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Nanostone launches next-generation segmented ceramic membrane
NEWS/IN BRIEF Contact: W.L. Gore & Associates Inc, 555 Paper Mill Road, Newark, DE 19711, USA. Tel +1 410 506 7787, www.gore.com/chromatography
Nanostone launches next-generation segmented ceramic membrane
U
S company Nanostone Water Inc, a manufacturer of ceramic ultrafiltration (UF) membranes, has launched its next-generation membrane product – the CM-151. ‘Industry experts agree that ceramic material is more robust for water ultrafiltration membranes, however, until now, it was not economically justifiable for municipal customers,’ commented Stanton Smith, VP, Global Marketing, Nanostone Water. The market for ceramic membranes is driven by the need for improved life-cycle costs and system longevity. End-users desire simple, reliable and operator-friendly treatment options that are robust to influent variations, and can withstand aggressive cleaning when needed. The company says that it has significantly improved its product design and manufacturing process since launching the CM-131 in 2015. ‘These improvements enabled us to bring to market the CM-151 product with 20% more surface area and better system economics – offering lower total cost of ownership, compared with polymeric membranes,’ added Brian Wise, Global Product Manager, Nanostone Water. ‘Our CM-151 product is now certified to NSF-61 standards and we anticipate NSF-419 certification later in 2017. Along with these certifications the CM-151 process design is compatible with open-platform ultrafiltration skid packages available in the market place, which enables easier adoption and retrofits.’ The CM-151 is manufactured at Nanostone’s newly expanded, facility in Germany where production ramp-up is under way. The first CM-151 product shipments are planned for the second quarter of 2017. Extensive performance verification through field trials has been conducted both in the USA and in other countries, at facilities that handle municipal drinking water and wastewater reuse, and at industrial water and wastewater reuse sites. ‘Studies strongly indicated that the market is ready to adopt ceramic membranes, if it makes
April 2017
sense economically. Nanostone’s CM-151 represents a significant improvement in end-user economics and, additionally, brings to market a true ultrafiltration ceramic membrane,’ concluded Smith. Contact: Nanostone Water Inc, 10250 Valley View Road, Suite 143, Eden Prairie, MN 55344, USA. Tel: +1 612 294 3900, www.nanostone.com
Whitefox ICE membrane system increases capacity of US ethanol plant
U
S company Pine Lake Corn Processors is using a Whitefox Integrated Cartridge Efficiency (ICE) membrane system at it ethanol plant in Steamboat Rock, Iowa, to increase production capacity and improve overall plant efficiency. Whitefox Technologies Ltd, which specialises in technology development and process integration based on membranes, says that the facility has an operating capacity of 132 489 m3 (35 million gallons) per year, and the use of its bolt-on system gives the plant an additional 10% ethanol capacity by removing process bottlenecks. James Broghammer, CEO, Pine Lake, said: ‘The impact of the Whitefox ICE became evident almost immediately. Overall I see a better performing plant with increased capacity and lower steam consumption per gallon of ethanol produced – just by eliminating the mole sieve recycle stream to the rectifier.’ After two months of operating the system, Pine Lake has decided to expand its Whitefox ICE unit by a third. The modularity of the technology makes this straightforward. The additional expansion is expected to come online during the second half of 2017. Gillian Harrison, CEO, Whitefox, commented: ‘We are proud to deliver the first Whitefox ICE system in Iowa to Pine Lake Corn Processors. James Broghammer and his team have been key to ensuring the successful execution of the project and we have been impressed with his insight and hands-on approach. We look forward to delivering the next phase of the expansion later in the year.’ Pine Lake has taken the lead in showing how plants can get more from their existing infrastructure and improve the profitability of every gallon of ethanol, says Whitefox Technologies. In addition, this project shows the important
In Brief Acquisition set to enhance Sartorius’ bioanalytics portfolio German pharmaceuticals and laboratory equipment provider Sartorius Ag has signed an agreement to acquire US-based Essen BioScience Inc – which specialises in cell-based assays and instrumentation used for drug discovery and basic research applications – from private equity firm SFW Capital Partners. The transaction is valued at $320 million in cash. Sartorius says that through this acquisition it will significantly expand its portfolio for bioanalytics, a field the company has recently entered via the IntelliCyt acquisition in 2016. ‘With the Essen real-time, live-cell analysis platform, we will add another key technology for advancing and accelerating drug discovery applications to our lab division’s portfolio,’ commented Joachim Kreuzburg, CEO, Sartorius. Poten Environment Group completes IPO on Shanghai Stock Exchange Poten Environment Group, Aquaporin’s partner in the Chinese joint venture Aquapoten and investor in Aquaporin, has completed its initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Søren Bjørn Hansen, the chairman of Aquaporin’s board, and Peter Holme Jensen, the firm’s CEO, journeyed to Shanghai, China, to participate in the stockmarket launch. Modern Water announces first sale of its AMBC system UK-based Modern Water Plc, which installs and operates membrane systems, and develops and supplies water monitoring systems, has announced that following successful pilot testing it has secured the first sale of its proprietary All-Membrane Brine Concentration (AMBC) system. The company says that its AMBC technology will be used to treat wastewater produced by a customer based in India, which is involved in the textile dyes industry. Osmoflo supplies water treatment system for project in Chile Australian desalination company Osmoflo Pty Ltd is providing a custom-built water treatment plant to Outotec in Chile. Outotec is expanding and modernising a copper smelter in Potrerillos for a major copper mining company. The work requires a water treatment plant to assist in treating cooling-tower blowdown for water reuse in the facility. Osmoflo says that it is providing a custom-engineered plant that uses a combination of ultrafiltration followed by two-pass brackish water reverse osmosis, designed for high salinity/high recovery. The project is scheduled to be completed in May 2017.
Membrane Technology
3
Nanostone launches next-generation segmented ceramic membrane
U
S company Nanostone Water Inc, a manufacturer of ceramic ultrafiltration (UF) membranes, has launched its next-generation membrane product – the CM-151. ‘Industry experts agree that ceramic material is more robust for water ultrafiltration membranes, however, until now, it was not economically justifiable for municipal customers,’ commented Stanton Smith, VP, Global Marketing, Nanostone Water. The market for ceramic membranes is driven by the need for improved life-cycle costs and system longevity. End-users desire simple, reliable and operator-friendly treatment options that are robust to influent variations, and can withstand aggressive cleaning when needed. The company says that it has significantly improved its product design and manufacturing process since launching the CM-131 in 2015. ‘These improvements enabled us to bring to market the CM-151 product with 20% more surface area and better system economics – offering lower total cost of ownership, compared with polymeric membranes,’ added Brian Wise, Global Product Manager, Nanostone Water. ‘Our CM-151 product is now certified to NSF-61 standards and we anticipate NSF-419 certification later in 2017. Along with these certifications the CM-151 process design is compatible with open-platform ultrafiltration skid packages available in the market place, which enables easier adoption and retrofits.’ The CM-151 is manufactured at Nanostone’s newly expanded, facility in Germany where production ramp-up is under way. The first CM-151 product shipments are planned for the second quarter of 2017. Extensive performance verification through field trials has been conducted both in the USA and in other countries, at facilities that handle municipal drinking water and wastewater reuse, and at industrial water and wastewater reuse sites. ‘Studies strongly indicated that the market is ready to adopt ceramic membranes, if it makes
April 2017
sense economically. Nanostone’s CM-151 represents a significant improvement in end-user economics and, additionally, brings to market a true ultrafiltration ceramic membrane,’ concluded Smith. Contact: Nanostone Water Inc, 10250 Valley View Road, Suite 143, Eden Prairie, MN 55344, USA. Tel: +1 612 294 3900, www.nanostone.com
Whitefox ICE membrane system increases capacity of US ethanol plant
U
S company Pine Lake Corn Processors is using a Whitefox Integrated Cartridge Efficiency (ICE) membrane system at it ethanol plant in Steamboat Rock, Iowa, to increase production capacity and improve overall plant efficiency. Whitefox Technologies Ltd, which specialises in technology development and process integration based on membranes, says that the facility has an operating capacity of 132 489 m3 (35 million gallons) per year, and the use of its bolt-on system gives the plant an additional 10% ethanol capacity by removing process bottlenecks. James Broghammer, CEO, Pine Lake, said: ‘The impact of the Whitefox ICE became evident almost immediately. Overall I see a better performing plant with increased capacity and lower steam consumption per gallon of ethanol produced – just by eliminating the mole sieve recycle stream to the rectifier.’ After two months of operating the system, Pine Lake has decided to expand its Whitefox ICE unit by a third. The modularity of the technology makes this straightforward. The additional expansion is expected to come online during the second half of 2017. Gillian Harrison, CEO, Whitefox, commented: ‘We are proud to deliver the first Whitefox ICE system in Iowa to Pine Lake Corn Processors. James Broghammer and his team have been key to ensuring the successful execution of the project and we have been impressed with his insight and hands-on approach. We look forward to delivering the next phase of the expansion later in the year.’ Pine Lake has taken the lead in showing how plants can get more from their existing infrastructure and improve the profitability of every gallon of ethanol, says Whitefox Technologies. In addition, this project shows the important
In Brief Acquisition set to enhance Sartorius’ bioanalytics portfolio German pharmaceuticals and laboratory equipment provider Sartorius Ag has signed an agreement to acquire US-based Essen BioScience Inc – which specialises in cell-based assays and instrumentation used for drug discovery and basic research applications – from private equity firm SFW Capital Partners. The transaction is valued at $320 million in cash. Sartorius says that through this acquisition it will significantly expand its portfolio for bioanalytics, a field the company has recently entered via the IntelliCyt acquisition in 2016. ‘With the Essen real-time, live-cell analysis platform, we will add another key technology for advancing and accelerating drug discovery applications to our lab division’s portfolio,’ commented Joachim Kreuzburg, CEO, Sartorius. Poten Environment Group completes IPO on Shanghai Stock Exchange Poten Environment Group, Aquaporin’s partner in the Chinese joint venture Aquapoten and investor in Aquaporin, has completed its initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Søren Bjørn Hansen, the chairman of Aquaporin’s board, and Peter Holme Jensen, the firm’s CEO, journeyed to Shanghai, China, to participate in the stockmarket launch. Modern Water announces first sale of its AMBC system UK-based Modern Water Plc, which installs and operates membrane systems, and develops and supplies water monitoring systems, has announced that following successful pilot testing it has secured the first sale of its proprietary All-Membrane Brine Concentration (AMBC) system. The company says that its AMBC technology will be used to treat wastewater produced by a customer based in India, which is involved in the textile dyes industry. Osmoflo supplies water treatment system for project in Chile Australian desalination company Osmoflo Pty Ltd is providing a custom-built water treatment plant to Outotec in Chile. Outotec is expanding and modernising a copper smelter in Potrerillos for a major copper mining company. The work requires a water treatment plant to assist in treating cooling-tower blowdown for water reuse in the facility. Osmoflo says that it is providing a custom-engineered plant that uses a combination of ultrafiltration followed by two-pass brackish water reverse osmosis, designed for high salinity/high recovery. The project is scheduled to be completed in May 2017.
Membrane Technology
3