XYLEM Africa, a subsidiary of Xylem LLC, congratulate Brendan van Wyk, its Treatment Project Manager, for receiving the Best Paper Award at the 2020 Pulping, Engineering, Environmental, Recycling and Sustainability (PEERS) Conference.
His winning paper, “Use of Ozone for Cooling Towers,” was presented at the US-based conference by colleague Alexis Métais, where it sufficiently impressed the PEERS technical committee to award it best of the show, beating over 75 papers presented during the conference’s 3-day period.
“I am very honoured to be able to receive such an award, and have to thank Harald Staple and Alexis Metais for their assistance in receiving this,” said Van Wyk.
His was one of several papers presented to attendees from the worldwide pulp, paper, packaging, tissue and converting industries. PEERS is hosted by TAPPI, the leading global association of those industries. Through information exchange, events, trusted content and networking opportunities, TAPPI helps members elevate their performance by providing solutions that lead to better, faster and more cost-effective ways of doing business. It has provided management training and networking to the industry’s leaders for more than 100 years.
Van Wyk’s paper explored the possibilities of using ozone in cooling applications for several of the sectors TAPPI represents; supported by the extensive R&D Xylem contributes towards new ozone-related innovations for a cleaner, greener and more sustainable world. His award is a demonstration not only of Xylem’s leadership in innovation. It also underscores that Xylem Africa is home to fantastic talent and expertise, and is a world-class player in various sectors to provide sustainability through water as well as other areas, such as ozone.
Van Wyk was due to receive the award as part of a gala ceremony, but the COVID-19 pandemic changed those plans. Instead, TAPPI is having his award manufactured and presented locally.
The win reinforces Xylem’s vision to create more sustainable and cost-effective solutions around cooling, sanitisation and sustainability, reducing reliance on chemicals. It is at the forefront in developing and deploying ozone treatments systems for water, wastewater and other uses, with products such as the Wedeco modular ozone system and industrial-scale PDOevo ozone system.
