(Editor’s note: This is the 20th installment in a monthly series highlighting some of the region’s unsung manufacturers that make products essential to the economy and, in many cases, our way of life. See previous installments here.)
It’s a doctor’s job to safely insert medical devices into patients and before they reach the operating room, it’s AquasGroup’s job to help ensure the parts of that device have been made free of contaminants.
The East Providence-based company manufactures systems that purify, store and recycle water used in the processes needed to create medical devices that can release harmful chemicals, heavy metals, oil and grease into wastewater.
But AquasGroup’s reach goes far beyond operating rooms. The company creates systems for all kinds of precision manufacturers from aerospace and marine to automotive and controlled-environment agriculture, says Dane Sheldon, AquasGroup director of business development.
“They are very strict about not wanting any contamination introduced to the parts, whether it’s going to go into a jet engine or it’s going to go into a human body,” Sheldon said.
It’s a unique field, Sheldon says, but one AquasGroup has honed through decades in business.
AquasGroup got its start as Environmental Control Systems Inc. more than 35 years ago – that’s still the company’s legal name – working in Rhode Island’s jewelry industry.
Jewelry manufacturers often use a plating process in which a thin layer of metal coats an underlying material, but it uses a lot of water and contaminates it with dangerous chemicals. To help control that pollution, the company created wastewater management systems for platers throughout Rhode Island.
Over time, the local jewelry industry continued a decadeslong decline, and new environmental regulations made it more costly for platers to operate. Much of the work shifted overseas. So, the company pivoted to focus on recycling water instead of just treating it. The shift was reflected when the company rebranded as AquasGroup in 2008.
“We thought that the future was really recycling, not treating wastewater,” Sheldon said. “We started looking for industries that produce wastewater … parts they process are more valuable. So it allows for economical recycling.”
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DELICATE TOUCH: Devin Ross, a welder and fabricator at AquasGroup in East Providence, works on the factory floor.
PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY[/caption]
While the company still designs wastewater management systems, it’s more focused on developing water purification, recycling, recovery and storage systems. AquasGroup offers standard system platforms throughout its product lines, some of which can come with automation technology, but each system is built to order and customized according to a client’s needs, Sheldon says.
Also, a key component of some of AquasGroup’s products is what’s called “zero liquid discharge” systems, which means there is no drain needed and the water is continually repurified. Not only does the zero discharge reduce water waste, but it also lowers the client’s overhead costs and improves their processes, Sheldon says.
“Historically, all that [water] went down the drain,” Sheldon said. “We focus on closed-loop recycling systems, so saving a lot of water, [avoiding] pollution getting into the environment but also supporting process control.”
Now AquasGroup has expanded to serve major clients such as aerospace and defense giant Raytheon Co. And as clients expand their reach, AquasGroup usually grows with them, Sheldon says.
“Increasingly, we’re being pulled outside of New England because what we do is pretty niche,” Sheldon said. “There’s not a lot of companies doing what we do for as long.”
With thousands of units in use throughout the U.S. and internationally, AquasGroup has helped conserve millions of gallons of water.
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ECONOMIC MACHINE: This is one of the process rinse water recycling systems manufactured by AquasGroup that can be used for metal finishing applications. / COURTESY AQUASGROUP[/caption]
“I tell my kids we do more for the environment than most people do,” said Nicholas Paolo Jr., AquasGroup president who took over running the operation in 2002 after working for the company for several years. “I’m proud of what we do and proud of the machines we built and the impact it has on the environment and on manufacturing.”
Paolo purchased the company with Rob Sheldon, who is co-owner, vice president and father of Dane Sheldon.
AquasGroup primarily makes custom machines in different sizes, materials and technologies based on each client’s needs. This allows the company to improve sustainability through reducing water consumption and pollution without taking too much away from a customer’s bottom line, Paolo says.
Annually, AquasGroup’s team of 25 employees manufactures 20 to 50 machines, with prices for each ranging from thousands of dollars to upward of $1 million. Often they’re a complex mix of hoses and piping, containers and machinery, stainless steel and thermoplastic polymer.
Building the systems is no small feat. Dane Sheldon points to an empty space spanning the length of the company’s 12,000-square-foot fabrication site, where a single unit had been constructed before being shipped to a customer just hours before.
That unit, a massive wastewater system, had taken almost a year to construct, Sheldon says. Most units take from weeks to a year, depending on the size and complexity.
AquasGroup designs, builds and tests each system within its 38,000 square feet of office and manufacturing space that’s spread across several facilities.
One facility is focused on fabrication, where engineers can be found welding together pieces of materials such as stainless steel or PVC that have been cut specifically for a client’s project. Once the frame is complete, engineers then wire and plumb the unit so water and chemicals can move to the proper tanks.
The other facility, located just around the corner, is where the heart of the systems is kept in rows of stainless steel vessels.
There are two kinds of vessels: one that houses granular activated carbon – which is burnt coconut shells – that’s responsible for filtering organic contaminants such as oils and soap from water. The other includes a kind of resin that removes inorganic contaminants, including solid materials and metals.
The vessels serve as kind of a trash can for contaminants, Sheldon said, so when they’re full, customers return them back to AquasGroup. While they’re not infinitely replenishable, the vessels can be reused many times. This is done by the carbon getting reactivated by burning it and the resin is regenerated through a special chemical process.
In the end, through purifying and recycling water, along with reusing the carbon and resin, the waste generated through industrial processes is dramatically reduced, Sheldon said.
“It really brings the waste down to something minuscule as compared to the alternatives,” Sheldon said.
While AquasGroup is constantly shaping its processes, Sheldon says the company is keen on continuing to sharpen its systems and help manufacturers see the benefits of conserving water.
“We are definitely a company that focuses on continuing to improve the systems and solutions we provide and move the ball forward,” Sheldon said. “We’re constantly evolving.”
