NEWS

December 2010 Membrane Technology7

I n B r i e f

LG enters water-treatment sectorLG Electronics (LG) has announced that it is planning to enter the water-treatment market to help combat global water supply issues and to move further towards becoming a more environmentally sustainable business. It says that it will invest more than $400 million over the next decade with the goal of generating $7 billion in revenue by 2020 – in the proc-ess, becoming a top 10 global water treatment company. LG will concentrate on developing an advanced membrane filtration system, and will also expand its internal capabilities by hiring membrane filtration experts and process engineers.

Med-Tech becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Asahi Kasei Kuraray MedicalAsahi Kasei Kuraray Medical is to purchase all of the remaining shares of consolidated sub-sidiary Med-Tech, making it a wholly owned subsidiary. The company made Med-Tech a consolidated subsidiary during October 2009 by purchasing additional shares to raise its holding in the firm to over 68.3%, and had planned to make it a wholly owned subsidiary with the acquisition of all remaining shares by the end of March 2011. As integration of the management of the two companies went well, it decided to make Med-Tech a wholly owned subsidiary earlier than originally planned.

NanoH2O is named a 2010 GlobalCleantech 100 companyNanoH2O Inc of El Segundo, California, USA – a provider of reverse osmosis mem-branes for desalination – has been named in the prestigious 2010 Global Cleantech 100, produced by the Cleantech Group, providers of global market research, events and advisory services for the cleantech industry. The list is produced as part of the Global Cleantech 100 program, run in collaboration with the Guardian News and Media and sponsored by Autodesk. ‘We are proud to be named among the Global Cleantech 100 for the second straight year, honouring our achievements in commercialising the next generation of reverse osmosis membranes,’ said Jeff Green, Chief Executive Officer, NanoH2O.

New scientists join HTIIn addition to opening its new membrane research and development facility in Corvallis, Oregon, USA, Hydration Technology Innovations Llc (HTI) has recently hired two accomplished PhD scientists to join its team. Dr Isaac Farr is the firm’s new director of research and development while Dr Tilak Gullinkala is its new senior polymer chemist.

Contact:

The Dow Chemical Co, Dow Water & Process Solutions,

Customer Information Center, PO Box 1206, Midland,

MI 48642-1206, USA. Tel: +1 989 636 9086,

www.dowwatersolutions.com, www.dow.com

UEL increases its stake in Nansha MBR plant

United Envirotech Ltd (UEL), a membrane-based water and

wastewater treatment systems pro-vider, based in Singapore, has acquired the balance of the 60% of its associ-ate company in Nansha, Guangdong province, for RMB23 million (about S$4.5million).

As a fully owned subsidiary of UEL, the group will own and manage a membrane biore-actor (MBR) wastewater treatment plant – the only discharge point on Xiaohudao island. It will serve the tenants based at the Xiaohudao High Tech Industrial Park.

The project will be completed in phases. Phase I of the Nansha plant, with a treatment capacity of 10 000 m3/day (with a minimum tariff of RMB8.88/m3) has been completed.

MBRs have gained considerable attention over the last two decades as the technology improves the discharge quality of water, mak-ing it suitable for direct reuse and recycling. According to UEL, the MBR plant is the only industrial park, wastewater treatment facility in China that is able to achieve a high standard of treated wastewater, with chemical oxygen demand (COD) of less than 40 mg/l.

Dr Lin Yucheng, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, UEL, commented: ‘We have been operating the plant for the past years and have seen an ‘‘uptrend’’ in the tenancy of the industrial park. The plant has achieved the high-est wastewater discharge standards in China. Following the acquisition, we intend to upgrade the plant to take in highly concentrated wastewa-ter, which we can treat at a higher tariff.’

‘The divestment by Guangzhou Nansha Asset Management Co gives us the opportunity to take a more active role in developing the treatment plant and pursue wastewater recy-cling opportunities. We are confident that the treatment plant will grow in tandem with the industrial park and has good growth prospect in both revenue and profit.’

UEL’s technology is targeted at China’s chem-ical, petrochemical and industrial park sectors. Its principle activities include design, fabrica-tion, installation and commissioning of water and wastewater systems using its proprietary

membrane technologies, such as MBR systems. The company has designed and built several of the largest industrial wastewater treatment plants in Asia, using MBR technology.

The group’s membrane systems are also used in other industries such as the pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, and textile and dyeing sec-tors. It undertakes both turnkey and water investment projects, and provides treatment plant operation and maintenance services.

UEL serves a strong prominent customer-base, including petrochemical giants such as China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec), China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) and Sembcorp Industries in Singapore.

Contact:

United Envirotech Ltd, 10 Science Park Road #01–01,

The Alpha, Singapore 117684. Tel: +65 6774 7298,

www.unitedenvirotech.com

Tri-Tech wins joint bid for drinking-water plant in Inner Mongolia

Tri-Tech Holding Inc, a major company that provides turnkey

systems in China for water resources, water and wastewater treatment, industrial safety and the pollution control markets, has won a joint bid for a major drinking-water treatment plant for the city of Ordos in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

The Ordos facility, which will use mem-brane-based technology, is expected to be one of China’s largest drinking-water treatment plants of this kind.

Tri-Tech jointly bid with Beijing Anguo Water Treatment Automation Engineering Technology Co Ltd and Fourth Construction Co of Hebei Province to provide value engi-neering, procurement and construction gen-eral contractor services. Tri-Tech and Anguo will establish a joint-venture project entity to serve as the general contractor (with Tri-Tech owning 80% and Anguo 20%). Fourth Construction will serve Tri-Tech and Anguo as the civil construction sub-contractor on the project.

The project will be implemented under a build–transfer contract. The total budget for Phase 1 will be RMB270 million (around $40 million). Tri-Tech says that it expects to recog-nise revenues of approximately $32 million for its role in the project, which is scheduled to be