This exhibition in Munich, Germany is heavily focused on wastewater issues. Here are some of the highlights:

At the BASF booth a large selection of innovative and sustainable system solutions for the wide range of uses awaits the trade visitor. BASF’s extensive range of established products, such as flocculants, coagulants, corrosion inhibitors, antiscalants, biocides, chelating agents and defoamers, provides tailor-made solutions for the treatment of waste water, drinking water and industrial water. This year’s main focus at IFAT is ultrafiltration technology, a field of activity that BASF is strengthening since the acquisition of inge GmbH in 2011.

The German company inge GmbH – widely regarded as the global leader in the field of ultrafiltration technology – hundred percent owned by BASF and part of its Water Solutions business – features the highly-efficient and robust ultrafiltration membranes as well as the space-saving rack designs used to treat drinking water, process water, waste water and sea water. The extremely small-pore filters of the Multibore® membrane reliably intercept not only particles, but also microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses, thereby providing a dependable source of clean water.

Available in four new capacities, Osec B-Pak tubular cell electrolyzer systems from the Siemens Industry Automation Division extend the output range of the company's water disinfection portfolio. The largest model, the OSEC B-Pak 260 system, can produce up to five kilograms of chlorine per hour or 120 kilograms of chlorine per day. Producing the sodium hypochlorite as-needed and on-site eliminates the dangers involved in storing and transporting chlorine gas or commercially available sodium hypochlorite solution. As it is also cheaper to operate an OSEC B-Pak system than to buy sodium hypochlorite, the initial capital cost pays off quickly.

The newly developed systems are compact and mounted on a skid to save space, easy to operate, and designed for a long service life. The core component is a newly designed, especially robust electrolyzer cell in a clear acrylic enclosure that produces a stable disinfectant solution. The low-concentration solution minimizes corrosion and degradation - loss of available chlorine during storage - which occurs with highly concentrated solutions containing 10 to 15 percent sodium hypochlorite. Operational safety is enhanced thanks to the fully automated control system. Components are readily accessible and easy to clean. The systems are supplied completely pre-assembled, electrically connected and tested, and can be quickly installed and commissioned on-site.

Memthane® opens the door to treating high strength, high solid wastes found in industries such as distilleries, dairies (whey), bio-ethanol producers and instant coffee plants which were previously considered untreatable from an economic standpoint. Memthane® is not just an Anaerobic MBR technology, but a small footprint solution that offers an array of benefits, eliminating disposal costs while generating valuable biogas and remaining easy to operate and maintain.

Memthane® maximizes renewable energy production while producing high quality effluent that can be discharged directly to the sewer or often easily reused. The suspended free effluent can also facilitate easy recovery of nutrients for fertilizer production. With a COD removal efficiency of >98%, this powerful green energy source offers the possibility of making production plants energy self-sufficient, reducing the dependency on costly external fossil fuels.

Memthane® combines two technologies with proven track records: Biothane’s anaerobic biological wastewater treatment and Pentair X-Flow's ultrafiltration (UF) membrane separation process. Influent is fed to the anaerobic bioreactor where the organic components are converted into energy-rich biogas. Next, the anaerobic effluent is processed through the UF membrane unit, separating the ‘clean’ permeate from the biomass.  The biomass is returned to the bioreactor, while the ultra-clean filtrate is discharged as particle-free, low BOD/COD effluent, often at levels low enough for direct discharge to the sewer.

In addition to its performance advantages, Memthane® delivers significant total operating costs reduction compared with other technologies, taking into account all elements, including membranes, chemicals, sludge disposal and overall energy savings. The simple, single, fully automated reactor system also offers the possibility of remote control.

At IFAT ENTSORGA 2012 in Munich, Seepex is presenting their innovation Smart Conveying Technology and demonstrating how to replace a progressive cavity pump rotor and stator in less than five minutes.

In recent years, the testing for heavy metals discharged from industrial sewage treatment plants and in surface water used for the preparation of drinking water has increasingly become the focus of official monitoring in many countries. Examples of this are the detection of chromium (VI) and total chromium in the leather and dyeing industry, the detection of copper and nickel in wastewater from galvanizing businesses, and the detection of iron, lead and manganese in the conditioning of drinking water. The operating companies are obliged to submit measurements to the responsible environmental authority as the controlling body on a continuous basis. It is therefore an advantage to determine this information online.

When choosing the appropriate measuring technology, it must be noted that Volta metric determination, as a conventional laboratory method, is not suitable for online measurement in process plants. It is sometimes necessary to spend considerable sums on this measuring equipment in order to ensure consistently reliable measuring results in quasi-continuous operation without the intervention of laboratory personnel.

A cost-effective alternative is provided by photometric detection methods, which enable heavy metals to be measured right down to trace level. With the PowerMon range of units, Bran+Luebbe online analysers from SPX provide an ideal platform for these measurements. Applications are available for the above-mentioned examples, among others, thanks to the flexible equipment options. Depending on the application, the verification limits lie in the range from 0.3 µg/l to 3 µg/l, which also makes the units outstandingly suitable for monitoring limits in drinking water.

For waste water and industrial applications Vogelsang is introducing a new rotary lobe pump concept. The pumps in the IQ series are characterized by their user-friendly construction. The pump chamber consists of a single central part and thus ensures low operating costs and cost-effective pumping of demanding media such as primary sludge or mechanically thickened sludge. This makes the IQ series particularly suitable for sewage treatment plants or for industrial applications. It provides high priming capacity, but at the same time it can be simply and quickly drained to the greatest extent possible. The number of relevant spare parts was reduced by half, so that the time needed for replacing wear parts has been significantly reduced. Since the pump chamber can be dismounted in a few easy steps, the pumping elements are easy to reach for service and maintenance work. What is also new is that to replace any wear part, from the pump chamber to the mechanical seal, no screws in the connection to the pipe must be loosened. The pump remains firmly screwed into the pipe.

AQUALOOP - new system for water treatment and grey water recycling
Whether surface water, groundwater, runoff water from wastewater treatment systems, industrial sewage or grey water from houses – AQUALOOP produces germ-free, bacteriological high drinking water quality!* The AQUALOOP system consists of a few modular components to fit any situation that can be easily assembled as required.

The patented AQUALOOP C-MEM membranes are at the core of the water treatment process. The membranes´ special hollow fibres reliably filter bacteria and virus.

Their special design and arrangement ensures a long service life of up to 10 years with minimal maintenance. AQUALOOP can recycle and improve water quality without chemical additives such as chlorine, which is proven hazardous to health.

Severn Trent Services is one of the world leaders in tertiary treatment technologies, with more than 300 systems installed worldwide including treatment of more than one million m3/d in Europe alone. The TETRA® DeepBed™ filtration system is a down flow sand filter for the filtration of effluent from municipal wastewater treatment plants. The technology offers process flexibility and high efficiency backwash for the removal of suspended solids and other insoluble contaminants. For nitrate-nitrogen and suspended solids removal, the process is easily upgraded to the TETRA® Denite® system, a fixed-film biological denitrification process. The Denite system integrates well with other plant treatment processes to provide superior total nitrogen and phosphorous removal. TETRA Denite and TETRA DeepBed filters represent more than 10 percent of the world’s capacity for wastewater reuse systems including more than 40 percent of all installations in Florida, USA.

The TETRA® NSAF (nitrifying submerged aerated filter) is a tertiary ammonia removal process for municipal and industrial wastewaters. The TETRA NSAF is available in a range of sizes from small modular units for above ground construction to large bespoke design plants. All sizes of NSAF are capable of achieving low Ammonia standards.

Severn Trent Services is a leading supplier of electrochlorination technology. Since 1988 the company has installed more than 3,500 ClorTec® on-site sodium hypochlorite generating systems worldwide, and the systems have been used for water reclamation / reuse applications in water-starved regions of the world. Severn Trent Services also has developed a cost-effective system for the on-site production of sodium hypochlorite for use in swimming pools, cooling towers and food and drink applications – the ClorTec SCT mini on-site sodium hypochlorite generating system. This compact, innovative product offers a safe and reliable alternative to the transportation of hazardous chemicals and is easy to maintain.

The Multiparameter Bench Photometer HI 83099-02 from HANNA instruments is perfectly suitable for wastewater analysis.

In addition to COD at three levels, HI 83099-02 measures further 43 water quality parameters like ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, dissolved oxygen or phosphate. COD measurements are performed easily, quickly and safely according to the micromethod.

The meter features a large grafic display with contextual help and a tutorial mode that assists the user during each step of the analysis process. Over 200 measurements can be logged on demand and transferred to a PC via USB.

Allweiler
(Bottrop) Allweiler GmbH will exhibit its new All-Optiflow pump series. These new progressing cavity pumps are designed for use in waste handling, wastewater treatment, and paper manufacturing, among other applications. All-Optiflow progressing cavity pumps generate pressure of up to 6 bar (87 psi) to move virtually any type of liquid (even with fibrous and solid materials) efficiently and reliably. Their capacity can be up to twice as high as conventional pumps.

Many of the larger companies in the air and water equipment and service industries have grown substantially due to inorganic growth. Acquisitions boost revenues and total profits. The challenge is now to increase earnings as a percent of sales. This can be best done with prioritized organic growth. Details on a program to achieve this growth are detailed by McIlvaine Company in its comprehensive Air/Gas/Water/Fluid Treatment and Control World Markets.

• Low investment, low risk, attractive ROI
• High investment, high risk, large ROI

This category should be the first priority because of the low investment and risk. There are two ways to accomplish this type of organic growth without creating new products.

• Expand the existing product line into new applications and industries
• Achieve greater geographical penetration with the existing product line

New applications and industries: The wave of mergers has set up very attractive opportunities for large players to expand product lines into new industries. Xylem has a great penetration with its pumps in municipal wastewater treatment plants around the world. The recent acquisition of YSI will allow it to pursue the municipal market for monitoring and instrumentation. Pentair and Tyco have complimentary industry strengths and product lines, so the merged company can leverage this synergy.

Colfax and Howden can combine the complimentary liquid and gas handling equipment with unique industry strengths. "This is a transformational acquisition for Colfax that accelerates our growth strategy, enhances our business profile and continues our journey to becoming a premier global enterprise," said Mitch Rales, Colfax Chairman.

GE has acquired Dresser and can leverage many of the synergies between turbines and valves in power and oil and gas industries. "GE and Dresser are a natural fit together. We share a commitment to technology and innovation and we have many common customers in the energy space," said John Krenicki, vice chairman of GE and president and CEO of GE Energy in February 2011 when the deal was completed.

The achievement of these synergies has proven difficult for acquirers in the past. One of the reasons is the natural resistance among divisions to share knowledge and therefore power. Business experts say that the secret is creating a collaborative environment. They further recommend that a third party be utilized to help engender this collaborative atmosphere.

Expanding geographic reach: Most large international companies are not achieving the same high market share in Asia which they enjoy in other areas. Here are some examples:

• Language nuances
• Validating lowest life cycle cost claims

The biggest potential increases in profits come from developing proprietary products and services with lower life cycle costs. This can be accomplished with both product and application research. Companies should be pursuing more fundamental research to develop products without a pre-determined market in mind. At the same time, they should be tailoring existing products to developing markets. Furthermore, the big players can be pro-active and help create new markets.

Too little is spent for R&D by the companies serving the air and water markets.

For more information on: Air/Gas/Water/Fluid Treatment and Control World Markets click on: http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=71