January 2006N

EW

SFiltration Industry Analyst

4

PALL FILESPATENT SUIT

AGAINSTENTEGRIS

Pall Corp has reportedlyfiled a patent infringementaction in the United StatesDistrict Court for the East-ern District of New Yorkagainst Entegris Inc doingbusiness as Mykrolis Corp.

Pall’s suit alleges thatMykrolis is manufacturing andselling filter products for thesemiconductor market, includ-ing certain of its Quickchange®

and Waferguard® products,that infringe on two of Pall’spatents. Both products havebeen on the market for 10 yearsand are covered by patents heldby Entegris (Mykrolis).

The suit seeks damagesand an injunction precludingMykrolis from selling theinfringing products.

Entegris has said it is con-fident that it has not violatedany intellectual property rightsof Pall, adding that it believesthat Pall’s action is entirelywithout merit and that it willvigorously defend this suit.(For Pall’s quarterly report, seepage 13.)

PCC ACQUIRESNONWOVENS

MANFACTURERGLOBETEC

Precision Custom CoatingsLLC (PCC), a US-based pro-ducer and supplier of non-woven and coated fabrics forindustrial market applica-tions has acquired certain netassets and operations of Glo-beTec Inc, a needlepunchnon-woven filtration prod-ucts manufacturer based inMaryland, USA.

GlobeTec has been re-named Precision Textiles, adivision of Precision CustomCoatings LLC. Terms were notdisclosed.

GlobeTec Inc is a manufac-turer of bleeder and breather

cloths used in vacuum bag cur-ing of composites for the aero-space industry. The companyalso supplies a range of filtra-tion and padding products foruse in racing vehicles, air andliquid filtration, bedding, med-ical products, gaskets, majorappliances, steel processing,vinyl and printing.

Precision Custom Coatingssays that it has acquired Glo-beTec to accelerate its growth,range of offerings and produc-tion output. “Overall, the acqui-sition will increase our financialstrength, further diversify ourproduct portfolio, and accelerateour long-term growth,” saidScott Tesser, president of Preci-sion Custom Coatings.

The company plans to con-vert its newly obtained produc-tion facilities from a one andone-half shift facility to a con-tinually operating 24-hour-a-day mill, which will reportedlymore than triple the facility’sworkforce and double its pro-duction capacity.

DRESSER-RANDACQUIRES AKER

KVAERNER’SMPPT INTEREST

Dresser-Rand Company hasacquired Aker Kvaerner’s50% interest in MultiphasePower and Processing Tech-nologies (MppT). Dresser-Rand now owns 100% inter-est in the venture.

MppT was initially formedin 1998 as a joint venturebetween Dresser-Rand andKvaerner, and connects Dresser-Rand’s experience in designingand manufacturing rotating ma-chinery with Kvaerner ProcessSystems’ expertise in separationtechnology. The focus of thejoint venturewas to develop andmarket proprietary expandersand other equipment to separategases and liquids and to gener-ate power from previously wast-ed energy during oil and gasproduction.

According to Dresser-Rand president and CEO

Vincent Volpe Jr, obtaining fullownership of MppT comple-ments the company’s existingtechnologies in the global oiland gas industries.

“[The technologies involvedin this enterprise] have demon-strated their effectiveness atenabling oil and gas producersto reduce the overall size of pro-duction platforms and subseamodules,” said Julian Smith,director of business develop-ment at Dresser-Rand, who willlead the separator strategic busi-ness unit for the company.

This agreement betweenDresser-Rand and AkerKvaerner took effect on August1, 2005. The terms of the salewere not disclosed.

GE ENERGYPLANS TO

ACQUIRE ALTAIRTECHNOLOGY

GE Energy has reportedlysigned a purchase agreementto acquire Altair Filter Tech-nology Group Limited, aprovider of inlet filtrationsolutions for the power gen-eration, oil and gas andmarine industries.

Gresham Private Equity, aregionally based UK mid-market private equity firm, isa majority stakeholder in thebusiness. The transaction,subject to customary closingconditions, is expected toclose at the beginning of Feb-ruary 2006.

Based in Alton, UK andwith operations in Louisville,Kentucky, Altair has a globalsales force and customer base.Established in 1966, the com-pany’s technology has beeninstalled in more than 2,000units worldwide.

GE Energy’s existing port-folio of environmental servicescovers a broad range of applica-tions, including gas turbine airfiltration, fuel and air monitor-ing and conditioning, combus-tion control, post-combustioncontrol construction and pollu-tant monitoring and testing.

“Adding Altair’s expertise,experience and leading tech-nology will further expand ourofferings in the environmentalservices arena,” said DanHeintzelman, president of GEEnergy's services business. “Itwill enhance our technologyportfolio by strengthening oursystems and filtration capabili-ties, giving our customers morecomplete pre-combustion airquality solutions.”

WORLD CEMSMARKET TO

EXCEED US$583MILLION IN 2009

The market for continuousemissions monitoring sys-tems (CEMS) to measurepollutants discharged fromstacks will rise to US$583million/yr in 2009, says “AirPollution Monitoring andSampling World Markets”, areport supplied by the US-based McIlvaine Company.

This rise is due primarilyto increased activity in coal-fired power generation, thereport says. This includes theconstruction of many newcoal-fired plants in China andthe US, while even countriesthat are strong advocates ofgreenhouse gas reduction,such as the UK and Germany,are also planning to build newcoal-fired plants, leading to asurge in new coal-fired genera-tion across the world, McIl-vaine claims.

Another big factor isreportedly the retrofitting ofNOx and SO2 control equip-ment at existing power plantsin Eastern Europe, China, andthe US Each of these installa-tions will require additionalmonitors to aid in process con-trol. While China and the USwill be the biggest purchasers,many countries will also beretrofitting systems to removeNOx and SO2. In countriessuch as Chile where there areconversions back from naturalgas to coal, CEMS needs willbe extensive, the report claims.