UK membrane bioreactor company Aquabio Limited was acquired by US industrial filtration specialists Freudenberg group on 1 March 2013.
Based in Hallow, Worcestershire, Aquabio is a leading specialist in water and wastewater reuse for large-scale industrial applications. Founded in 1997, the company has 16 employees and designs and supplies turnkey membrane filtration systems for water and wastewater recycling.
A core part of Freudenberg’s liquid filtration business is to provide high technology nonwoven media as support carriers to membrane applications.
“With the acquisition of Aquabio, the Freudenberg Group now has additional know-how in water filtration. This represents a further strategic step in the development of Freudenberg Filtration Technologies,” stresses Dr Mohsen Sohi, speaker of the Freudenberg Group Management Board. Customers include well-known companies such as Alpro, Muller, Procter&Gamble and Unilever.
Steve Goodwin, managing director of Aquabio Ltd, who will continue to lead the UK company, sees considerable market opportunities for Aquabio. As a global company, the Freudenberg Group will provide Aquabio with the opportunity to expand, especially internationally, in the food, beverage, paper, pharmaceutical and chemical industries.
Dr Andreas Kreuter of Freudenberg Filtration Technologies, explains: “Industrial companies are increasing their investment in water and wastewater filtration to preserve scarce resources and to fulfill exacting environmental regulations. Aquabio provides excellent cutting-edge filtration technology particularly for industrial wastewater recycling and reuse.”