WILMINGTON, MA, April 12, 2005 -- Koch Membrane Systems Inc. has been awarded contracts to supply engineering design services and TARGA®-10 hollow fiber ultrafiltration (UF) membranes for tactical water purification systems to be used by the U.S. Navy.
Navy deploys Expeditionary Unity Water Purifier
The Office of Naval Research (ONR), Expeditionary Warfare Operations Technology Division, has awarded contracts to MTC Technologies and Village Marine Tec., Military Division, in Gardena, Calif., to supply two tactical water purification systems designated the Expeditionary Unit Water Purifier (EUWP). These water purification systems can be airlifted using a C-130 transport plane to provide potable water for reconstruction, humanitarian aid and disaster relief.
EUWP's design capacity is 100,000 gallons per day of potable water when treating feed water from a variety of sources including turbid or saline water, and feed water that has nuclear, biological or chemical contamination.
TARGA-10 hollow fiber ultrafiltration (UF) membranes are used in the EUWP as pretreatment to spiral reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. These membranes provide reliable operation for production of potable water with limited space and weight requirements, and low chemical consumption and waste generation.
Naval Facilities Engineering Services Center (NFESC) has received the first EUWP for initial testing and evaluation at the Seawater Desalination Testing Facility in Port Hueneme, CA. At the conclusion of this initial testing the EUWP will be moved to the Tularosa Basin National Desalination Research Facility in Alamogordo, New Mexico for additional evaluation.
The EUWP Program is a congressionally sponsored program established with the intent to achieve two principle goals:
-- To stimulate discovery and invention in science and technology to push well beyond the present state of the art in water reclamation, purification, energy and distribution technologies.
-- To verify and validate the utility of emerging state of the art science and technology in water purification systems for the benefit of both the military community and the federal and civilian community in keeping with "Dual Use" management objectives.
PURON becomes Koch Membrane Systems GmbH
In other news, effective Feb. 23, 2005, Puron AG, the company that developed and markets unique submerged hollow fiber modules for water and wastewater treatment, became Koch Membrane Systems GmbH. The name 'PURON®' will be retained as a product brand name and Koch Membrane Systems GmbH will continue to be based in Aachen, Germany.
Koch Membrane Systems LLC acquired Puron AG in November of 2004 and it is the intention of the Koch Membrane Systems family of companies (KMS) to integrate PURON® technologies with their existing membrane business. The acquisition enables KMS to extend its already comprehensive range of spiral, hollow fiber and tubular products to include submerged membranes. The unique PURON® products complement the existing membranes for water and wastewater treatment that are currently marketed by KMS.
Nick Powell, Ian Elson, and Michael Tylla from KMS will join the existing managing board to implement the KMS strategy and position PURON® membrane technologies in the worldwide market of submerged membrane filters.
For over 30 years, Koch Membrane Systems Inc. (www.kochmembrane.com) has been a global leader in the development, manufacturing, distribution, and service of state-of-the-art membranes and systems for large-scale uses in a broad range of industries. KMS membrane filtration and separation products are installed in more than 15,000 systems around the world, serving the food processing, life sciences, general manufacturing, water purification and wastewater treatment needs of various industries and municipalities. Standard industrial uses of KMS innovative products include whey processing, juice clarification, paint and pigment recovery, potable and bottled water filtration, ultrapure water production, enzyme concentration, pulp and paper treatment and oil/water separation processes. Based in Wilmington, Mass., Koch Membrane is a member of Koch Chemical Technology Group LLC.
NOTE: Photographs courtesy of Village Marine Tec., Military Division
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