Knoxville, TN (August 21, 2013) - Today, Aqua-Chem Inc., manufacturer of the ECOCYCLE™ industrial water reuse system has transferred day-to-day operational control of the ECOCYCLE System to J+J Flooring Group, known around the J+J campus or the carpet industry as Aquafinity®.
To this point, Aqua-Chem employees have worked side-by-side with J+J Flooring Group associates to maintain operation of the ECOCYCLE dyehouse water reuse system. "Today is an exciting day for both Aqua-Chem and J+J," said Aqua-Chem President and CEO, David Gensterblum.
Aqua-Chem's ECOCYCLE waste water reuse project, has been a true partnership. As an industry leader and champion for sustainability in the carpet industry, J+J Flooring Group looked for solutions to meet their corporate priority of reducing water consumption by 66% by 2020, which is an important part of J+J Flooring Group’s 20/20 Sustainability Vision. Hand-in-hand, Aqua-Chem and J+J created the industry's first dyehouse waste water reuse system. "The team at J+J has been very supportive, encouraging and easy to work with as we helped each other to develop this industry first solution" said David Keever, Aqua-Chem Industrial Water Reuse Business Manager.
"Since the installation of the system we have learned more about our dyeing processes than we have in the last 60-years. The Aqua-Chem ECOCYCLE system is optimizing our product quality and enhancing our dyeing efficiency," said Jonathan Sierra J+J Flooring Group Research Manager.
Aqua-Chem's ECOCYCLE system treats 68% of J+J's dyehouse waste effluent to be returned for their becks wet-dye production process. The results are millions of gallons of virgin water savings, both physical water and water cost. Additionally, J+J is able to benefit from an energy savings from the captured waste effluent. The clean and treated dyehouse waste effluent is hotter than water provided to J+J from the city resulting in less energy to heat the dye baths to their required temperature. "We are currently forecasting to save more than 23 million gallons of water and more than $200,000 annually from our Aquafinity process," said Tom Pendley, J+J Flooring Group Corporate Vice President, Operations and Finance.
Although this system has been up and running for some time, this collaborative effort has allowed both organizations to significantly improve the operational parameters and quality of the finished product to meet the dyehouse and product requirements. "From the beginning of this project, J+J had the objective, focus and understanding to actively take part in the development of this technology to decrease their water and energy consumption. Together, J+J Flooring Group and Aqua-Chem, have been committed to developing a process that minimizes water consumption and offers opportunities for energy recovery.” stated Gensterblum.
"We are very confident that the Aqua-Chem ECOCYCLE / J+J Aquafinity system will support our effort to reach our year 2020 water sustainability mandate," added Pendley. "We believe our ECOCYCLE waste water system is a game changer and the wave of the future in the global water purification market,” said Gensterblum. “Clean water is an increasingly valuable commodity everywhere and our ground-breaking process addresses clean water as a critical expense and environmental issue for a wide range of manufacturers. Aqua-Chem’s state-of-the art ECOCYCLE water purification technology lowers operating costs dramatically by allowing re-use of wastewater in the manufacturing process. This is a green-themed solution, both environmentally and economically, that works for a wide range of manufacturers."
Aqua-Chem's ECOCYCLE™ water reuse system is a patent pending waste water reclamation and reuse process, including but not limited to; heat recovery, multiple stages of filtration, and membrane technology to treat waste water for reuse in industrial applications.
About Aqua-Chem, Inc.
Founded in 1940, Aqua-Chem is a leading solutions provider in evaporation and membrane technologies and water pretreatment equipment, with a full array of engineering, manufacturing, installation, training, part aftermarket and maintenance services. The company serves the needs of customers in the following major markets: offshore oil & gas, land forces and naval military branches, pharmaceutical/biotech, beverage, commercial marine, micro-utilities/land-based and Industrial Water Reuse. Based in Knoxville, TN, Aqua-Chem sells and services its products in more than 100 countries around the world. Formore information, visit www.aqua-chem.com. Aqua-Chem is a portfolio company of Altus Capital Partners, Inc., an investment firm specializing in middle market manufacturing companies based in the U.S. To learn more about Altus Capital Partners, visit www.altuscapitalpartners.com.
