■ The firm will supply its pump turbochargers to what will be the world’s largest reverse osmosis water purification plant.

BY CHARLES SLAT

ctslat@monroenews.com

Pump Engineering Inc. (PEI) has won a major con­tract to supply equipment to a huge new water purifica­tion plant in Algeria.

The company, which inau­gurated its new headquar­ters in Huron Township today, will supply 25 of its advanced technology hy­draulic turbochargers to Hyflux Ltd., a Singapore firm that will design, build and operate the water plant in Magtaa, on the north­west coast of Algeria.

The reverse osmosis plant will turn seawater into potable water at the rate of 500,000 cubic meters a day, making it the world’s largest. The turbochargers will be delivered next year and the plant will start op­erating in 2011.

“This is a monumental project for the (reverse osmosis) industry and a strong statement for PEI’s Advanced Technology TurboChargers utilizing the Volute Insert technol­ogy,” said Kevin Terrasi, PEI’s vice president of engineering. “The evalu­ation process included a very in-depth study into energy efficiency, ease of operation, simplicity, and reliability, as well as long­term benefits. We think it is great that PEI’s tech­nology has been chosen for this landmark project and we believe when the industry does this type of in-depth analysis the suc­cess at Magtaa is a sign of what’s to come.”

“That’s fantastic,” said William Morris, president of the Monroe County Industrial Development Corp., a private-public partnership that tries to help industries settle or expand in the county. The IDC hosted PEI in its early years as the first tenant of a small-business incubator building on W. Hurd Rd. in Frenchtown Township, where the company still has operations.

“I think it’s a real suc­cess story,” Mr. Morris said of PEI. “We’ve been with them since their infancy and worked with them quite closely. I would have much rather seen them ex­pand here in the county, of course, but we wish them nothing but success in their new venture.”

Larry Pelegrin, PEI vice president of sales and mar­keting, congratulated both Hyflux and PEI for the hard work and analysis that led to the selection of the PEI turbochargers. “The detailed engineering analysis and life-cycle cost calculations of the energy recovery alternatives left no stone unturned,” he said. “Magtaa will be a bench­mark for future (energy re­covery) device selections.”

Data about energy recov­ery device technology pub­lished by Global Water Intel­ligence in September shows TurboCharger technology market share growth out­pacing isobaric technology.

PEI’s growth rate of 666 percent from 2005 to 2009, year-to-date, leads all energy recovery device suppliers.

PEI has been providing energy recovery devices for sea water desalination and brackish water reverse osmosis for nearly 25 years and is developing other mar­kets in gas and liquid pro­cessing.

PEI says its Hydraulic TurboChargers and pumps are custom-designed for the client’s specific conditions.

It said its turbochargers are simple to operate, built to last, involve less pipework and have the smallest foot­print in the industry.

PEI operates in more sea­water reverse osmosis plants than any other supplier with more than 3,500 installations around the world.

The company today is showing off its new 50,000­square-foot building at Hu­ron Commerce Center, an industrial park just west of I-275 and north of Sibley Rd. in Wayne County’s Huron Township.

Formerly housing a phar­maceutical warehouse and auto parts manufacturing operation, the building sits on sits on 4.5 acres.

PEI is investing more than $4.25 million in the town­ship and expects to create at least 51 jobs over the next five years.