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Knoxville News Sentinel
Monday, October 15, 2012 Monday, October 15, 2012 |
Knoxville-based Aqua-Chem Inc. has inked a contract to build its fourth and largest water purification plant for the Turks and Caicos Islands in the British West Indies.
David Gensterblum, Aqua-Chem president and CEO, would not discuss the value of the contract, but said “this is a substantial revenue increase for us.”
The contract may also result in some extra hiring at the company’s locations in Forks of the River Industrial Park in Knox County and at a facility in Florida. Assembly of equipment for the plant will take place at both locations.
“This will push our existing capacity to the degree that we would require some additional head count,” Gensterblum said, although he said he could not estimate how many jobs.
Aqua-Chem will be building a 300,000 -gallons- per-day reverse osmosis plant that will convert seawater to potable water. It will be done as a joint venture with Bahamas-based Matrix Enviro Ltd., and will replace an existing system.
“We are upgrading and modernizing some older equipment they had,” Gensterblum said. “Our equipment is going to be more efficient and they will end up having the equipment at a site and a facility that will be hurricane proof,” he said.
The new system will be four times larger than the older one, which was built in the 1980s, Gensterblum said. In a prepared statement, Governor Damian Roderic Todd, said the Turks and Caicos Islands have benefited from Aqua-Chem technology for more than two decades.
The plant means continued growth of the company into overseas markets, Gensterblum said. In March, Aqua-Chem signed a deal to make water purification equipment for the oil and gas industry in Brazil.
“Sixty five percent of our commercial business will be offshore this year,” he said.
This is an excerpt from Knoxville News Sentinel as it appeared on October 15, 2012. For updates or to read the current version of this post in its entirety, please click here.
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