Industrial news6Filtration+Separation May 2005

GL&V acquires Jones & AttwoodCanadian company GroupeLaperrière & Verreault Inc hascompleted its acquisition of Jones& Attwood Ltd, a UK company,and of its wholly-ownedsubsidiary Jones and AttwoodInc, which operates a sales andservice centre in Chicago,Illinois, USA.

The transaction, worth C$5million, relates to Jones &Attwood’s operations and assetsin the water treatment sector(excluding the real estateassets).

These operations cover the design,manufacture, marketing andinstallation of effluent liquid-solidfiltration and separation processequipment targeted mainly atmunicipalities and an industrialcustomer base. During the last fullfiscal year, they generated sales ofapproximately C$15 million, ofwhich 68% was from Europe, 28%in the USA and 4% in the Asia-Pacific region.

Richard Verreault, GL&VísExecutive Vice-President andChief Operating Officer,

indicated that this acquisitionoffers the potential for futuregrowth and synergy with GL&V’sUS subsidiary Eimco WaterTechnologies Llc.

Groupe Laperrière & Verreaultsays that through organic growthand future acquisitions, it willstrive to further balance itssources of revenue between itsthree major groups ñ the ProcessGroup, Pulp and Paper Groupand Water Treatment Group ñ interms of segmented andgeographic markets.

HydroFlo addsto its portfolio HydroFlo Inc of Raleigh, NorthCarolina, USA, has formed a newcompany called Ultra ChoiceWater Inc (UCW), which willprovide water treatment systemsto commercial and residentialcustomers for a low monthly fee.

The systems use a waterpurification medium, supplied byHydroFlo’s subsidiary Metals &Arsenic Removal Technology Inc(MARTI), which has beenshown to significantly reducebacteria, including Coliform, E.coli and Staphylococcus Aureus.It also removes contaminants,such as arsenic, copper, zinc andlead from drinking water.

Commercial customers are beingoffered the MARTI Water Cooler,a point-of-use unit. The productprovides purified water whenconnected to a standard water line,and does not require water bottles.

Residential customers canpurchase the MARTI UnderCounter and Whole House Unitsfor a monthly fee. These units,attached to an entire householdwater system or any sink, produceclean, arsenic-free, bacteria-controlled water.

Semiconductorcapital equipmentsales set to declineResearch conducted by US-basedGartner Inc reveals that salesworldwide of semiconductorcapital equipment is beginning adownward cycle.

After experiencing 64% growthin 2004, sales are projected todecline 11.6% in 2005, says theprovider of research and analysison global information technology.

According to Gartner, the waferfab equipment market isprojected to experienced thestrongest decline, with worldwidespending totalling US$24.8billion in 2005 – a decline of12.2% from 2004.

The automated test equipmentmarket is the only segment thatwill show positive spending in2005, with an increase of 3.1%,concludes the research.

US wastewater treatment “morecompetitive”, says reportConsolidation and budget cutsin the US food industry arestepping up competition in thewater and wastewater treatmentmarkets, claims Frost &Sullivan.

According to the marketresearch firm, the US foodprocessing industry has recentlyundergone a wave of changes. Itsays that companies andorganisations are now focusingon efficient multi-productproduction lines as opposed tohuge manufacturing facilities.This is creating opportunities forvendors of water and wastewatertreatment equipment,particularly in the repair andreplacement sector.

New analysis from Frost &Sullivan, entitled ‘US Marketsfor Water & Wastewater

Treatment in the Food &Beverage Industry – an End-UserStudy’, reveals that revenue inthis market totalled US$248.2million in 2004, and projects itwill grow to US$373.6 millionby 2010.

In a bid to exploit existingdistribution systems and labourmarkets, food processors arelooking at expanding currentplants rather than building newsites, finds the study.

With growing plant extensionsand newer environmentallegislation, the replacementmarket is seeing demands forimproved upgrades and greaterprocess efficiencies.

And with increasing saturation,competition in the water andwastewater treatment market is

intensifying, says Frost &Sullivan. Furthermore, becauseof the large number of suppliersthere is relatively less marketawareness, and on an average,any one supplier is recognised byless than half of the customers,claims the company.Nevertheless, the market hasample potential for even smallparticipants to operate as localspecialists.

Overall, the water andwastewater treatment marketappears to be moving towards amature stage, but suppliers cangain a competitive edge throughcustomised services.

Specific interests lie in newertechnologies such as ultravioletdisinfection, membranes andlower-cost sludge treatmenttechnologies.

GE gets first major water project in the Middle EastGE Infrastructure’s Water &Process Technologies businessrecently helped to dedicatewhat is claimed to be theworld’s largest membrane-basedwastewater filtration facility,and the company’s first majorwater project in the MiddleEast.

The wastewater treatmentplant, which is based inSulaibiya, Kuwait, was built in

partnership with the Kuwaitigovernment and MohammedAbdulmohsin Al-Kharafi &Sons Co.

The plant will purify more than375 000 m3 (100 milliongallons) of wastewater each dayfor use in agricultural andindustrial uses.

Since this is a build, own, operateand maintain contract, the

consortium also will beresponsible for running the plantonce construction is complete.GE will operate the waterreclamation facility.

The purified water will be usedfor non-potable applications thatare currently competing with thedrinking water supply, and willensure that the citizens of Kuwaithave adequate water.