- Email: [email protected]
WRI initiative measures water risks and opportunities
NEWS Public water departments and private companies that supply potable water are one of the major users of water-treatment technology. Contacts: BizAcumen Inc, 210 Fell Street, San Francisco, CA 94102, USA. Tel: +1 415 839 8668, http://bizacumen.com Research and Markets Ltd, Guinness Centre, Taylors Lane, Dublin 8, Ireland. Fax: +353 1 481 1716, www.researchandmarkets.com
sub-market decreased 29.8%, compared with a strong quarter a year earlier. Microelectronics sales decreased 19.2% compared with the equivalent period a year earlier, but held steady, sequentially over an improved fourth quarter. Contact: Pall Corp, 25 Harbor Park Drive, Port Washington, NY 11050, USA. Tel: +1 516 484 5400, www.pall.com
Pall posts strong earnings for its first quarter
PX devices generate renewable electricity by harnessing osmotic power
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E
S-based filtration, separation and purification company Pall Corp reported strong earnings for its first quarter ended 31 October 2009. Net earnings were US$67.0 million compared with US$43.1 million, posted for the first quarter of fiscal year 2009. The first-quarter sales totalled US$546.9 million – a decrease of 5.4% compared with the corresponding period of fiscal year 2009. Sales in local-currency terms decreased 6.9%. Foreign currency translation increased reported sales by $8.8 million or 1.5% in the quarter. Commenting on the results Eric Krasnoff, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said: ‘This quarter’s results exemplify the strength of Pall’s market and geographic diversity as well as the success of our investments and execution of corporate initiatives. Key industrial end-markets remained depressed. The Life Sciences business was strong, particularly in high value-added, differentiated product lines.’ For Life Sciences, Medical sales increased by 2.6% in the quarter, with the blood filtration sub-market growing 4%. Pall Aquasafe waterfilter sales were strong. BioPharmaceuticals sales increased 10.3% in the quarter, with all geographies experiencing growth. Sales within the pharmaceuticals sub-market increased 9.8% with strong consumables growth in all geographies. Vaccine production remains high. In the Industrial segment, Energy, Water & Process Technologies’ (EWPT) sales decreased 12.3% in the quarter. Fuels, chemicals and power-generating sub-markets were flat and sales to municipal water, food and beverage, and industrial manufacturing sub-markets were down. Aerospace & Transportation declined 21.6% in the quarter. The commercial aerospace submarket declined 8.5%, reflecting a reduction in flights and production of airframes, particularly for private jets. Sales to the military aerospace 4
Membrane Technology
nergy Recovery Inc of San Leandro, California, USA – a company which designs and develops energy-recovery systems that help to make desalination more affordable – has announced that its PX Pressure Exchanger devices are being used in the world’s first ‘osmotic power plant’. Built in Tofte, Norway, by energy company Statkraft, the pilot plant demonstrates how energy, created through osmosis, can be harnessed to generate a continuous source of renewable electricity. Energy Recovery says that the high efficiency of its PX devices increases the energy output and reduces the energy consumed during the osmotic power-generating process, to ensure the net-positive production of electricity. ‘The commissioning of our pilot facility is a significant step towards the commercialisation of this game-changing renewable energy source,’ explained Stein Erik Skilhagan, Vice President, Osmotic Power, Statkraft. ‘According to our calculations, the global production potential of osmotic power could exceed 1600 TWh, or the equivalent of half of Europe’s entire energy demand. Although osmotic power has enormous potential, it is only economically feasible if you reduce the cost of creating it. Energy Recovery’s PX devices address this issue by considerably reducing energy use, enabling us to produce renewable electricity. We anticipate that the pilot plant will be quite successful and we plan to implement the PX technology as we scale up to a commercial facility.’ The PX devices are currently deployed at large sea-water reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plants all over the world. By recycling the energy typically wasted as part of the reject stream, these devices – which operate at 98% efficiency – reduce energy use by up to 60%, helping to
make desalination an affordable technology. The osmotic power process harnesses the osmotic potential difference between salt water (such as sea-water) and fresh water to produce a pressurised stream of membrane permeate. Diluted salt-water is released through a turbine that turns a generator to produce electricity. The PX devices work in unison with next-generation forward osmosis membranes to enable cost-effective, stable, reliable, environment-friendly energy to be produced in any location where both fresh water and salt water are available. The pilot plant in Tofte is designed to produce 10 kW of renewable energy. Statkraft says that it is planning to build a full-scale osmotic power plant by 2015 that is capable of producing 25 MW of electricity. Contact: Energy Recovery Inc, 1908 Doolittle Drive, San Leandro, CA 94577, USA. Tel: +1 510 483 7370, www.energyrecovery.com
WRI initiative measures water risks and opportunities
I
n the USA, The World Resources Institute (WRI) has launched, in partnership with General Electric Co and The Goldman Sachs Group Inc, an initiative to measure water-related risks facing companies and their investors. The initiative will develop a Water Index as a standardised approach to identify and mitigate water-related corporate risk. This index will aggregate nearly 20 weighted factors capturing water availability, regulations, water-quality and reputation issues. As water resource constraints affect nearly all industries, the Water Index will be widely applicable, say the firms. It will enable companies and investors to transparently and adequately capture the various components of water-related risk and will enable business leaders to make more well-informed investment decisions. The Water Index will draw on publicly available data covering physical scarcity and water quality, and overlay important factors, including the regulatory regime, and social and reputation issues which, previously, have not been incorporated into water-risk measurement. Ultimately, this mapping tool will enable users to combine and compare different components of the water-risk assessment. ‘In many regions around the world, water scarcity from climate change and pollution is starting to affect companies’ performance, yet few analysts account for water-related risks,’
January 2010
NEWS said Jonathan Lash, President WRI. ‘WRI hopes that investors will begin ‘‘pricing in’’ these under-appreciated risks, driving investments to support more hydrologically efficient designs and technologies.’ From the perspective of General Electric and Goldman Sachs, the Water Index will enable each firm to better advise customers and clients on water-related risks and opportunities. ‘From a technology perspective, technology to enable water reuse and mitigate risk already exist,’ commented Heiner Markhoff, President and Chief Executive Offficer, Water & Process Technologies, GE Power & Water. ‘Advanced technology, such as membrane and water-efficient cooling systems, are available to manage the risks once these are identified and measured, which is what the Water Index aims to do.’ Tracy Wolstencroft, who is global head of environmental markets for Goldman Sachs, added: ‘Many environmental factors, including water, pose both challenges and opportunities for investors and businesses. The Water Index will provide valuable insights that can inform investment decisions and will help identify new opportunities across sectors and geographies.’ Contacts: World Resources Institute, 10 G Street, NE (Suite 800), Washington, DC 20002, USA. Tel: +1 202 729 7600, www.wri.org GE Water & Process Technologies, 4636 Somerton Road, Trevose, PA 19053-6783, USA. Tel: +1 215 355 3300, www.gewater.com The Goldman Sachs Group Inc, 85 Broad Street, New York, NY 10004, USA. Tel: +1 212 9020300 www2.goldmansachs.com
Water purification device aids trace elemental analysis
M
illipore Corp, a US-based provider of technologies, tools and services for the global life science industry, has announced the availability of the Q-POD Element unit. Designed for use with the Milli-Q Integral and Milli-Q Advantage systems, available from the company, the device delivers ultrapure water with extremely low levels of elemental contamination (single ppt or sub-ppt level) for laboratories performing trace and ultra-trace elemental analysis. By eliminating problems because of backgrounds with high elemental contamination, water produced by the Q-POD Element device
January 2010
can help scientists achieve greater sensitivity and reproducibility in their work, explains Millipore. Equipped with a foot-switch for hands-free water delivery, the Q-POD Element unit is ideal for use in a Class 1000 clean-room environment. It supplies water in volumes required by the user (up to 1.5 l/min), which avoids a water storage as well as the associated contamination risks. Contact: Millipore Corp, 290 Concord Road, Billerica, MA 01821, USA. Tel: +1 978 715 4321, www.millipore.com
Siemens’ MBR helps China restore Taihu Lake’s water quality
S
iemens Water Technologies has commissioned a wastewater treatment system for the Wuxi Xincheng Plant in China’s Jiangsu Province. An upgrade to the existing wastewater treatment plant, the system includes Siemens’ Membrane Biological Reactor (MBR) system. It is producing 30 000 m3 (7.9 million gallons) of high-quality effluent per day, which meets or exceeds the national discharge standard of Class I-A – enabling the treated water to be safely discharged into Taihu Lake. The MBR system at Wuxi Xincheng combines conventional biological treatment processes with membrane filtration using the firm’s Memcor membranes. The company says that it can significantly reduce both nitrogen and phosphorus content in the treated effluent by breaking down the organic nutrients and filtering the solids. The MBR system requires an installation footprint that is about 75% smaller than that needed by conventional technology – which is important for existing plants with limited space. The technology has been applied to more than 70 facilities around the world, says the company. Located in the highly developed and densely populated Yangtze River Delta, Taihu Lake has been increasingly polluted in recent years. As part of its efforts to clean up the lake, Jiangsu Province set out to improve sewage treatment capacities in cities surrounding the lake area. The MBR system will enable the Xincheng plant to better serve over 100 high-tech enterprises in the Wuxi New District’s industrial park, which has experienced a 20–25% annual increase in wastewater. Contacts: Siemens Water Technologies Corp, 2501 N. Barrington Road, Hoffman Estates, IL 60192, USA. Tel: +1 847 713 8458, www.industry.siemens.com
In Brief H2O Innovation awarded new contracts and adds representatives in the USA Canadian water-treatment technology company H2O Innovation Inc has recently landed contracts worth a total of C$2.2 million. These contracts will see the firm designing, manufacturing and delivering custom-built water-treatment systems for the production of drinking water by reverse osmosis, water reuse and the treatment of wastewater. Some of the contracts will also see the firm supplying process equipment and parts. H2O Innovation has also signed agreements with three new sales representatives in the USA for its wastewater treatment technology, including its patented Bio-Brane MBR for water reuse applications. Memstar supplies membranes for MBR wastewater treatment plant in China Singapore’s Memstar Technology Ltd has been awarded a contract worth RMB60 million to supply membrane products to the Guangzhou Municipal Government for its wastewater treatment plant. The facility, which has a capacity of 100 000 m3 per day, is based on membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology and when completed in June 2010 will be one of the largest MBR plants in China. Norit–Greentech wins contract for wastewater reuse project in China A joint venture involving Norit NV and GreenTech Engineering Co Ltd had been awarded a contract covering the design, procurement, installation and start-up of the Qinghe Municipal Wastewater Reuse Project in Beijing, China. This project, which is believed to be the single largest one of its kind (180 000 m3 per day) in China, is part of the Qinghe wastewater reuse plan, developed by the Beijing Drainage Group. The system is based on Norit X-Flow XIGA ultrafiltration membrane technology and GreenTech’s CMSCompact modular skids. The project is worth about RMB75 million. A.O. Smith concludes purchase of water treatment business A.O. Smith (Shanghai) Water Treatment Products Co Ltd has concluded its purchase of Tianlong Holding Co Ltd’s watertreatment business (see Membrane Technology October 2009, page 2). A.O. Smith holds 80% of the newly formed company, which is considered to be a wholly owned foreign enterprise under Chinese law. A.O. Smith (Shanghai) will supply reverse osmosis water purification products to the residential and commercial sectors in China and export to markets worldwide.
Membrane Technology
5
sub-market decreased 29.8%, compared with a strong quarter a year earlier. Microelectronics sales decreased 19.2% compared with the equivalent period a year earlier, but held steady, sequentially over an improved fourth quarter. Contact: Pall Corp, 25 Harbor Park Drive, Port Washington, NY 11050, USA. Tel: +1 516 484 5400, www.pall.com
Pall posts strong earnings for its first quarter
PX devices generate renewable electricity by harnessing osmotic power
U
E
S-based filtration, separation and purification company Pall Corp reported strong earnings for its first quarter ended 31 October 2009. Net earnings were US$67.0 million compared with US$43.1 million, posted for the first quarter of fiscal year 2009. The first-quarter sales totalled US$546.9 million – a decrease of 5.4% compared with the corresponding period of fiscal year 2009. Sales in local-currency terms decreased 6.9%. Foreign currency translation increased reported sales by $8.8 million or 1.5% in the quarter. Commenting on the results Eric Krasnoff, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said: ‘This quarter’s results exemplify the strength of Pall’s market and geographic diversity as well as the success of our investments and execution of corporate initiatives. Key industrial end-markets remained depressed. The Life Sciences business was strong, particularly in high value-added, differentiated product lines.’ For Life Sciences, Medical sales increased by 2.6% in the quarter, with the blood filtration sub-market growing 4%. Pall Aquasafe waterfilter sales were strong. BioPharmaceuticals sales increased 10.3% in the quarter, with all geographies experiencing growth. Sales within the pharmaceuticals sub-market increased 9.8% with strong consumables growth in all geographies. Vaccine production remains high. In the Industrial segment, Energy, Water & Process Technologies’ (EWPT) sales decreased 12.3% in the quarter. Fuels, chemicals and power-generating sub-markets were flat and sales to municipal water, food and beverage, and industrial manufacturing sub-markets were down. Aerospace & Transportation declined 21.6% in the quarter. The commercial aerospace submarket declined 8.5%, reflecting a reduction in flights and production of airframes, particularly for private jets. Sales to the military aerospace 4
Membrane Technology
nergy Recovery Inc of San Leandro, California, USA – a company which designs and develops energy-recovery systems that help to make desalination more affordable – has announced that its PX Pressure Exchanger devices are being used in the world’s first ‘osmotic power plant’. Built in Tofte, Norway, by energy company Statkraft, the pilot plant demonstrates how energy, created through osmosis, can be harnessed to generate a continuous source of renewable electricity. Energy Recovery says that the high efficiency of its PX devices increases the energy output and reduces the energy consumed during the osmotic power-generating process, to ensure the net-positive production of electricity. ‘The commissioning of our pilot facility is a significant step towards the commercialisation of this game-changing renewable energy source,’ explained Stein Erik Skilhagan, Vice President, Osmotic Power, Statkraft. ‘According to our calculations, the global production potential of osmotic power could exceed 1600 TWh, or the equivalent of half of Europe’s entire energy demand. Although osmotic power has enormous potential, it is only economically feasible if you reduce the cost of creating it. Energy Recovery’s PX devices address this issue by considerably reducing energy use, enabling us to produce renewable electricity. We anticipate that the pilot plant will be quite successful and we plan to implement the PX technology as we scale up to a commercial facility.’ The PX devices are currently deployed at large sea-water reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plants all over the world. By recycling the energy typically wasted as part of the reject stream, these devices – which operate at 98% efficiency – reduce energy use by up to 60%, helping to
make desalination an affordable technology. The osmotic power process harnesses the osmotic potential difference between salt water (such as sea-water) and fresh water to produce a pressurised stream of membrane permeate. Diluted salt-water is released through a turbine that turns a generator to produce electricity. The PX devices work in unison with next-generation forward osmosis membranes to enable cost-effective, stable, reliable, environment-friendly energy to be produced in any location where both fresh water and salt water are available. The pilot plant in Tofte is designed to produce 10 kW of renewable energy. Statkraft says that it is planning to build a full-scale osmotic power plant by 2015 that is capable of producing 25 MW of electricity. Contact: Energy Recovery Inc, 1908 Doolittle Drive, San Leandro, CA 94577, USA. Tel: +1 510 483 7370, www.energyrecovery.com
WRI initiative measures water risks and opportunities
I
n the USA, The World Resources Institute (WRI) has launched, in partnership with General Electric Co and The Goldman Sachs Group Inc, an initiative to measure water-related risks facing companies and their investors. The initiative will develop a Water Index as a standardised approach to identify and mitigate water-related corporate risk. This index will aggregate nearly 20 weighted factors capturing water availability, regulations, water-quality and reputation issues. As water resource constraints affect nearly all industries, the Water Index will be widely applicable, say the firms. It will enable companies and investors to transparently and adequately capture the various components of water-related risk and will enable business leaders to make more well-informed investment decisions. The Water Index will draw on publicly available data covering physical scarcity and water quality, and overlay important factors, including the regulatory regime, and social and reputation issues which, previously, have not been incorporated into water-risk measurement. Ultimately, this mapping tool will enable users to combine and compare different components of the water-risk assessment. ‘In many regions around the world, water scarcity from climate change and pollution is starting to affect companies’ performance, yet few analysts account for water-related risks,’
January 2010
NEWS said Jonathan Lash, President WRI. ‘WRI hopes that investors will begin ‘‘pricing in’’ these under-appreciated risks, driving investments to support more hydrologically efficient designs and technologies.’ From the perspective of General Electric and Goldman Sachs, the Water Index will enable each firm to better advise customers and clients on water-related risks and opportunities. ‘From a technology perspective, technology to enable water reuse and mitigate risk already exist,’ commented Heiner Markhoff, President and Chief Executive Offficer, Water & Process Technologies, GE Power & Water. ‘Advanced technology, such as membrane and water-efficient cooling systems, are available to manage the risks once these are identified and measured, which is what the Water Index aims to do.’ Tracy Wolstencroft, who is global head of environmental markets for Goldman Sachs, added: ‘Many environmental factors, including water, pose both challenges and opportunities for investors and businesses. The Water Index will provide valuable insights that can inform investment decisions and will help identify new opportunities across sectors and geographies.’ Contacts: World Resources Institute, 10 G Street, NE (Suite 800), Washington, DC 20002, USA. Tel: +1 202 729 7600, www.wri.org GE Water & Process Technologies, 4636 Somerton Road, Trevose, PA 19053-6783, USA. Tel: +1 215 355 3300, www.gewater.com The Goldman Sachs Group Inc, 85 Broad Street, New York, NY 10004, USA. Tel: +1 212 9020300 www2.goldmansachs.com
Water purification device aids trace elemental analysis
M
illipore Corp, a US-based provider of technologies, tools and services for the global life science industry, has announced the availability of the Q-POD Element unit. Designed for use with the Milli-Q Integral and Milli-Q Advantage systems, available from the company, the device delivers ultrapure water with extremely low levels of elemental contamination (single ppt or sub-ppt level) for laboratories performing trace and ultra-trace elemental analysis. By eliminating problems because of backgrounds with high elemental contamination, water produced by the Q-POD Element device
January 2010
can help scientists achieve greater sensitivity and reproducibility in their work, explains Millipore. Equipped with a foot-switch for hands-free water delivery, the Q-POD Element unit is ideal for use in a Class 1000 clean-room environment. It supplies water in volumes required by the user (up to 1.5 l/min), which avoids a water storage as well as the associated contamination risks. Contact: Millipore Corp, 290 Concord Road, Billerica, MA 01821, USA. Tel: +1 978 715 4321, www.millipore.com
Siemens’ MBR helps China restore Taihu Lake’s water quality
S
iemens Water Technologies has commissioned a wastewater treatment system for the Wuxi Xincheng Plant in China’s Jiangsu Province. An upgrade to the existing wastewater treatment plant, the system includes Siemens’ Membrane Biological Reactor (MBR) system. It is producing 30 000 m3 (7.9 million gallons) of high-quality effluent per day, which meets or exceeds the national discharge standard of Class I-A – enabling the treated water to be safely discharged into Taihu Lake. The MBR system at Wuxi Xincheng combines conventional biological treatment processes with membrane filtration using the firm’s Memcor membranes. The company says that it can significantly reduce both nitrogen and phosphorus content in the treated effluent by breaking down the organic nutrients and filtering the solids. The MBR system requires an installation footprint that is about 75% smaller than that needed by conventional technology – which is important for existing plants with limited space. The technology has been applied to more than 70 facilities around the world, says the company. Located in the highly developed and densely populated Yangtze River Delta, Taihu Lake has been increasingly polluted in recent years. As part of its efforts to clean up the lake, Jiangsu Province set out to improve sewage treatment capacities in cities surrounding the lake area. The MBR system will enable the Xincheng plant to better serve over 100 high-tech enterprises in the Wuxi New District’s industrial park, which has experienced a 20–25% annual increase in wastewater. Contacts: Siemens Water Technologies Corp, 2501 N. Barrington Road, Hoffman Estates, IL 60192, USA. Tel: +1 847 713 8458, www.industry.siemens.com
In Brief H2O Innovation awarded new contracts and adds representatives in the USA Canadian water-treatment technology company H2O Innovation Inc has recently landed contracts worth a total of C$2.2 million. These contracts will see the firm designing, manufacturing and delivering custom-built water-treatment systems for the production of drinking water by reverse osmosis, water reuse and the treatment of wastewater. Some of the contracts will also see the firm supplying process equipment and parts. H2O Innovation has also signed agreements with three new sales representatives in the USA for its wastewater treatment technology, including its patented Bio-Brane MBR for water reuse applications. Memstar supplies membranes for MBR wastewater treatment plant in China Singapore’s Memstar Technology Ltd has been awarded a contract worth RMB60 million to supply membrane products to the Guangzhou Municipal Government for its wastewater treatment plant. The facility, which has a capacity of 100 000 m3 per day, is based on membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology and when completed in June 2010 will be one of the largest MBR plants in China. Norit–Greentech wins contract for wastewater reuse project in China A joint venture involving Norit NV and GreenTech Engineering Co Ltd had been awarded a contract covering the design, procurement, installation and start-up of the Qinghe Municipal Wastewater Reuse Project in Beijing, China. This project, which is believed to be the single largest one of its kind (180 000 m3 per day) in China, is part of the Qinghe wastewater reuse plan, developed by the Beijing Drainage Group. The system is based on Norit X-Flow XIGA ultrafiltration membrane technology and GreenTech’s CMSCompact modular skids. The project is worth about RMB75 million. A.O. Smith concludes purchase of water treatment business A.O. Smith (Shanghai) Water Treatment Products Co Ltd has concluded its purchase of Tianlong Holding Co Ltd’s watertreatment business (see Membrane Technology October 2009, page 2). A.O. Smith holds 80% of the newly formed company, which is considered to be a wholly owned foreign enterprise under Chinese law. A.O. Smith (Shanghai) will supply reverse osmosis water purification products to the residential and commercial sectors in China and export to markets worldwide.
Membrane Technology
5