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applications. These high-efficiency, low-waste systems are easy to install and operator-friendly, resulting in lower labour and operating costs.

Contact:

Pall Corp, 25 Harbor Park Drive, Port Washington,

NY 11050, USA. Tel: +1 516 484 5400, www.pall.com

Imbrium Systems’ membrane-based filter receives NJCAT verification

Storm-water treatment com-pany Imbrium Systems Corp

of Rockville, Maryland, USA, has announced that field-test claims for its membrane-based Jellyfish filter have been verified by the New Jersey Center for Advanced Technology (NJCAT).

‘Without a doubt the Jellyfish filter is the most advanced, innovative membrane filtra-tion technology for storm-water treatment in North America,’ stated Scott Perry, Managing Director, Imbrium Systems.

‘NJCAT peer reviewers combed through our Jellyfish filter field-test report and verified all our technology and performance claims. The NJCAT verification is one of the most rigorous examinations for storm-water treatment technol-ogies in North America, and the Jellyfish filter passed with flying colours. It is a game changer that will revolutionise storm-water treatment.’

This compact storm-water filtration tech-nology treats over five times the flow capacity

– with minimal ‘‘head’’ and just one-third the footprint and one-fifth the weight – of conven-tional storm-water filtration BMPs.

‘Its signature membrane filtration tentacles effortlessly capture neutrally-buoyant particles, floatables, oils and saturated hydrocarbon-based particles,’ added Perry.

‘Our rigorous Technical Acceptance Reciprocity Partnership (TARP) field testing demonstrated that the system removes more than 85% total suspended solids, 60% total phosphorus, 50% total nitrogen and sediment particles as small as 2 μm.’

‘We listened to the environmental engineering and regulatory communities and designed the Jellyfish filter as a compact, high treatment flow-rate membrane system that captures a significant pollutant load, with low-cost maintenance requirements,’ added Joel Garbon, Jellyfish Filter Product Manager, Imbrium Systems.

The typical Jellyfish filter requires only 18-inches of head, or drop, to fully operate. Imbrium Systems’ field-test performance results show that this filter captures fine sediment particles at a treatment flow rate per standard cartridge of 300 litres (80 gallons) per minute. In addition, the firm’s field test indicates that it continues to operate at peak performance for many years by using patent-pending, built-in passive back-wash technology.

‘The Jellyfish filter’s lightweight cartridges weigh 9 kg (20 lb) when dry, or 23 kg (50 lb) wet, and are back-washable, reusable and replaceable. Thus, the system is very easy to maintain and cost-effective,’ continued Garbon.

‘Conventional granular media cartridges in storm-water filter systems can weigh 113–180 kg (250–400 lb) when wet, requiring heavy lifting equipment, and significant time and labour during maintenance periods.’

‘The Jellyfish filter’s passive back-wash system extends the cartridge life and provides a low life-cycle cost technology – a tangible long-term benefit for the development community and other end-users in impaired watersheds through-out North America,’ concluded Garbon.

Jellyfish systems have been successfully installed across North America, including Alberta, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ontario, Oregon, Washington and Virginia.

Contacts:

Imbrium Systems Corp, 7564 Standish Place, Suite 112,

Rockville, MD 20855, USA. Tel: +1 301 279 8827,

www.imbriumsystems.com

New Jersey Corporation for Advanced Technology,

c/o New Jersey EcoComplex, 1200 Florence Columbus

Road, Columbus, NJ 08505, USA.

Tel: +1 609 499 3600, www.njcat.org

Toray establishes new plant in China to make artificial kidneys

Toray Industries Inc and Toray Medical Co Ltd (TMC) recently

announced that they have decided to build a new plant to manufacture artifi-cial kidneys at Toray Medical (Qingdao) Co Ltd (TMQ), which was established in Jimo City, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China, during July 2011.

TMQ was established by Toray and TMC as a joint venture with Qingdao Jifa Group Co Ltd for the manufacture and sale of dialysis machines.

The plant for manufacturing the dialysis machines is currently under construction and is expected to begin operating in the first half of 2012. The company expects to start selling the products at about the same time. Toray and TMC are planning to build a facility for pro-ducing artificial kidneys at a site adjacent to the dialysis machine plant by investing about ¥6 billion, and are aiming to start selling products in the latter half of 2014.

The plant will manufacture Toraylight NV, a polysulphone membrane artificial kidney, which was launched in Japan in April 2011. This will double the Toray Group’s production capacity for Toraylight products.

Demand in the global dialysis market is expected to expand, led by Asia and other developing nations, says Toray. In particular, demand is expected to increase significantly in China, boosted by factors including state poli-cies on the establishment of medical insurance systems. By enhancing this artificial kidney plant, Toray plans to expand its business to meet the growing demand in the future.

More than half of the demand for dialysis machines and artificial kidneys in the Chinese market is currently met through imports. Toray says that by building a supply system for these two products it will be able to respond swiftly to this current market requirement. At the same time it expects to help improve dialysis treat-ment by bringing to China the group’s dialysis technology.

Toray and TMC say they are positioning TMQ as the ‘‘beachhead for the pharmaceuti-cal and medical product business’’ in China, and plan to strengthen local customer service and expand from the existing dialysis machine and artificial kidney business into other fields. Using TMQ the Toray Group aims to drive its business growth in the life science sector.

Membrane Technology March 2012

Pall Corp is supplying its Aria AP-Series mem-brane system for use at Qatar Petroleum’s Ras Laffan Emergency and Safety College. It will be used to filter the facility’s treated sewage effluent and remove bacteria, viruses, turbidity and suspended matter.