Symbios receives $5000,000 NSF award
The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded Symbios a Small Business Research (SBIR) Phase IIB supplement for $500,000. The NSF award funds will be used to commercialize the Symbios Tubular Plasma Reactor (TPR) by scaling the system for the first customer deployment to treat industrial process and wastewater.
Symbios’ original SBIR Phase II project, "Advancing a Novel Low-voltage Electric Arc Method to Oxidize Organic Material in Contaminated Water," NSF Award ID 1256582, will be extended through the Phase IIB supplement and will continue to focus on productization and commercialization of the TPR platform for final scale-up and field trials with a large industrial end customer. The new NSF award funding will enable more robust system automation, user interface, safety enclosure, and new plasma electrode features, as well as initiate the regulatory approval process.
Awards, Expansions & Milestones
Carl Munters honored as ASHRAE Pioneer of Industry
Carl Georg Munters, founder of air treatment solutions company Munters, was recognized as an ASHRAE Pioneer of the Industry. ASHRAE’s Pioneer of the Industry award honors deceased individuals who have made milestone contributions to the growth of the air conditioning, heating, refrigeration and ventilation industry, and have shown evidence of distinction, either technically or academically.
During his lifetime, Munters was granted more than 1,000 patents and most of his inventions are still in use today. For example, the basic principle of desiccant dehumidification, developed by Munters more than 60 years ago, is still the most efficient drying technique known today.
The Munters companies now employ more than 3,000 people in 30 countries and six continents. The inventions of Carl Munters have evolved into the core technologies of energy efficient, sustainable HVAC equipment and many of his innovations are still finding new markets today. Carl Georg Munters died on March 29, 1989 at the age of 92.
Progressive Water Treatment completes major power plant project
OriginClear Inc.’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Progressive Water Treatment Inc. (PWT), completed the installation and startup of a $2 million boiler feedwater system for a power plant operated by a major Midwestern public utility. The project utilized all Dow Chemical products. The assignment replaces a 1980s-era water treatment system and doubles plant capacity. The project marks the third largest power plant project that PWT designed, built, installed and successfully started up in 2016.
Axine Water named to the 2017 Global Cleantech 100
Axine Water Technologies was named to the 2017 Global Cleantech 100, a designation produced by Cleantech Group (CTG). This is the second year in the past three that Axine has made the prestigious list.
The Global Cleantech 100 represents the most innovative and promising ideas impacting the future of a wide-range of industries, and features companies that are best positioned to solve tomorrow’s clean technology challenges. The Global Cleantech 100 is a comprehensive list of private companies with the highest potential to make significant market impact within a 5-10 year timeframe.
APANA secures Series A financing
APANA Inc. completed a $3.5 million Series A round of financing, led by Kurita Water Industries Ltd. of Japan. At the same time, APANA also disclosed that it has added new customers for its industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) solution, including California vintner Fetzer Vineyards and Mister Car Wash, as well as major grocery chains, hotels and breweries.
The Series A financing will primarily be used by APANA to expand sales and marketing of its business intelligence suite for buildings and cooling towers to direct and channel partners, and to continue development of its IIoT solution using LoRa® radio technology aimed at wirelessly connecting waterflow sensors throughout an entire campus to their cloud-based analytics platform.
APANA also received an Innovation Incubator (IN2) award funded by Wells Fargo Foundation and co-administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), for its leadership on cooling tower water use efficiency. The company also received an Innovative Conservation Program grant from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
Oasys moves to Cambridge
Oasys Water is relocating from it Boson Seaport District location where it has been the past five years and moving across the Charles River to Cambridge, Maine. The move, effective Feb. 6, puts all the company’s headquarters, technology, and lab capabilities in one joint space. The new address is Oasys Water, 47 Moulton Street, Cambridge, Maine, 02138.
Wastewater treatment plants, operator in eastern US recognized by EPA
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently recognized Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant Excellence Award winners in at six facilities in New England for exemplary performance during 2016. The awards recognize personnel in the wastewater field who have provided invaluable public service managing and operating wastewater treatment facilities. The winners include:
- The Belchertown, Massachusetts Wastewater Treatment Facility, led by Roland DeWitt, Operations Superintendent.
- The Athol, Mass.Wastewater Treatment Plant, led by Robert Sexton, Chief Operator.
- The Great Barrington, Mass. Wastewater Treatment Facility, led by Timothy Drumm, Superintendent.
- The Quonset Development Corp. Wastewater Treatment Facility in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, led by Dennis Colberg, Superintendent.
- The South Kingstown Rhode Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, led by Kathy Perez, Superintendent and John Mackenzie.
- The Seabrook, New Hampshire Wastewater Treatment Facility, led by Philippe Maltais, Superintendent and Dustin Price, Chief Operator.
In addition, Dustin Price, a resident of Berwick Maine and the Chief Operator of the Seabrook, New Hampshire Wastewater Treatment Plant, was honored by EPA with a “2016 Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator of the Year Excellence Award.”
René Noppeney Wins Top 25 Global Water Leaders
Dutch consultant René Noppeney for Activated Sludge Supremo was named the winner of WWi magazine’s Top 25 Global Water Leaders. Noppeney has helped the Nereda team develop 37 plants, half in operation and half remaining in design or construction phases. The WWi’s Top 25 showcases leadership talent – whether it’s founding and growing a company from scratch or adapting a well-established corporation to weather economic and market changes.
Here are the other nominees recognized as Top 25 Global Water Leaders by WWi:
- Rajiv Mittal, CEO, VA Tech Wabag, India
- Professor Mark van Loosdrecht, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
- Eric Hoek, Co-Founder and CEO, Water Planet, US
- Antione Ferot, CEO, Veolia, FRANCE
- Mohamed El Ramahi, Director, Asset Management and Technical Service, Masdar, UAE
- Dr Glen Daigger, Professor of Engineering Practice, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, US
- Olivia Lum, CEO, Hyflux, Singapore
- Joel Gay, CEO, Energy Recovery, US
- Jean-Louis Chaussade, CEO, Suez, France
- Avshalom Felber, President and CEO, IDE Technologies, Israel
- Professor Asit Biswas, Founder, Third World Centre for Water Management, India
- Patrick Decker, President & CEO, Xylem, US
- Frédéric Dugré, President & CEO, H2O Innovation, Canada
- Booky Oren, chairman & CEO, Booky Oren Water Technologies, Israel
- Paddy Padmanathan, CEO, ACWA Power, Saudi Arabia
- Allan Lambert, Managing Director, Water Loss Research & Analysis, UK
- Jim Matheson, CEO, Oasys Water, US
- Harry Seah, chief engineering and technology officer, PUB, Singapore’s national water agency
- Cindy Wallis-Lage, President of Water Business, Black & Veatch, US
- Dr James Barnard, Global Practice and Technology Leader, Black & Veatch, South Africa
- Mads Nipper, CEO, Grundfos, Denmark
- Neil Palmer, CEO Designate, Future Water Co-operative Research Centre Bid, Australia
- James Sano, CEO of Water & Sanitation Corporation (WASAC), Rwanda
- Dr Andrew Benedek, CEO, Anaergia, Hungary
Exova agrees to renew contract with GSK
Global testing company Exova agreed to renew a three-year contract with GSK that provides environmental monitoring at eight of GSK’s manufacturing sites in the U.K. and Ireland. Exova will work both on-site and at its environmental laboratories to ensure GSK complies with all environmental monitoring requirements and drives continuous improvements of its health and safety and environmental performance.
Appointments
LaMarr Barnes named as CEO of U.S. Water Services.
U.S. Water Services named LaMarr Barnes as its Chief Executive Officer of U.S. Water Services (U.S. Water), a wholly owned subsidiary of ALLETE Inc. Barnes replaces former CEO Allan Bly, who resigned his position after a 20-year career with the company.
Barnes brings more than 25 years of experience in industrial water treatment and technology management. He first came to the company in 2010 as vice president of marketing, and assumed added responsibilities as vice president of marketing and business development before being named senior executive vice president of marketing and strategy in 2015. Barnes is recognized as an expert in plant operations and integrated water treatment program applications. He has a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Illinois – Champaign, Urbana, and an MBA from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.
Dr. Ufuk Erdal named National Water Reuse Technical Practice Leader
AECOM, named Ufuk Erdal national water reuse technical practice leader within design consulting services (DCS) Americas. In this role, Dr. Erdal will support AECOM clients with water reuse management challenges, especially in areas with recurring drought and the need to consider the recovery and reuse of water for storage, ground water recharge, direct and indirect potable reuse and non-potable reuse including but not limited to land scape irrigation, urban irrigation and industrial reuse applications. He will also advance AECOM’s technical leadership in developing safe and reliable water reuse technologies and cost effective strategies to meet the challenges of a water-constrained world.
Dr. Erdal has more than 21 years of diverse experience in planning, pilot testing, designing and costing treatment facilities used in reuse applications, assessing and validating new technologies applicable to advanced wastewater treatment, water reuse and concentrate treatment and recovery. He is the co-author of three Water Environment Federation (WEF) Manuals, chapter author of the "Potable Reuse Research Compilation: Synthesis of Findings – Final Report" by Water Environment and Reuse Foundation. He also authored more than 60 peer-review, conference and technical papers.
Viega promotes Scott Rea to regional sales manager for Pacific Northwest
Viega LLC promoted Scott Rea to regional sales manager, responsible for the Pacific Northwest region. In this position, Rea replaces Matt Bohmer, who was recently appointed to lead Viega’s newly created Great Plains Region. Rea will lead a team whose mandate is to continue the development of traditional markets, while facilitating entry into new markets such as the marine and industrial sectors.
Rea has more than 17 years experience in the plumbing and heating industry. Prior to his most recent promotion, Rea worked as a district sales manager in the Pacific Northwest region, based in the Seattle metro area. Before joining Viega, Rea worked in the manufacturer’s representative agency business, representing a variety of plumbing and heating products to the contracting and engineering communities in northwest Washington.
Huffman Engineering hires experienced plant engineer
Huffman Engineering Inc. hired Stephen Beck to work as chemical engineer in the company’s Lincoln, Nebraska office. In his new role, Beck will use his knowledge of chemical processes to design control systems for customers in the life science manufacturing and water/wastewater industries.
Prior to joining Huffman Engineering, Beck served for nine years as plant engineer at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Station, where he provided technical oversight and expertise for a variety of major systems. Beck completed extensive training related to nuclear power plant maintenance and operation, and his work involved a variety of disciplines including chemical, electrical, mechanical and civil engineering.
WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff names new water/environment business head
Global engineering and professional services organization WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff hired Steven Paquette as president of the U.S. water and environment business unit. This unit delivers water and environment planning, design and consulting services to domestic and multinational clients in the private and public sectors. The business line is comprised of 450 employees in 25 offices across the U.S.
Image courtesy of WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff
Paquette joined WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff in 2015 and has directed the firm’s water business, which provides a range of water and wastewater engineering services to municipalities, government agencies and utility companies. He comes with 32 years of senior management experience at major consulting engineering organizations.
Paquette is the chairman of the water infrastructure committee at the Association for the Improvement of American Infrastructure and is affiliated with the American Water Works Association, Water Environment Federation, and Women’s Transportation Seminar.
Bernie Hurda joins Brother Gearmotors
Brother Gearmotors, a division of Brother International Corporation, hired Bernie Hurda as its new director of sales. In this role, Hurda will steer overall sales strategy, including managing a sales team, overseeing a broad sales structure, and developing additional business channels.
Hurda brings more than 16 years experience in the power transmission industry, beginning his career as a sales engineer and, later, serving as field sales manager and eventually national sales & marketing manager.
Intertek provides chemical regulatory services for TSCA reform
Intertek provides the local regulatory and assurance services integral to supporting global chemical notification strategies including those under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Recent amendments to the act require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to designate chemical substances on the TSCA Chemical Substance Inventory as either "active" or "inactive" in U.S. Commerce.
In January 2017, the EPA published a proposed rule open to comment that outlines the requirements for the electronic notification of chemical substances on the TSCA inventory that were manufactured or imported for non-exempt commercial purposes. The "active" and "inactive" designations will be included on this inventory. When this rule is finalized, companies will be required to collect and organize any substances any substances that have been manufactured or imported within the last decade. If substances are designated as "inactive" by the EPA, they will become unusable. Companies need to be prepared to respond in order to avoid delays within their supply chain. Intertek experts are available to interpret and react to these regulatory changes.
American Water announces new leadership
American Water named Robert MacLean senior vice president of its Eastern Division and president of New Jersey American Water, and Jeffrey McIntyre as senior vice president of its Mid-Atlantic Division and president of Pennsylvania American Water. Both appointments are effective March 1, 2017.
MacLean replaces William Varley, who recently was appointed senior vice president of American Water’s Midwest Division. McIntyre replaces Kathy Pape, who was named American Water’s senior vice president of Regulatory Policy and Business Development.
MacLean has served as president of California American Water since 2009 and president of Hawaii American Water since 2011. McIntyre is currently president of West Virginia American Water.
Heartland Technology expands commercial team
Heartland Technology added top water industry veteran Assaad Haddad to its corporate team. Haddad brings 30 years of experience in water and wastewater treatment to his new role as Heartland’s director of commercial operations. In this role, he will drive the company’s planned expansion into key global markets and build relationships with engineering firms, which are key channel partners for Heartland.
Prior to coming to Heartland, Haddad was the commercial engineering project development manager for GE Water and served as the asset manager of GE’s largest Built-Own-Operate (BOO) water treatment facilities. He has been involved with a wide variety of water treatment projects in various geographies and industries that include the Sulaibiya wastewater reclamation plant in Kuwait, the Hamma desalination plant in Algeria, the Moneta Divide shale-gas wastewater treatment plant in Wyoming, and the Alabama Power Plant – Barry water treatment plant.
