international companies and institutions, with a total budget of about 16 millions [also see Membrane Technology, January 2006, page 7]. Contact: Boris Lesjean (KWB), Project Coordination AMEDEUS, KompetenzZentrum, Wasser Berlin GmbH, Cicerostrasse 24, D-10709 Berlin, Germany. Tel: +49 30 53653 800, Email: [email protected], www.kompetenzwasser.de or www.mbr-network.eu
Puron submerged modules are rated a success Koch Membrane Systems GmbH (KMS) in Germany reports that its Puron submerged modules continue to operate successfully at a malting company in Belgium. The modules form part of one of
the largest industrial membrane bioreactor (MBR) plants in operation in the country. As part of a plant upgrade, Puron modules were installed by Belgian contractor Enprotech during 2004 – doubling the capacity of the treatment plant while using the existing infrastructure. The system was engineered by See:Water, another Belgian firm. Commenting on the installation, See:Water’s Olaf Hanssen said: ‘The modules have now been in continual operation for 18 months and during that time have provided faultless service and constant, superior filtrate quality.’ Sobelgra, which produces malt for breweries, is located in Antwerp harbour and is part of the multinational Boortmalt group. The capacity upgrade of the company’s facility makes it the largest independent malting company in Belgium. The expansion meant that the size of the existing conventional wastewater treatment plant also had to be increased. However, because of space restrictions at the facility, conventional technology could not be used. Puron modules were selected because they could be installed in the limited available space. The MBR modules significantly improve wastewater quality, while using less space than conventional systems, says KMS. The single header design and the effective aeration system ensures optimal solids management, a high flow rate and reliable operation while using 50% less energy than other MBR systems. The membranes installed at Sobelgra now have a total processing capacity of 2000 m³ (0.5 million gallons) per day. The treatment plant uses three processes – a mechanical pretreatment step, a biological treatment stage and membrane filtration. After residual, coarser materials have been removed by means of two curved screens (following barley processing), the wastewater is fed into the biological treatment system of the plant, which consists of two aeration tanks connected in series. During the final step the water, which has been biologically cleaned, is separated from the activated sludge by Puron submerged membrane filtration. Contacts: Koch Membrane Systems Inc, 850 Main Street, Wilmington, MA 01887-3388, USA. Tel: +1 978 694 7000,
www.kochmembrane.com Koch Membrane Systems GmbH, Kackertstrass 10, D-52072 Aachen, Germany, Tel: +49 241 413260. See:Water, Veldonkstraat 12, B-3120 Tremelo, Belgium. Tel: +32 1661 8261, www.seewater.org.
Membrane unit targeted at beverage producers Pall Corporation of East Hills, New York has announced the availability of its Aria SA water filtration system that is designed to meet the sanitary requirements of beverage and food producers. The system combines stainless steel components with microfiltration (MF) or ultrafiltration (UF) membrane modules. Available in custom configurations with flow rates of 190–1140 litres (50–300 gallons) per minute, the system treats water from municipal, surface or ground sources. Pall says that by using the Aria SA system, food and beverage processors can meet water quality standards and reduce their total cost of operations, while maintaining product safety and quality. ‘The Aria SA system offers the same advantages as the Pall Aria systems operating at more than 150 sites around the world. With the addition of stainless steel components, the SA version has been tailored to meet 3-A or other customer-specific requirements for hygienic and sanitary use in food and beverage production and other industry sectors,’ said Jonathan Pratt, Senior Vice President, Pall Food and Beverage. ‘The system enables our customers to benefit from the most up-to-date cleaning and sanitizing methods.’ The system’s stainless steel components and durable hollow-fibre MF or UF membranes withstand the caustic, oxidizing and acidic solutions commonly used in sanitary applications. The system also features automated air scrub and enhanced flux maintenance processes. The semi-automated cleanin-place process promotes efficient membrane recovery. The system produces a continuous supply of clean water regardless
In Brief Pall streamlines its management team NY-based Pall Corporation has streamlined its management team. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Eric Krasnoff has assumed the additional role of President, and created an Office of the Chief Executive. Don Stevens, Chief Operating Officer (COO) and President of Pall Industrial, Roberto Perez, President of Life Sciences and Lisa McDermott, Chief Financial Officer, will report directly to the CEO, and will join Krasnoff as members of the Office of the Chief Executive. In addition, Stevens will now oversee the firm’s global shared services infrastructure as part of his COO responsibilities. Pall’s current President, Marcus Wilson, is leaving the company and its board to pursue other opportunities. Cantel Medical’s sales rise but income drops US-based Cantel Medical Corporation’s sales for the quarter ended 31 October 2006 totalled $50.5 million – an increase of 6% compared with $47.8 million recorded for the quarter ended 31 October 2005. It posted net income from continuing operations of $1.7 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, for the quarter ended 31 October 2006, compared with $2.2 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, recorded a year earlier. The company provides infection prevention and control products, including water treatment systems and hollow-fibre membrane filtration technologies. Millipore releases updated multi-well products guide Billerica, Massachusetts-based Millipore has released the latest edition of its Multiwell Products Guide, which features highthroughput screening and cell culture products that are used to develop new therapies and drugs. It also includes a selection guide for MultiScreen HTS filter plates, which groups products according to membrane type, pore size, sterility and other attributes, allowing customers to more easily choose the correct plate for their applications.
3 Membrane Technology January 2007
Editor: Steve Barrett
Contributing Editor: Simon Atkinson Tel/Fax: +44 (0)1865 751611 Email: [email protected]. com
Production Controller: Russell Purdy Editorial advisory board: Dr P Ball (Pall Europe), Dr D Bessarabov (Ballard Power Systems), Prof. M Cheryan (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Prof. A Fane (University of New South Wales), Dr T Franken (Membrane Application Centre Twente), Prof. E Gobina (Robert Gordon University), Dr A Merry (Aquious–PCI Membranes), Prof. M Nyström (Lappeenranta University of Technology), Dr G Pearce (Kalsep), Dr P Pfromm (Institute of Paper Science & Technology, GA, USA), Dr R Philpott (Whatman International), Dr A Turner (AEA Technology), Prof. R Wakeman (Loughborough University of Technology), Prof. A Yaroshchuk (Ukrainian Academy of Sciences). Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier Rights & Permissions Department, PO Box 800, Oxford OX5 1DX, UK; tel: +44 (0)1865 843830, fax: +44 (0)1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@ elsevier.com. You may also contact Rights & Permissions directly through Elsevier’s home page (http://www.elsevier.com), selecting first ‘Customer Support’, then ‘General Information’, then ‘Permissions Query Form’. In the USA, users may clear permissions and make payments through the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA; tel: 978 7508400, fax: +1 978 7504744, and in the UK through the Copyright Licensing Agency Rapid Clearance Service (CLARCS), 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 0LP, UK; tel: +44 (0) 171 436 5931; fax: +44 (0)171 436 3986. Other countries may have a local reprographic rights agency for payments. Derivative Works Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution. Permission of the publisher is required for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. Electronic Storage or Usage Permission of the publisher is required to store or use electronically any material contained in this journal, including any article or part of an article. Contact the publisher at the address indicated. Except as outlined above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher. Address permissions requests to: Elsevier Rights & Permissions Department, at the mail, fax and e-mail addresses noted above. Notice No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Because of rapid advances in the medical sciences, in particular, independent verification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made. Although all advertising material is expected to conform to ethical (medical) standards, inclusion in this publication does not constitute a guarantee or endorsement of the quality or value of such product or of the claims made of it by its manufacturer.
02095 Printed by Mayfield Press (Oxford) Ltd.
2
SWM module has extended lifespan Researchers at Universiti Sains Malaysia have developed a spiralwound membrane (SWM) module which, they claim, has a greatly enhanced lifespan and will be of great benefit to the water purification and wastewater treatment industry. The demand for SWM modules for water purification and industrial wastewater treatment – especially in wafer fabrication and the electroplating industry – has increased dramatically worldwide over the past 10 years. SWM modules that are currently available in the market place generally possess a lifespan of between one and two years. To extend this, the researchers have developed a spacer element called ‘Spacetec’ that exhibits features which help to combat fouling and enhance permeation flux. The product has been designed and fine-tuned using computational fluid dynamics simulation and has been further tested and verified experimentally. Spacetec includes a novel configuration of spacer filaments and a minimum contact permeation area. According to the researchers, it has great potential for commercialization because it helps to create durable SWM modules that are capable of high permeation rates. Contact: Professor Abdul Latif Ahmad, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Penang, Malaysia. Tel: +604 6533 888, www.usm.my
Millipore improves protein fractionation using UF Massachusetts-based Millipore has developed a protocol for efficiently ‘compartmentalizing’ protein solutions using ultrafiltration (UF) in a centrifugal mode. Traditional fractionation techniques use size-exclusion chromatography, which is both laborious and time intensive. The company says that the new approach, based
on its Amicon Ultra centrifugal device, is quick and efficient. The device’s bi-vertical housing limits membrane polarization, while the hydrophilic micro-structure of the low-binding Ultracel UF membrane enables efficient protein separation. This method assist the progress of fractionation by minimizing process steps, such as setting up columns, optimizing column flow rates, and collecting and concentrating various fractions. Fractionation is a process for separating a mixture into its component parts to eliminate the complexity of the proteome. Common applications for this technique include bio-marker analysis from serum, protein purification, 2D-PAGE and sample preparation for mass spectrometry analysis for use by scientists performing protein research at universities, pharmaceutical and biomedical laboratories. Contact: Millipore Corporation, 290 Concord Road, Billerica, MA 01821, USA. Tel: +1 978 715 4321, www.millipore.com
H2O Innovation wins Canadian and US contracts H 2 O Innovation (2000) Inc recently signed four sales contracts for drinking-water plant processing installations in the municipality of Peribonka, in Lac St-Jean, Québec, Canada, and in three cities in the US. The combined value of these projects is worth over C$1.3 million. The construction and engineering firm Dessau-Soprin has selected a membrane-based filtration process to treat the surface water of the Peribonka River. This option has bee n recommended to treat trihalomethane, colour and organic matter contained in the water. ‘The implantation of the process cycle will allow the municipality to meet the standards imposed by the Ministère de l’Environnement as well as providing safe and high quality drinking water,’ said Madeleine Tétrault, Manager of H2O Engineering. Based on nanofiltration, the filtration process uses 32 membranes, and will treat a water supply that serves
around 560 citizens. According to the company, this process may also offer a promising way of treating water that contains cyanobacteria. This blue–green algae has been found recently in drinking water sources in a number of municipalities in Quebec. H2O Innovation has also signed contracts covering drinking water supplies in three US cities – Bruneau in Idaho; Dunes, Florida; and Santa Cruz, California. A low-pressure, reverse osmosis (RO) unit will be used in Bruneau to treat groundwater with a high iron content. This factory-assembled unit, which has a capacity of about 190 litres 50 gallons) a minute, will require 14 membranes. Membrane Systems Inc, H2O Innovation’s subsidiary based in California, won the Dunes public tender for the treatment of brackish groundwater. The complete RO system will have a capacity of around 1700 litres (450 gallons) a minute and will make use of 112 membranes. The Santa Cruz project includes a pilot plant that will be used in a comparative analysis of specific parameters which are needed to optimize the design of the final system. All of the membrane-based filtration units will be assembled at the company’s facility in Ham-Nord, Quebec. Contact: H2O Innovation (2000) Inc, 420 Boulevard Charest Est, Suite 240, Québec City, Québec G1K 8M4, Canada. Tel: +1 418 688 0170, www.h2oinnovation.com
Initiative aims to standardize MBR technology AMEDEUS, a consortium of organizations and companies involved in the development of membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems, has performed a comprehensive study on the market expectation and technological potential of the standardization of MBR technology in Europe. Veolia Water’s research centre Anjou Recherche and Belgian company Aquafin, both major operators of MBR systems in Europe, were in charge of this study that was under-
Membrane Technology January 2007
NEWS taken in liaison with the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). They surveyed a panel of 45 selected market players operating in the MBR industry. The scope of the analysis focused on two aspects: •
•
standardization of MBR filtration systems, for example, geometry and capacity; and standardization of characterization methods such as fouling and module integrity.
This initiative is expected to lead to an appropriate standardization process for MBR technology, which should benefit the European MBR industry. The outcome of the study was presented on 24 November 2006 in a workshop in Berlin hosted by the German Institute for Standardisation (DIN). A ‘White Paper’ on MBR standardization will also be made available on the MBR-Network Web-site. Coordinated by Germany’s Berlin Centre of Competence for Water (KompetenzZentrum, Wasser Berlin GmbH), AMEDEUS is one of four research projects financed by the European Commission and dedicated to the development of the MBR technology from 2005 to 2009. The coalition of projects – the MBR-Network – gathers around 50 European and international companies and institutions, with a total budget of about 16 millions [also see Membrane Technology, January 2006, page 7]. Contact: Boris Lesjean (KWB), Project Coordination AMEDEUS, KompetenzZentrum, Wasser Berlin GmbH, Cicerostrasse 24, D-10709 Berlin, Germany. Tel: +49 30 53653 800, Email: [email protected], www.kompetenzwasser.de or www.mbr-network.eu
Puron submerged modules are rated a success Koch Membrane Systems GmbH (KMS) in Germany reports that its Puron submerged modules continue to operate successfully at a malting company in Belgium. The modules form part of one of
the largest industrial membrane bioreactor (MBR) plants in operation in the country. As part of a plant upgrade, Puron modules were installed by Belgian contractor Enprotech during 2004 – doubling the capacity of the treatment plant while using the existing infrastructure. The system was engineered by See:Water, another Belgian firm. Commenting on the installation, See:Water’s Olaf Hanssen said: ‘The modules have now been in continual operation for 18 months and during that time have provided faultless service and constant, superior filtrate quality.’ Sobelgra, which produces malt for breweries, is located in Antwerp harbour and is part of the multinational Boortmalt group. The capacity upgrade of the company’s facility makes it the largest independent malting company in Belgium. The expansion meant that the size of the existing conventional wastewater treatment plant also had to be increased. However, because of space restrictions at the facility, conventional technology could not be used. Puron modules were selected because they could be installed in the limited available space. The MBR modules significantly improve wastewater quality, while using less space than conventional systems, says KMS. The single header design and the effective aeration system ensures optimal solids management, a high flow rate and reliable operation while using 50% less energy than other MBR systems. The membranes installed at Sobelgra now have a total processing capacity of 2000 m³ (0.5 million gallons) per day. The treatment plant uses three processes – a mechanical pretreatment step, a biological treatment stage and membrane filtration. After residual, coarser materials have been removed by means of two curved screens (following barley processing), the wastewater is fed into the biological treatment system of the plant, which consists of two aeration tanks connected in series. During the final step the water, which has been biologically cleaned, is separated from the activated sludge by Puron submerged membrane filtration. Contacts: Koch Membrane Systems Inc, 850 Main Street, Wilmington, MA 01887-3388, USA. Tel: +1 978 694 7000,
www.kochmembrane.com Koch Membrane Systems GmbH, Kackertstrass 10, D-52072 Aachen, Germany, Tel: +49 241 413260. See:Water, Veldonkstraat 12, B-3120 Tremelo, Belgium. Tel: +32 1661 8261, www.seewater.org.
Membrane unit targeted at beverage producers Pall Corporation of East Hills, New York has announced the availability of its Aria SA water filtration system that is designed to meet the sanitary requirements of beverage and food producers. The system combines stainless steel components with microfiltration (MF) or ultrafiltration (UF) membrane modules. Available in custom configurations with flow rates of 190–1140 litres (50–300 gallons) per minute, the system treats water from municipal, surface or ground sources. Pall says that by using the Aria SA system, food and beverage processors can meet water quality standards and reduce their total cost of operations, while maintaining product safety and quality. ‘The Aria SA system offers the same advantages as the Pall Aria systems operating at more than 150 sites around the world. With the addition of stainless steel components, the SA version has been tailored to meet 3-A or other customer-specific requirements for hygienic and sanitary use in food and beverage production and other industry sectors,’ said Jonathan Pratt, Senior Vice President, Pall Food and Beverage. ‘The system enables our customers to benefit from the most up-to-date cleaning and sanitizing methods.’ The system’s stainless steel components and durable hollow-fibre MF or UF membranes withstand the caustic, oxidizing and acidic solutions commonly used in sanitary applications. The system also features automated air scrub and enhanced flux maintenance processes. The semi-automated cleanin-place process promotes efficient membrane recovery. The system produces a continuous supply of clean water regardless
In Brief Pall streamlines its management team NY-based Pall Corporation has streamlined its management team. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Eric Krasnoff has assumed the additional role of President, and created an Office of the Chief Executive. Don Stevens, Chief Operating Officer (COO) and President of Pall Industrial, Roberto Perez, President of Life Sciences and Lisa McDermott, Chief Financial Officer, will report directly to the CEO, and will join Krasnoff as members of the Office of the Chief Executive. In addition, Stevens will now oversee the firm’s global shared services infrastructure as part of his COO responsibilities. Pall’s current President, Marcus Wilson, is leaving the company and its board to pursue other opportunities. Cantel Medical’s sales rise but income drops US-based Cantel Medical Corporation’s sales for the quarter ended 31 October 2006 totalled $50.5 million – an increase of 6% compared with $47.8 million recorded for the quarter ended 31 October 2005. It posted net income from continuing operations of $1.7 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, for the quarter ended 31 October 2006, compared with $2.2 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, recorded a year earlier. The company provides infection prevention and control products, including water treatment systems and hollow-fibre membrane filtration technologies. Millipore releases updated multi-well products guide Billerica, Massachusetts-based Millipore has released the latest edition of its Multiwell Products Guide, which features highthroughput screening and cell culture products that are used to develop new therapies and drugs. It also includes a selection guide for MultiScreen HTS filter plates, which groups products according to membrane type, pore size, sterility and other attributes, allowing customers to more easily choose the correct plate for their applications.
3 Membrane Technology January 2007