The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday February 27, 2002 - A3 Zenon membrane technology purifying water around the world (Continued from page 1) ogy is in use at upscale retreats in the pure water is simply drawn out, much Caribbean with strict water conserva like the root of a tree sucks up water tion guidelines and at Fern Resort in from the ground. Ontario. ZeeWeed resembles nothing more A residential unit. "Homespring." than high-tech strands of spaghetti, but will be launched in April. Benedek him these membranes contain pores a mere self used the prototype in his own home 0.035 microns in size, which act as bar for three years. riers to microorganisms which are 10 to ZeeWeed has also been used by the 100 times larger. Department o f National Defence during The membranes remove the the Gulf War in Saudi Arabia and Qatar microorganisms outright -- not kill as well as during peacekeeping mis them to leave dead or partially dead sions in the former Yugoslavia. organisms in the treated water. Somalia. Cambodia. Rwanda and else ZeeWeed is effective for everything where. from Cryptosporidium to Giardia, It has likewise been employed by the which are resistant to chlorine and so United Nations, the Hungarian Ministry tiny they are difficult to remove with of Defence, the United States Army, in conventional filtration. They also Turkey during earthquake disaster relief replace the clarifiers and media filters operations and many other locations. used in conventional sys ZENON desalination tems. membranes, used to With 17 offices in remove salt from sea With 17 offices in 11 different countries, water, are proving to be 11 different ZENON -- which an exceptional boon to countries ZENON employs more than 500 countries such as the people -- has the ability which employs more United Arab Emirates. to deliver membrane sys Producers of industrial than 500 people tems of any size, any wastewater, who must ZENON 's head office on Dundas Street where on the planet. remain in com pliance has the ability to Benedek is particularly with environmental laws, deliver membrane are likewise reaping proud o f his "excellent global team" consisting of systems of any size, rewards. In one case. 45 By Howard M ozel the best minds from violations per year were anywhere on the around the world. OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF reduced to zero. The result is that In fact, the running planet. ZeeWeed is now in hun M odern w ater purification tech total on a pixel sign in dreds of installations in ZENON's lobby reveals nology m ay be cutting-edge, but more than 40 countries from New that well over one trillion gallons of acco rd in g to c re a to r Dr. A ndrew Zealand to Europe. water have been treated worldwide Benedek, its origins can be traced Closer to home, the technology is using the firm's technology. back to the ancient Egy ptians. also in Walkerton, where ZENON ini Thousands of years ago. explains the As a working showcase for tially supplied six emergency response ZeeWeed. ZENON's international cor chair and CEO of Oakville-based units to the town. A permanent system porate headquarters on Dundas Street ZENON Environmental Inc., Nile water was installed in October 2000. possesses a self-contained water system was filtered through sand. Centuries later, More than 20 other municipalities in that is not linked to the outside sewage the disinfectant chlorine was added to a Ontario also use the technology -- grid -- the first building of its kind in process, which has become more sophis some for drinking water, others for Ontario. ticated while at the same time remaining wastewater. Potable water is drawn from an essentially the same in principle. The municipal market continues to underground aquifer and treated After all. sand is still used in modem be the single largest m arket for through ZeeWeed membranes then dis facilities to clarify the water, but many ZENON's ZeeWeed technology. organisms (Cryptosporidium, tributed. Wastewater from the office new Some of these installations include and assembly plant is treated by the Giardia) remain problematic. Chlorine, the largest North American ultrafiltra- Cycle-Let Bioreactor treatment and also still used, kills most organisms, but tion drinking water plant, and the recycle system, which produces high- leaves dead bacterial fragments behind largest ultrafiltration wastewater treat quality effluent that is used as flush for people to drink. In other words, said ment plant in the Middle East. water for toilets and urinals, landscape Benedek, current treatment technology The m odular configuration of irrigation, decorative ponds and the fire isn't perfect, so what remained was to ZENON technology makes it easy to emergency water reservoir. improve the disinfectant or the filter tech retrofit existing facilities so that munic ZENON has typically grown at nology. ipalities can make upgrades faster while 20%-30% per year, and at the end of the "In the end. what we needed was a reducing their reliance on chemicals. company's third fiscal quarter, revenues The eastern Shoshone stood at $85.1 million, compared to Tribe/Shoshone Utility Organization of $84.5 million in revenue for all o f 2000. Fort Washakie. Wyoming will be the Profits are reinvested in the form of first Indian tribe in the United States to research and development and growth (Continued from page 1) use ZENON technology when their infrastructure improvements. This policy Canada, including Haltons', also sub new, three-m illion-gallon-per-day has created a technological lead, placing mitted claims which totalled $40 mil drinking water treatment plant begins ZENON ahead of all others in the mem lion in Ontario alone by the end of operating next year. brane industry, says the company. November 2001. The rebate amount is In January, ZENON broke ground As the leader in the field. Benedek is estimated at $70.5 million for partici for a new manufacturing plant in conscious of competitors nipping at pating schools boards in most provinces Oroszlany, Hungary, a country with ZENON's heels but he trusts his team across the country. whom the company has enjoyed a rela and his company's momentum to stay Consultaxe Planification, the tionship for 10 years. ahead of the pack. Montreal tax advisory firm handling the In addition to the five Holland "Everyone is trying to copy the tech GST rebate claim for 111 boards, has America cruise ships. ZENON technol nology," he says. former federal minister Marc Lalonde in Oakville is the centre of a world-wide operation with 17 offices in 11 countries. Modern purification based on ancient principles new way." said Benedek, the creator of ZeeWeed membrane technology. "We're in the 21st century now." Benedek, who earned his chemical engineering degree from McGill University in 1966, chose to specialize in environmental engineering for his post graduate work after seeing the effect of pollution on the environment during a brief stint in the petrochemical industry. In 1970. he obtained a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Washington with a focus on wastewater treatment. He then accepted a professorship at McMaster University in Hamilton where he taught and conducted research to find ways of improving water quality. "I saw that it was going to get worse and worse." said Benedek. who has writ ten over 100 scientific papers on water and wastewater treatment technologies and lectured extensively as keynote speaker to learned societies around the world. "The world is a biosphere and survival depends on better technology," he said. Benedek looked to nature itself for inspiration, recognizing how much depended on membranes, including the proper functioning of the human body on the cellular level. Trees, which draw water up from the surrounding earth and purify it for their own use. was a major flash-point. Recognizing that overuse and contam ination seriously threatened the world's water sources, Benedek founded ZENON in 1980. He experimented with a variety of membrane technologies and although many did not share his view. Benedek -- who quit his job and mortgaged his home -- remained convinced. "It never occurred to me that it would n't succeed," he said. Today, in a world of increasing vari eties of microbial parasites not treatable by conventional means, skeptics of mem brane technology are in the minority and a growing number now subscribe to the belief that cost effective and simple mem brane technology is also the key to reusing water, thereby alleviating water shortages. "I'm still an optimist," said Benedek. Court of Appeal overturned earlier decision on the case. Consultaxe's fee is 29 per cent of the claim, said Halton board officials. In October 2001. the Federal Court of Appeal overturned an earlier decision of the Tax Court of Canada in favour of the Quebec school boards. However, the problem now. said the Halton public board, is federal Finance Minister Paul Martin is proposing a retroactive amendment to the Excise Tax Act to January 1991. the date the GST went into effect. If that happens, no school boards beyond the 29 in Quebec would be reimbursed for the percentage differ ence. 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