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Nysa is a great example of how to spin out technology from a university and commer-cialise it.’

BDC Venture Capital is a major venture capital investor in Canada, active at every stage of a company’s development cycle. It focuses on technology-based businesses with high growth potential that are positioned to become dominant players in their markets.

Jovian is a publicly-traded company list-ed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). It is a management and holding company with interests in a variety of financial service firms specialising in wealth and asset management.

Contact:

Nysa Membrane Technologies Incorporated,

5515 North Service Road, Suite 102, Burlington,

Ontario L7L 6G4, Canada. Tel: +1-905-319-2682,

www.nysamembranes.com

Indonesia launches programme to help reduce global warming

Indonesia continues to seek ways in which it may assist in reducing

global warming. One approach it is following is through the Community Integrated Utility Program (CIUP), developed under the State Ministry for the Development of Disadvantaged Regions (KPDT).

‘CIUP is a landmark programme in Indonesia’s attempt to assist the world in com-bating global warming by supporting major technologies that will supply the basic energy needs to millions of people without any further harm to the planet,’ said Ir. H. Mohammad Lukman Edy, State Minister for the KPDT.

The CIUP will bring together three technol-ogies – biomass conversion, hydrogen fuel cells and reverse osmosis – generating large quanti-ties of electricity and water without producing any carbon dioxide emissions.

The Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (the technology university in Surabaya), in cooperation with CIUP founder Professor Dr Ir Reginald Theijs (Senior Adviser to the Ministry of KPDT), and lr Tatag Wiranto (Deputy for the Minister of KPDT), will provide all the necessary facilities and engineering support to bring together the programme – work-ing in cooperation with major suppliers, including a UK-based fuel cell company,

in initial ground trials before technology is first implemented in the field, which is scheduled to take place during 2009.

Contact:

Professor Dr Ir Reginald Theijs, Community Integrated

Utility Program, Suite 31G, Block 17, Taman Rasuna,

Jakarta, Indonesia. Tel: +62-815-1326-9922,

www.ciupinternational.com

Organic pollutants analysed

PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences, an international com-

pany that specialises in application-focused measurement and analysis technology and products, is offering a pre-configured system for analys-ing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) – organic pollutants widely dis-tributed in the environment which, at certain levels, can be carcinogenic.

The analyser is targeted at laboratories conducting high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyses for environmental and food testing.

‘Many laboratories, including independ-ent testing laboratories, asked for a system that could meet their diverse, challenging analyses – ranging from analysis of air, well and wastewater contamination to the analysis of pesticides in food,’ said Eric Ziegler, Vice President, Chromatography, of PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences.

‘The PAH analyser is the first in a series of application-focused turnkey systems designed to meet the scientific needs of laboratories conducting HPLC analyses,’ he added.

PAH analysis in soil, water and food is one of the most important assays to evaluate the degree of contamination and quality of a product, notes Ziegler.

‘Environmental and food safety concerns are a global issue and our customers are faced with increased pressure to maximise productivity and comply with regulatory standards,’ continued Ziegler.

He says that the turnkey system guides users through each step of the analysis and includes an application guidebook, based on PerkinElmer’s expertise and applications know-how, to help quickly ‘ramp up’ and increase throughput.

Contact:

PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences Incorporated,

940 Winter Street, Waltham, MA 02451, USA.

Tel: +1-781-663-6900, www.perkinelmer.com/PAH

WateReuse Foundation releases two reports

The WateReuse Foundation, based in Alexandria, Virginia, USA, has

released two research reports.The first report, entitled ‘Dewatering

Reverse Osmosis Concentrate from Water Reuse Applications Using Forward Osmosis’, summarises initial feasibility data on the application of forward osmosis (FO) to min-imise the concentrate from reverse osmosis (RO) processes. It also contributes to the knowledge-base of novel draw solutions and high-performance FO membranes.

According to the WateReuse Foundation, RO is an effective barrier in water production systems when the removal of dissolved contaminants or salts is needed to achieve high finished water quality.

Forward osmosis (FO) is a novel process that can be used for dewatering RO concentrate. It is defined as the net movement of water across a selectively permeable membrane driven by a difference in osmotic pressure across the membrane.

Compared with pressure-driven membrane processes, the main advantage of using FO in water and wastewater treatment applications is its very low energy consumption, since no external pressure is required while rejecting a wide range of contaminants. Systems based on FO technology also have a lower propensity to membrane fouling.

The second study, entitled ‘Reclaimed Water Aquifer Storage and Recovery: Potential Changes in Water Quality’, investigates the variables of aquifer characteristics, storage time, travel distance, recharge water quality and oper-ational history. The data support many aquifer process assumptions, such as enhanced activity near the well.

Aquifer storage and recovery is defined as the storage of water in a suitable aquifer through a well during times when water is available and the recovery of the water from the same well during times when it is needed.

The WateReuse Foundation conducts applied research in all aspects of water recla-mation, reuse, recycling and desalination. It describes itself as an educational, non-profit public benefit corporation that serves as a centralised organisation for the water and wastewater community.

Contact:

WateReuse Foundation, 1199 North Fairfax Street, Suite

410, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA. Tel: +1 703 548 0880,

www.watereuse.org/Foundation/researchreport.htm

Membrane Technology January 2008

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