H2O Innovation has signed a strategic agreement with ceramic membrane manufacturer, Nanostone, and confirms its leading position as a ceramic membrane system integrator in the water industry.
“We are very excited to partner up with the Nanostone team. As an engineered product supplier primarily focused on membrane technology, it is important to constantly renew ourselves and use the best membrane for each application. While we will continue to commercialize polymeric ultrafiltration (“UF”), reverse osmosis and membrane bioreactor, ceramic UF will allow us to address different market needs: it is basically another string to our bow. For instance, ceramic membranes offer great benefits regarding flux and durability which can make a big difference when we compete over considering overall life cycle cost. They also sustain higher suspending solids loading and can resist cleaning regimes at a much wider range of pH. This can be very strategic to differentiate our solutions on industrial treatment flow charts,” added Frédéric Dugré, President and CEO of H2O Innovation.
The relationship between H2O Innovation and Nanostone began back in 2016, when Nanostone contracted the Corporation to design and fabricate two pilot units. The quality and success of these pilots influenced Nanostone to contract H2O Innovation to upgrade their existing fleet of pilot units, especially the controls elements. The Corporation utilized the Nanostone pilots in several project studies and was impressed with the performance of their technology. One study resulted in the purchase of a full-scale system for a Midwest industry where H2O Innovation had previously installed polymeric UF membranes. This system is treating 0.2 MGD (757.1 m3/day) surface water and secondary effluent for cooling tower. The operational performance improved considerably, and they are planning to convert the polymeric membranes to Nanostone ceramic ones.
H2O Innovation sold an additional system employing Nanostone membranes for a resort in New York, treating a year around cold temperature surface water. They have been independently engaged in a program to retrofit existing polymeric microfiltration/UF membrane systems, for the last two years, and it has resulted in several successful contracts in Texas and the Dakotas.
With a collective and supportive reference list, and a growing interest in ceramic membrane technology, the two companies decided it was the right time to engage in a strategic agreement. In this preferential business collaboration, the parties have agreed to jointly lead a larger commercialization of the technology. The market for ceramic membranes systems is growing and Nanostone is a leader in membranes while H2O Innovation is a leader in designing and efficiently assembling skids; the strength of both will lead to the capture of significant market shares in the industrial and municipal sectors.
