Dow Water Solutions to Showcase New Technology, Initiatives at Aquatech 2008

Two years after its debut, Dow business unit continues to invest for global growth

Edina, MN - September 24, 2008

Dow Water Solutions, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company and a global leader in water purification, seawater desalination, contamination removal and water reuse solutions, will showcase new developments in water technology and discuss its recent expansion investments at the 2008 Aquatech trade exhibition (Booth #1617), September 30 through October 3 at the Amsterdam RAI Exhibition and Conference Centre.

At Aquatech 2006, The Dow Chemical Company launched Dow Water Solutions (DWS) as a market-facing business unit to address some of the world's toughest water challenges. That same year, Dow Water Solutions acquired Zhejiang Omex Environmental Engineering Co. Ltd., to expand its water treatment portfolio to include three critical enabling component technologies: ultrafiltration (UF), membrane bio-reactor (MBR) membranes and electrodeionization (EDI).

"In the past two years, Dow Water Solutions has evolved from the world's largest manufacturer of reverse osmosis (RO) water purification membranes into an industry leading provider of a broad range of solutions for multiple water purification and reuse applications," says Ian Barbour, general manager of Dow Water Solutions. "At Aquatech, we're looking forward to highlighting our progress and investment for growth to enable attainable, affordable and sustainable water sourcing or treatment options for desalination, wastewater treatment, industrial process water, ultra-pure water and other applications."

Over the years, improvements in FILMTEC™ reverse osmosis (RO) membrane elements have provided a threefold increase in the amount of treated water per element while reducing energy costs in desalination and other water purification and re-use projects around the world. Currently, desalination plants with Dow technology enable more than 218 million gallons of freshwater per day in Tampa Bay, FL, USA; Ashkelon, Israel; Perth, Australia; and many other sites around the globe. In addition to improvements in its industry leading eight-inch RO membrane modules, Dow continues to test next-generation 16-inch RO elements that further lower capital costs for customers. These developments will help the company reach its goal of reducing the cost of desalination by 35 percent by 2015.

Advancements and programs in industrial process water, ultra-pure water and water reuse will also be showcased. One recent example is in Beijing, where Dow Water Solutions helped the city exceed its goal of 50 percent water reuse during the Olympics by installing 5,000 FILMTEC RO elements in three wastewater reclamation and water reuse facilities. 

Other business developments that DWS marketing and technical executives will discuss include a $15 million investment in a Water Technology Development Center in Tarragona, Spain to further improve membrane and ultrafiltration technologies, and the $88 million expansion of its manufacturing facility in Edina, Minn.; as well as the recently announced joint partnership with Virginia Tech and the University of Texas at Austin for research and development of oxidation-resistant RO membranes.

DWS will also showcase DOWEX™ ion exchange resins and contaminant removal technology. Dow experts will be available to discuss the start-up of a new world-class demineralization unit installed at the ENI refinery in Sicily, Italy. This unit is one of world's largest and is designed using UPCORE™ counter-current technology and will produce steam for the utilities that serve the refinery. The counter-current ion exchange technology resulted in marked improvements in the purity of the water, which reduced overall water costs and increased plant production capacity.

In addition, over the past four years, DWS has commercialized six new trace contaminant products and received certification on several existing resins to address the ever-increasing analytical detection limits and tighter regulations surrounding trace contaminants such as arsenic, perchlorate and radium.

For more information about its offerings, visit Dow Water Solutions in booth #1617, or go to www.dowwatersolutions.com.

Note to media: To schedule an exclusive interview at Aquatech with one of the experts at Dow Water Solutions, please contact Gardner Hatch at ghatch@gibbs-soell.com or +1 212.697.2600, ext. 1256.


About Dow Water Solutions

Dow Water Solutions is a performance-based business unit comprised of world-class brands and enabling component technologies designed to advance the science of water purification around the world, including seawater desalination, contaminant removal and water reuse. With more than 1,000 employees worldwide, the business maintains five production facilities globally to manufacture, market and sell reverse osmosis membranes, ion exchange resins, titanium-based arsenic removal media, ultrafiltration, and electrodeionization components. Dow Water Solutions also manufactures, markets and sells premier water purification systems in China.

About Dow

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For Editorial Information:

Jeri Longtin-Kloss
The Dow Chemical Company
1-952.897.4375

Gardner Hatch
Gibbs & Soell, Inc.
1-212.697.2600
ghatch@gibbs-soell.com