In the wake of a pollution-induced water system shutdown in Harbin, China, Pionetics Corp. announced a joint venture with Elantec of Beijing, China under which the two companies will manufacture and sell the LINX Drinking Water System for the Chinese market. Under the terms of the deal, Pionetics gains a strong foothold in the world’s largest market for home water purification systems, and Elantec, which has about 20% of the Chinese market, obtains a totally new water purification system that wastes 80% less water during the purification process and works very well under conditions of low water pressure, which are typical throughout China. Elantec is projecting 50,000 LINX systems in sales for 2006, rising to 150,000 in 2007.
“Water is an expensive commodity in China, so we are very excited about being able to offer Chinese consumers a water purification system that uses only a tenth as much water during the purification process when compared with traditional reverse osmosis systems,” said Dan Wang, CEO of Elantec. “And given the water purity challenges present in a country that is rapidly industrializing, we believe that a highly efficient purification system like LINX will be very popular here.”
LINX is the only water purification system in the world with Dial-A-Taste, a control that allows users to regulate the level of dissolved minerals in purified water to vary the taste to their liking. With a twist of the dial, users can adjust the water taste over a range from a very neutral flavor for cooking or coffee making to a highly mineral flavor for drinking.
LINX uses ion exchange membrane powered by electricity to remove impurities from water and works just as efficiently at low water pressures. Thanks to the higher water volume delivered by LINX, the system also does away with the bulky under-sink storage tank. In addition, with its simple and efficient approach to water treatment, LINX is also easy to maintain. Each of its two cartridges can process up to 1,000 gal of water – enough for a year or more of average use in the kitchen.
“Pure, delicious drinking water becomes a scarcer commodity every day, particularly in developing countries like China,” said Mark Stephenson, CEO of Pionetics. “The LINX system is the first product in decades to apply new scientific breakthroughs to solving this problem, and we are anxious to offer it to the Chinese market.” Elantec expects to begin shipping LINX units to Chinese customers in March of 2006.
Source: Pionetics Corp.
