Industry news6Filtration+Separation October 2006

In briefDonaldson Membranes’manufacturing plant in Hull, UKhas been awarded theenvironmental quality standardISO 14000. The Hull plantmanufactures filtration productsfor a wide range of applications,including DonaldsonMembranes’ high performanceTetratex ePTFE membranes. “Wehave now implemented furtherenhanced systems incompliance with governmentregulations, for example forwaste disposal and reduction oflandfill, and as a result haveimproved waste preventionmeasures, with better use of rawmaterial and energy,” claimsplant quality manager IanMetcalfe.

www.donaldson.com

The American Society ofHeating, Refrigerating andAir-Conditioning Engineers(ASHRAE) plans to create acertification programme thatwill focus on areas of thebuilding environment such ascommissioning, health carefacility engineering, buildingoperation, and sustainability.The programme is expectedto launch in summer 2007.

www.ashrae.org

According to a newly updatedtechnical market researchreport, Nanotechnology: ARealistic Market Evaluationfrom BCC Research, the globalmarket for nanotechnologyproducts will grow from US$9.4 billion in 2005 toUS$10.5 billion in 2006 andabout US$25.2 billion by 2011,an average annual growth rate(AAGR) of 19.1%. The largestend-user markets fornanotechnology in 2005 wereenvironmental remediation (33%of the total market), electronics(24%), energy (15%) andbiomedical applications (5%).Electronics and biomedicalapplications have much higherprojected growth rates thanother applications over the nextfive years, the report says.

www.bccresearch.com

Growth on the menu for food and beveragemembranesMembrane sales for food andbeverage processors will reachUS$185 million in 2006, and atan average annual growth rate ofabout 4.6%, the market shouldreach the US$230 million mark by2011, says a new technical marketresearch report, MembraneTechnology for Food and BeverageProcessing (MST030B) from BCCResearch.

According to the report, membranepioneers in the dairy processingsector have the largest installedcapacity and still buy the greatest

share of membrane products.Membrane equipment for thissector has become vital formanufacturing milk, cheese andwhey proteins. Despite themarket’s age, there are stillpotential large growthapplications in protein isolationand other separations.

An important trend formembranes in food and beveragemanufacture relates towastewater, the report goes onto say. As discharge regulationsstiffen and sewage surcharges

escalate, the industry is beingforced to look for cost-effectivenew treatment technology,where it formerly relied onmunicipal treatment plants. Thisoption is increasingly lessavailable because of increasingpressure to comply with dischargerulings and fewer additions oftreatment capacity. Wastewatertreatment using membranes alsomay be applied to recover processmaterials that would otherwise belost.

Manufacturers are also placingincreased emphasis on usingmembrane methods to replacefunctions formerly performed bychemical processing. Oneparticular area of growth is theremoval or minimising ofproblems associated withdiatomaceous earth (DE) inbeverage processing. Substitutingmembranes for DE in theseapplications can contribute to amore positive environmentalimpact, protect the health andsafety, and more efficiently andeconomically resolve maintenanceand disposal issues.

Competitive technologies in foodand beverage processing include avariety of media filters and otherseparation and purificationmethods includingcentrifugation, adsorption,evaporation, distillation,pasteurisation and ion exchange.

www.bccresearch.com

Long-expected price rise for nonwovensAccording to figures released byEDANA, the internationalassociation serving nonwovensand related products industries,the average price of nonwovenshas increased for the first time inmany years by about 2% from�3.220 to �3.285 per kg. As aresult the total turnover of theEuropean nonwovens industry isestimated at around �4,610million.

EDANA also says thatproduction of nonwovens inEurope grew by just over 5% in2005 to reach 1,403,000 tonnes.

This compares with 1,336,000tonnes in 2004, when the annualgrowth was 3.7%.

Polymer-based (spunmelt)nonwovens, on the other hand,witnessed an impressive growthwith over 7.5% increase in 2005.Airlaid production, whencompared to figures of 2004, hasrecorded a slight growth, mostlydue to increase in deliveries tothe hygiene sector.

EDANA estimates that the totalgrowth of liquid filtrationdeliveries in 2005 was 11% (theconsistent rate for the last two

years), from 48.9 to 54.4thousand tons. Air and gasfiltration as a category has grownby a further 6%, with still amajority of polymer-basednonwovens (over 53% within theresponding companies) in thetotal of 33.8 thousand tonnes.This is one of the few end-useswhere virtually all nonwoven(dry-laid chemically-bonded,needle-punched, wetlaid andspunlaid/meltblown) technologiesare playing a role, EDANAmaintains.

www.edana.org

Membrane pioneers in the dairy processing sector still buy the greatest number ofmembrane products.

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