In other news below:
-- Itron to exhibit latest solutions in AMR, AMI market at DistribuTECH
-- Vienna sewage treatment plant reports success with Hach Lange LDO
-- Cooper Union book signing, seminar focuses on world's water in 21st century
-- AWWA/AwwaRF symposium offers latest in distribution system research
-- Baker, partners negotiate Conservation Conveyance Agreement for Camp Bonneville
-- URS selected to provide engineering services for Defense Information Systems Agency
-- Adventus teams with two others for groundwater well remediation
• Membrana announces a new agent in Malaysia for Liqui-Cel membrane contactors -- CHARLOTTE, NC, Feb. 2, 2007 -- Membrana is pleased to enter into an agency agreement with Nextech SDN BHD as the local sales agent responsible for selling and servicing Liqui-Cel Membrane Contactors in Malaysia. Nextech has offices in Kuala Lumpur as well Penang which will offer Malaysian customers excellent access to Liqui-Cel® Products.
Allen Pittman, Membrana's vice president, sales and marketing for industrial separations, says, "We are excited to add Nextech's expertise and experience to our team. They will be a valuable addition to our current sales channels."
This agreement commenced on Jan. 2.
The company's membrane contactors are used around the world for adding or removing oxygen (O2), carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen (N2) to or from different liquids in the semiconductor, power, pharmaceutical, photographic, food & beverage, and many other industries.
For example, it's known that O2 negatively impacts many processes; it is corrosive and can oxidize materials. In the power and industrial areas, piping and equipment are susceptible to corrosion. Specifically to the semiconductor market, high levels of O2 can cause lower wafer yields.
Additionally, CO2 negatively impacts performance of electrodeionization (EDI) and ion exchange. The contactors offer a modular solution for O2/CO2 removal before these processes without chemicals. They're also used to add gasses to liquids to enhance megasonic cleaning.
The beverage industry looks to membrane contactors for carbonation, nitrogenation and O2 removal. These reflect only a few examples of the variety of applications where the membrane contactors are used.
Membrana's Industrial Membrane Group also manufactures a variety of membranes used for filtration in various industries and applications.
Membrana GmbH is a wholly owned subsidiary of Polypore Inc., a growing high technology filtration company specializing in microporous membranes. Polypore's flat sheet and hollow fiber membranes are used in specialized applications that require the removal or separation of various materials from liquids, primarily in the ultrafiltration and microfiltration markets. Based in Charlotte, NC, Polypore is a global leader with manufacturing facilities or sales offices in 10 countries serving five continents."
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Among other recent headlines:
• Itron to exhibit latest solutions in AMR, AMI market at DistribuTECH -- LIBERTY LAKE, WA, Feb. 1, 2007 -- Itron Inc. will be participating in the DistribuTECH conference Feb. 4-6 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA. Itron will exhibit its technologies in the energy and water industries and introduce several products in automated meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) markets at Booth 812. In addition to exhibits and demonstrations, Itron will also showcase a data collection suite that highlights the interoperable capabilities of Itron's handheld, mobile and fixed network meter data collection systems. While this interoperability has been adopted by various utility customers throughout the country, it has not been formally offered as a solution set, until now. Customers can deploy mobile only or a mobile/fixed network system, depending on business need and operational objectives, providing one ultimate Itron solution. An open-architecture network solution for AMI will be demonstrated at DistribuTECH -- OpenWay™ by Itron -- forging a new, collaborative relationship for utilities with their end customers through two-way communication, timely collection of usage and event data via multiple communications channels and active customer participation in demand response events...
• Sewage treatment plant reports success with Hach Lange LDO -- LOVELAND, CO, Feb. 2, 2007 -- Between 60 and 70% of the energy consumed by sewage treatment plants is used to aerate the activated sludge. Strategies aimed at reducing energy consumption are therefore usually focused on optimising the oxygen transfer into the aeration tank. All control systems are based on exact and precise measurement of the oxygen concentration. For process engineers, therefore, the issue is not whether but how the oxygen concentration can be measured precisely and with a high degree of accuracy. This question was addressed two years ago at the main sewage treatment plant in Vienna. It was decided that the best solution was the optical LDO sensor from HACH LANGE GmbH...
• Cooper Union book signing, seminar focuses on world's water in 21st century NEW YORK CITY, Feb. 1, 2007 -- Water-Works: The Architecture and Engineering of the New York City Water Supply (Monacelli Press, 2006) offers a fascinating story about a monumental restoration project led by Cooper Union's architecture professor Kevin Bone. He and his students (over nine years) discovered, catalogued and restored archives of historic drawings, photographs, paintings and maps of New York's complex water supply system. As a result of Professor Bone's work, the N.Y. Department of Environmental Protection created a permanent archive to house these priceless documents. Cooper Union is bringing together a noted panel of world experts Feb. 8, at 6:30 p.m., to discuss the evolution of New York City's water system (from 18th-century ponds to Water Tunnel #3) and the challenges of providing clean drinking water in rapidly developing countries. They include former chief of the New York City DEP Albert F. Appleton; Peter Gleick, president and co-founder, Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security and MacArthur Fellow; and Gerard Koeppel, scholar, journalist and author of Water for Gotham: A History, to name a few. With one billion people living without safe drinking water, where will the clean water come from? What will we do next? Access to clean water is one of the biggest environmental issues facing humanity this century...
• AWWA/AwwaRF symposium offers latest in distribution system research -- Early registration pricing ends Feb. 9 -- DENVER, Feb. 1, 2007 -- The American Water Works Association (AWWA) and the Awwa Research Foundation's (AwwaRF) 2007 Research Symposium provides a forum for the exchange of the latest distribution system research. The Symposium will be held March 2-3, 2007, in Reno, NV. Topics covered at the 2007 Research Symposium will be distribution system asset management, research needs for the future, infrastructure issues, water loss control and leak management, corrosion control, water quality related health issues and disinfection (including alternative disinfectants and their impact on water quality). At the 2007 Research Symposium, water professionals involved in research, distribution systems, water supply, and water quality will have the opportunity to attend all technical sessions. They will also earn professional development hours (PDHs), have opportunities to network throughout the event, and receive a workshop notebook. Full program and registration information available at
www.awwa.org/conferences/research...
• Baker, partners negotiate Conservation Conveyance Agreement for Camp Bonneville -- Deal is worth $15 million -- PITTSBURGH, Feb. 1, 2007 -- Michael Baker Jr. Inc., an engineering unit of Michael Baker Corp., and a team of organizations, have negotiated a four-year, $24 million, Environmental Services Cooperative Agreement (ESCA) with the U.S. Department of the Army, whereby the Army will contract with Clark County, WA, to perform a Conservation Conveyance of Camp Bonneville, a former U.S. military reservation located northeast of Vancouver, WA, in the southeast area of Clark County. Services provided by Baker and its team members, valued at $15 million under the ESCA contract, will be performed on behalf of the Bonneville Conservation, Restoration and Renewal Team LLC (BCRRT LLC), a not-for-profit entity taking title to the property during the restoration phase of the project. This is the second conservation conveyance Baker has been involved with for the Army. In 2004, Baker completed the first conservation conveyance in the nation for the Army at the Honey Lake Primary Parcel of the Sierra Army Depot, located in Herlong, CA. The 3,840-acre Camp Bonneville site, closed as a part of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) decisions made in 1995, previously served as a training facility for all branches of the U.S. military and included numerous firing ranges for a wide variety of weapons systems over its 90-year history. Subsequent to the remediation work at Camp Bonneville, the site will be conveyed to Clark County, which plans to ultimately use the property as a regional park and wildlife refuge...
• URS selected to provide engineering services for Defense Information Systems Agency -- Contract has maximum value of $55 million -- SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 1, 2007 -- URS Corp. today announced that its EG&G Division has been selected to provide engineering support services to the Defense Information Systems Agency's Joint Spectrum Center (JSC) under a subcontract with ITT Corporation. Under the terms of the subcontract, URS will provide engineering systems support, including Electromagnetic Environmental Effects (E3) Activities and Services, Spectrum Frequency Management, Modeling and Simulation, and Software Engineering to assist the JSC in meeting national security and military objectives. The subcontract includes a three-year base period, with seven one-year option periods. The maximum value of the contract to URS is $55 million, if all option periods are exercised...
Also see: "URS awarded U.S. Air Force environmental contract"
• Adventus teams with two others for groundwater well remediation -- Announces O-Sox remediation technology for downwell deployment of dissolved oxygen; industry leaders form partnership to offer oxygen releasing socks for aerobic biodegradation in groundwater wells -- STONE MOUNTAIN, GA, FREEPORT, IL, & PITTSBURGH, Feb. 1, 2007 -- Three premier environmental remediation and service firms announced Jan. 16 a strategic partnership to provide a highly engineered delivery system for the EHC-O™ controlled-release oxygen and nutrient releasing technology for use in groundwater wells. Developed by scientists at Adventus, in close collaboration with manufacturing engineers at Durham Geo Slope Indicator and Field Environmental Instruments, the new O-Sox™ oxygen delivery system is a dramatic advance in the economics and efficacy of groundwater well remediation. Stimulation of aerobic biodegradation of groundwater contaminants using a proprietary compound is deployed in remediation wells with the delivery system. In the well, the compound reacts with water to release oxygen slowly. Organic constituents most amendable to aerobic biodegradation processes include petroleum-based hydrocarbons, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and BTEX...
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