investment, GE Energy FinancialServices has announced that ithas formed a team that will focuson the water market place. It hasalso made its first investment ofUS$18 million in a wastewaterreclamation plant near Atlanta,Georgia, USA.

The new ‘water team’ offersstructured equity and customizeddebt finance for existing assets andprojects under development in thecommercial, industrial and munici-pal infrastructure of water, reuseand wastewater treatment marketsworldwide.

‘We have entered the waterinvesting market because it is amajor growth opportunity for us,takes advantage of our strengths inproject finance and benefits fromGE’s expertise in water technolo-gy,’ says Alex Urquhart, Presidentand Chief Executive Officer ofGE Energy Financial Services.

The company’s team estimatesthat the private project financemarket within the water industryworldwide is worth $50 billion, aswater scarcity and quality con-cerns intensify.

The team’s first investment, fora 90% limited partnership role, isin the Cauley Creek WaterReclamation Facility, owned byprivate concern Cauley CreekWater Reclamation LLC.

The four-year-old facility,located about 50 km (30 miles)north-east of Atlanta – nearrapidly growing communities thatput increasing pressure on waste-water plants – was designed tolook like a barn to blend in withits pastoral surroundings. Thetreated water is used for irrigationat residential developments,churches, golf courses and otherbusinesses, and to reduce thedemand on the drinking watersystem and the amount of waterwithdrawn from theChattahoochee River.

With a capacity of around18930 m3 (5 million gallons) perday, and a long-term wastewatertreatment contract with FultonCounty in a public/private part-nership, Cauley Creek is thoughtto be the largest satellite waterreclamation plant in NorthAmerica using technology byZenon – a company recentlyacquired by GE.

Zenon’s ZeeWeed ultrafiltrationimmersed membrane replaces the

solids separation function of clari-fiers and sand filters in convention-al plants.

Contacts:General Electric Company, 3135 EastonTurnpike, Fairfield, CT 06828-0001, USA.Tel: +1 203 373 2211,www.gewater.comGE Energy Financial Services, 120 LongRidge Road, Stamford, CT 06927-0001,USA. Web: www.geenergyfinancialser-vices.com

Wastewater plantcelebrates MBRretrofitCalifornia Water Service Groupsubsidiary New Mexico WaterService Co recently celebrated thecompletion of a retrofit project atits Rio Del Oro WastewaterTreatment Facility located in anarea between Belen and LosLunas, New Mexico.

‘To our knowledge, nobody hasever retrofitted a wastewater plantwith membrane bioreactor (MBR)microfiltration technology whilekeeping the plant fully operational,and we are pleased to report that wedid it while meeting all water quali-ty standards for effluent,’ saysGeneral Manager Paul Risso.

According to New Mexico WaterService, the project benefits cus-tomers and the environmentbecause it increases the plant’s treat-ment capacity and produces a high-er quality output without increas-ing the facility’s footprint.Furthermore, the project costsapproximately half of what it wouldcost using traditional technology.The company partnered withAdvanced Process Technologies,Enviroquip Inc and Kubota tocomplete the work on the plant.

‘Now we have demonstratedthat this technology can beinstalled on a fully operationalwastewater plant, other wastewatertreatment operations will likelyfollow our lead. We believe otherswill see the value in this approachand will want to cut costs, improvewastewater discharge quality andmaintain the smallest footprintpossible, as we have done here,’concludes Risso.

Elected officials, communityleaders and company partners

toured the facility after a dedicationceremony presented by Risso andPeter Nelson, President and ChiefExecutive Officer.

Contact:New Mexico Water Service Co, 401Horner Street, Belen, NM 87002, USAtel: +1 505 864 2218. www.calwater-group.com/NewMexico.html

Oxygen producedfor ‘high altitude’trainThrough its wholly owned sub-sidiary Permea China Ltd, AirProducts and Chemicals Inc is sup-plying Prism membrane separatorsfor use in a system on board a ‘highaltitude’ train service in China.

The equipment is being used toproduce enriched oxygen for thepassenger compartments on trainsrun by China’s Qinghai-TibetRailway, giving travellers a morecomfortable journey on a highlandtrack.

Opened to the public on 1 July2006, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway isbelieved to be the world’s longestand highest highland railway ser-vice. The journey from Golmud inQinghai Province to Lhasa in theTibet Autonomous Region is over1100 km (700 miles) long. Alength of track, spanning some 960km (600 miles), is situated ataround 4000 m (13 000 ft) abovesea level, with the highest pointreaching over 5000 m (16 500 ft).

At a high altitude, the availableoxygen in air is decreased and cancause breathing difficulties. AirProducts has supplied its Prismmembrane separators to produceoxygen-enriched air that goes intothe train passenger compartmentsand mixes with the air inside,resulting in an overall oxygencontent of about 23%, andenabling passengers to breathemore easily at the high altitude.

Air Products says that theQinghai-Tibet Railway is the first,and currently the only, railway inthe world to use this application toovercome the breathing problemat the high altitude over the longjourney.

‘Our Prism membrane separatorsare selected for this projectbecause they are reliable, simple

NEWS

3Membrane Technology September 2006

I n B r i e fMBR-Network launches officialwebsiteThe European cluster MBR-Network, which comprises agroup of projects dedicatedentirely to the development ofmembrane bioreactor (MBR)technology, has launched itsofficial website. Financed by theEuropean Commission, the pro-jects – namely AMEDEUS,EUROMBRA, MBR-TRAIN andPURATREAT – are supported bythree different financial instrumentsset up by the EC within the SixthFramework Programme, and arebeing implemented in parallel fromOctober 2005 to December 2009(also see Membrane Technology,January 2006, page 7). They willperform research, development,capacity building and technologicaltransfer for this promising waste-water treatment technology.Around 50 European and interna-tional companies and institutionsare actively involved in these fourprojects, and will join their effortsand coordinate their actions withinMBR-Network. (The website can beaccessed at: www.mbr-network.eu)

Donaldson UK plant is awardedquality standardDonaldson Filter Components Ltdreports that its plant based in Hull,UK has been awarded the environ-mental quality standard ISO14000. The facility manufacturesfiltration products for a wide range of applications, includingDonaldson Membranes’ Tetratexmicroporous ePTFE membranematerials (see Membrane Technology,August 2006, page 8). The plant’s Quality Manager, IanMetcalfe, says: ‘ISO 14000 buildson and complements ISO/TS16949:2002, which we were award-ed during 2005.’

Website redesignedUS-based membrane separationstechnology company Hydranauticshas redesigned its website. Thecompany says that key features ofthe site’s upgrade include the use ofgraphics that are compatible withpersonal digital assistants (PDAs);increased navigation functionality;an expanded technical section;access to e-commerce; and linksto the firm’s parent company,Nitto Denko. (The website can beaccessed at: www.membranes.com)