Leading French Filtration Technology company looking for UK partners

Phil Black - PII Editor 22/01/2014

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TAMI Industries of France is a leader in filtration technology and a specialist in advanced ceramic membranes used across a wide range of industries: the company is looking for partners in the UK, where it wants to develop its business. TAMI Industries already has subsidiaries in Germany, North America, China and Mexico, with 90% of its sales coming from exports.

The ceramic membranes developed by TAMI Industries are a high-performance product with elevated permeability, wide-range selectivity, superior mechanical resistance, and high chemical/thermal stability. TAMI Industries is currently seeking partners in the UK for the promotion and the technical support of its range of products and technologies.

TAMI Industries’ R&D department is constantly working on the development of new inorganic membranes: this sustained investment in research and development on the part of TAMI Industries has resulted in the design and development of patented high-tech tubular ceramic membranes that have truly unique characteristics.

The advantage of the non-circular filtering channels adopted by TAMI Industries — channels that are geometrically shaped like petals — is that they allow for the optimisation of the filtration performance. While maintaining a standard outside diameter of the membrane, the filtration surface area is thus made larger. Additionally, TAMI industries has upgraded to titanium dioxide in the fabrication of its membranes — a material that is bio-compatible, with the added benefit that it is highly resistant to a wide range of chemical agents. At present, TAMI Industries is the only manufacturer capable of producing this type of high-performance ceramic membrane on an industrial scale.

Thanks to such technological advances, it is possible to cut energy costs while reducing exploitation and maintenance costs too. In addition, the dimensions of the membranes developed by TAMI Industries are compatible with all existing installations equipped with ceramic membranes, which allows for the easy upgrading of existing industrial plants: this can be done through the replacement of the existing membranes, or thanks to a retrofitting process.

Among the industrial processes of separation, the use of ceramic membranes has become more and more common in recent years. In spite of accounting for only 10% of the crossflow filtration market worldwide, ceramic membranes are often in competition with organic membranes. However, ceramic membranes have the advantage that they ensure improved performance and durability. It should also be stressed that ceramic membranes have a high resistance to many corrosive chemical solutions and superior tolerance to an array of temperatures and pH values, while providing excellent mechanical resistance to pressure.

Key applications for TAMI Industries’ ceramic membranes can be found across a diverse range of sectors. In the food-and-drink industry, ceramic membranes can be used in the cold debacterialization of milk as well as the fractionation, standardization and concentration of milk proteins and lactoserum (WPI/ WPC). Such membranes are also used in the clarification of juices (made out of fruit or vegetables), wine, cider and sweet juices.

In the pharmaceuticals and bio-industrial sectors, ceramic membranes are essential in the clarification of fermentation broths — for the production of organic acids, antibiotics, enzymes, vitamins, etc. — and in the production of natural extracts from plants, including seaweed.

Finally, in the environmental sector, ceramic membranes are key in the treatment of industrial effluents and, also, in the separation of oily water emulsions. Other applications include the treatment of laundry wastewater and the processing of effluents generated by paper mills, ink-printing processes and the textile industry, among others.