Fast on the heels of designating FILMTEC™ ECO Reverse Osmosis (RO) Elements as the company’s second Breakthrough to a World Challenge, Dow garners a prestigious Edison Award. On April 30 in San Francisco, Dow was presented with the Bronze Edison Award for FILMTEC ECO Elements in the Energy/Sustainability and Commercial Resource Management category. The judging committee recognized FILMTEC ECO Technology for its ability to significantly reduce the energy required to remove impurities from water.
Martin Peery (right) and Kimberly Kupiecki (left) of Dow Water & Process Solutions were presented with the Bronze Edison Award for FILMTEC ECO Reverse Osmosis Elements at the 2014 Edison Awards Gala in San Francisco April 30. (Photo: Business Wire)
A program within the Edison Universe organization, the Edison Awards have recognized and honored some of the most innovative products and business leaders in the world such as Nielsen, Keurig Incorporated, Henkel, and Black and Decker®, and are among the most prestigious accolades honoring excellence in new product and service development, marketing, design and innovation.
Recognizing the perilous state of water demand, Dow Water & Process Solutions scientists developed FILMTEC ECO RO Elements, which includes one of the most advanced water purification polymer chemistries available today. FILMTEC™ ECO Elements can help deliver up to 40 percent better water purification while using up to 30 percent less energy, resulting in up to 19 percent less operating costs.
These benefits provide manufacturers, who need water as a critical utility or as a process ingredient, with an ecologic and economic win when making the products we use every day such as electronics, clothing, food and beverages. FILMTEC ECO Elements also helps power utility providers reduce the need for chemicals used to clean the membranes helping to improve their power production uptime.
“Energy consumption is the number one controllable resource in the water-energy nexus,” said Snehal Desai, global business director for Dow Water & Process Solutions. “The Edison Award recognition is very important to us, as it shows our technologies and innovations, like FILMTEC ECO Reverse Osmosis Elements, are making impacts on real-world issues like water and energy scarcity.”
In the first 10 years of use, FILMTEC™ ECO Elements will help produce 15 trillion m3 of clean water (more than 6 million Olympic-sized swimming pools), while providing more than 2 billion kWh (Kilowatt hours) of energy savings and reducing carbon dioxide (CO2 ) emissions by 1.5 million metric tons.
“Increasingly, breakthrough innovations require multi-disciplinary expertise,” said A.N. Sreeram, corporate vice president of Research & Development at Dow. “FILMTEC ECO Technology is the result of collaboration across chemistry, engineering, material science and marketing. It’s a tangible demonstration of how we’re bringing innovations to the market with deep technical expertise, customer intimacy, global reach and a diverse product portfolio.”
FILMTEC ECO Technology was recently recognized by Dow as an innovation that will help improve the world’s ability to solve sustainable water supply challenges, as it was named Dow’s second-ever Breakthrough to a World Challenge as part of the Company’s 2015 Sustainability Goals.
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