In the dynamic and global filtration industry, news and information is breaking on a daily basis. International Filtration News is tracking stories relevant to our industry from air and gas filtration to liquid filtration and the various end-uses for filtration technology. Here we will post news stories relevant to filtration and its downstream applications on an ongoing basis. Please check back for regular updates. If you have news that you feel should be added to this summary report, please email it to Ken Norberg: ken@filtnews.com
Most recent update: September 25, 2023
Aqueous Vets® Expands PFAS, CEC Treatment Capabilities
Aqueous Vets®, a leading solutions provider for PFAS treatment launched its latest offering, a water treatment cartridge system designed to remove PFAS, arsenic, and other contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) from groundwater. The plug-and-play system treats flows from 5-400 gallons per minute, is easy to install, operate and maintain, and offers leasing options to eliminate capital expenditures – a particularly attractive alternative for communities lacking capital funding.
AV’s new NSF Certified modular product line offers the flexibility of increasing flows or treating multiple contaminates by selecting the specific filter to meet treatment goals. These systems also address long-term waste concerns with responsible and certified media disposal with a convenient self-disposal system.
$7.5bn Funding Unveiled for US Water Infrastructure Projects
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced US$7.5 billion in available Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) funding. The low-interest loan program helps communities invest in drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure.
Under EPA’s 7th round of WIFIA financing, $6.5 billion is available through the WIFIA program and $1 billion via the State WIFIA (SWIFIA) program, which provides loans exclusively for State infrastructure financing authority borrowers.
Priority areas for this new round of funding include increasing investment in economically stressed communities; making rapid progress on lead service line replacement; addressing PFAS and emerging contaminants; mitigating the impacts of drought; and supporting water innovation and resilience.
To date, EPA’s WIFIA program has announced US$19 billion to help finance 109 projects across the United States. These projects are creating over 60,000 jobs.
Camfil USA Air Filtration Launches AirImage-COR – Corrosion Control Monitoring
Camfil announced the launch of the AirImage-COR, the latest innovation in corrosion control monitoring. Real-time corrosion monitoring and technology that enables users to act before having to react. Corrosion is a natural process that occurs when metals react with molecular contaminants in the air. Metal surfaces gradually deteriorate and compromise the integrity of electronic components.
Electrical equipment is essential to the continuous operation of data centers, wastewater treatment facilities, petrochemical refineries, renewable energy plants, and now the emerging EV battery market. These industries all rely on automation processes to improve safety and reliability. Corrosion leads to unscheduled downtime, costly repairs, loss of revenue, and increased safety risks. The impact of corrosion extends beyond electronics. Collections in museums and archives are extremely sensitive to corrosion due to the presence of acidic gases. Gas concentrations in such buildings may be low, but long-term exposure can lead to expensive restorations or even irreversible damage.
NSI Mobile Water Solutions Acquires Part of Pall Water’s European Mobile Water Fleet
NSI Mobile Water Solutions announced the successful acquisition of a segment of Pall Water’s European mobile water fleet, which includes Pall Aria™ Containerized units. This purchase is set to bolster Nijhuis Saur Industries’ Mobile Water Solutions division’s fleet, significantly expanding its capacity to serve an even larger customer base.
The acquisition marks a milestone in the expansion of NSI Mobile Water Solutions’ fleet and further strengthens Nijhuis Saur Industries’ position in the Industrial Water market segment as one of Europe’s leading providers of mobile water services. The company’s fleet of mobile water treatment solutions is already one of the largest and youngest in Europe, and the addition of the Pall Aria™ assets will allow NSI Mobile Water Solutions to meet even the most challenging requirements of its growing customer base.
www.nsimobilewatersolutions.com
Ceco Environmental acquires Kemco Systems
Ceco Environmental Corp. has acquired Kemco Systems Co LLC, a Florida-based company that specializes in the design, manufacturing and support of custom-engineered industrial water recycling and energy conservation solutions for North American industrial markets.
The Kemco acquisition enhances Ceco Environmental’s North American presence, adding new energy conservation and water recycling solutions, and expanding the addressable market into new high-value food processing, commercial laundry, and ready-mix concrete markets.
With an installed base of more than 7,000 systems, Kemco had revenues of approximately $22 million in 2022.
Memsift Innovations to Establish Hub in India
Memsift Innovations, a membrane-based separation and purification solutions company headquartered in Singapore, is looking into stablishing its first global engineering hub in India. This decision is accompanied by a partnership with Grasim Industries — a member of the ABG group —and Parry Enterprises, an entity under the Murugappa group. The project is poised to have an estimated investment of US$6m over the next 3-5 years.
This initiative is to generate an influx of job opportunities in the hundreds to bolster local economies and nurture a skilled workforce. The proposed engineering hub is primed to be a nucleus of innovation, equipped with facilities and resources to develop small to large-scale industrial membrane systems to treat industrial effluents, convert waste into value and decarbonize manufacturing industries globally.
Metso’s Headquarters Moves to Matinkylä, Espoo
Metso Corporation will move its headquarters to Matinkylä, Espoo, in September 2023, and at the same time ends activities in the current headquarters in Sanomatalo, Helsinki.
The address for Metso’s new headquarters is P.O. Box 1000, 02231 Espoo, and the visiting address Rauhalanpuisto 9, 02230 Espoo.
Xylem CEO Patrick Decker to Retire
Xylem Chief Executive Patrick Decker plans to retire at the end of the year and will be succeeded by Chief Operating Officer Matthew Pine.
The transition will take effect on Jan. 1, 2024, the company said. Decker has agreed to stay with the water-technology company as an advisor through March. Decker has been CEO since 2014.
Pine joined Xylem in 2020. Before that, he worked at HVAC supplier Carrier.
“The board unanimously agrees that Matthew is the right leader to drive the next chapter of value creation at Xylem,” Chairman Robert Friel said.
Xylem also said Chief Financial Officer Sandra Rowland is leaving the company to pursue new opportunities. Rowland, who will remain as an advisor through March, will be succeeded by William Grogan, the CFO of IDEX.
Rensa Filtration Announces Two Acquisitions: APC Filtration and R.P. Fedder
Rensa Filtration, a manufacturer of consumable, mission-critical air filtration products, announced that it recently completed two strategic acquisitions: APC Filtration, in Ontario, Canada, and R.P. Fedder in Rochester, NY.
“Both APC and R.P. Fedder bring decades of experience and complementary capabilities to our high efficiency air filtration business,” said Brandon Ost, CEO and Founder of Rensa Filtration. “We plan to operate APC and R.P. Fedder together with our Custom Filter business, creating a bigger and more capable business that will serve our customers with mission-critical high efficiency air filtration products.” The combined division will be led by Matt Fortuna, a filtration industry veteran who joined Rensa in June to lead Custom Filter.
“I am pleased that Russ and Tammy Kelly, founders and owners of APC, and Chris Fox, the owner of R.P. Fedder, decided to partner with Rensa. APC brings nearly 30 years of filtration experience and complementary filter production and testing capabilities,” Ost continued. “R.P. Fedder is a well-known filter business with a 60+ year history engineering and distributing filters and filtration equipment for education, healthcare and high-tech manufacturing facilities in Upstate New York. R.P. Fedder also engineers and manufactures customized air filters for global OEMs. We welcome Russ and Tammy and the APC team and Chris and the R.P. Fedder employees to Custom Filter and Rensa.”
Rensa is a leading manufacturer and distributor of air filtration products and now operates eight manufacturing sites and several distribution centers across North America. Rensa offers a wide range of standard and customized HVAC filtration products that provide best-in-class filtration performance and energy savings in education, healthcare and high-tech manufacturing facilities. Rensa also offers specialized air filtration solutions for data centers and activated carbon filters for removal of odors and molecular contamination in museums, airports, and healthcare facilities.
CLEANR Debuts Powerful New Washing Machine Filters
CLEANR, a new greentech venture based in the U.S., unveiled its powerful new internal and external-retrofit microplastic filters for washing machines at the world’s largest appliance industry conference, IFA Berlin. Washing machine wastewater is the single largest source of microplastic pollution globally, accounting for 35% of emissions.
CLEANR’s nature-inspired technology has consistently outperformed the market in manufacturer-testing and is the first solution proven to meet upcoming French regulatory requirements, including microplastics capture efficiency and usability. CLEANR’s filters capture more than 90% of microplastics down to 50-microns in size and are highly user-friendly, where microplastics removal is easy, dry and takes less than 30 seconds per week and maintenance takes less than two minutes per month.
For washing machine manufacturers, the solution is cost-effective and integrates into virtually any washing machine model due to its simplicity and small size: the technology requires no additional pumps and can be separated into two parts to accommodate washing machine models with tight interior space limitations.
“CLEANR’s core technology, VORTX, is powered by a novel vortex filtration process that was inspired by nature and delivers 300% higher efficiency than traditional filters,” said Max Pennington, CLEANR’s CEO. “This enables our filters to handle three times as many wash loads as others before filter-cleaning, operate with no electrical pumps, and trap the smallest microfibers.”
Donaldson Reports Fourth Quarter and Record Fiscal Year 2023
Donaldson Company, Inc., a global leader in technology-led filtration products and solutions, reported fiscal 2023 net earnings of $91.9 million in the fourth quarter and $358.8 million for the full year, compared with $101.1 million and $332.8 million, respectively, in fiscal 2022. Fourth quarter and fiscal 2023 earnings include restructuring and other charges1 of $4.9 million and $21.8 million, respectively. Fourth quarter and fiscal 2022 earnings include $3.4 million of charges related to the conflict in Eastern Europe. Fiscal 2023 GAAP earnings per share (EPS)2 were $0.75 in the fourth quarter and $2.90 for the full year, compared with $0.81 and $2.66, respectively, in fiscal 2022. Fourth quarter and full-year 2023 adjusted EPS3 were $0.78 and $3.04, respectively, compared to $0.84 and $2.68, respectively, in fiscal 2022. The tables attached to this press release include a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures.
“Fiscal 2023 was a milestone year as Donaldson delivered record sales and earnings, while also improving margins and investing for future profitable growth,” said Tod Carpenter, chairman, president and chief executive officer. “Our employees demonstrated tremendous resilience and dedication as we redesigned the Company to increase customer focus and efficiency. In the fourth quarter, we continued to strengthen our foundation and made investments in key strategic growth areas, including the Life Sciences segment with our acquisition of Univercells Technologies, to drive Donaldson to the next stage of its evolution.
“We remain focused on executing our balanced growth strategy, strengthening our leadership in legacy markets and expanding across new markets as we provide innovative, technology-led filtration solutions for our customers. While we look to fiscal 2024 as a year of ongoing investments, critical to achieving our long-term financial targets, we are also committed to continuing our best-in-class execution, ongoing R&D initiatives, and the scaling of our acquisitions. As such, we are forecasting another year of record sales, and record earnings and operating margin,” he added.
Vytal Filtration Technologies Welcomes Bill Chu as New VP of Product Application
In a strategic move that underscores its commitment to innovation and leadership in the filtration industry, Vytal Filtration Technologies announced the appointment of Bill Chu as the new Vice President (VP) of Product Application.
With an impressive professional journey that began as a Technical Support Engineering Technologist for Quadra Chemicals, Bill Chu brings over a decade of technical engineering experience to the team. Bill’s technical brilliance is reflected in the 300+ natural gas processing facilities he has serviced worldwide, and his innovative mind led to a US Patent for a filtration process granted in 2022.
This appointment is significant for Vytal as it continues to expand and lead the filtration industry. Bill’s key responsibilities will be a blend of business conduct and strategies, technical implementation, and leadership and guidance throughout the organization. His ability to think critically and lead dependable teams will be invaluable as he helps Vytal navigate new challenges and circumstances in the coming years.
Bill’s long-term goals with Vytal are rooted in providing a synergistic environment that propels the company to new heights, whether in technical, leadership, or commercial aspects. CEO Brian Jones added, “We are pleased to welcome Bill Chu to our team. Bill is a globally renowned expert in solving process and filtration challenges. Combined with the technical expertise of our locally-based sales teams and our industry-leading portfolio of products, the addition of Bill will elevate the range of solutions Vytal will provide to the filtration market.”
