United Envirotech forms JV with Beijing Drainage Equipment for membrane assembly plant in China

United Envirotech (UEL) has signed an agreement with Beijing Drainage Equipment (BDE), to form a joint-venture (JV) with a total paid up capital of RMB48m ($7.8m).

BDE is a unit of the state-owned wastewater utility Beijing Drainage Group (BDG).

UEL will own a 49% stake in the JV while BDE will own a 51% share.

The JV has plans to invest RMB48m ($19.5m) for developing a new facility with initial capacity for assembling two million square metres of membrane fibres into membrane modules.

The JV will be acquiring the membrane fibres from UEL’s subsidiary Memstar.

Construction for the new facility is expected to start immediately.

UEL chairman and CEO Dr Lin Yucheng said: "BDG is a top wastewater treatment SOE in China.

"It is the leading water player in Beijing.

"The market for upgrading of Beijing’s water and wastewater treatment plants is estimated to be worth RMB20bn.

"Membrane technology is definitely one of the best technologies for plant upgrading and wastewater recycling.

"BDG has conducted extensive evaluation on Memstar’s membrane products, which have been used in its Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) projects.

"We are honoured to be chosen by BDG, which has used and tested many different membrane products from both local and international suppliers."