The 15th International Desalination Association (IDA) 2015 World Congress on Desalination and Water Reuse, which meets once in two years and brings together government agencies, plant engineering companies, membrane manufacturers, etc. from various countries, was held from August 30 to September 4, 2015 in San Diego, United States. Toray Group was able to showcase its strong presence in the field with a Group member being appointed as the president of the association and a series of initiatives such as being the main sponsor.
San Diego is where Toray Membrane USA, Inc. (TMUS), the base of Toray's water treatment business in the Americas, is located and is also the place of origin of the desalination technology (seawater desalination, etc.) using reverse-osmosis (RO) membranes. At the World Congress this year, Emilio Gabbrielli of the Global Sales Team of Toray's Water Treatment Division was elected as the president of IDA. He has been involved with the water treatment business for more than 40 years including his tenure at international institutions and has been with Toray since 2009.
Also, with Toray becoming one of the main sponsors this time, we were able to put up a quintessentially American show of a skydiver bearing Toray's banner dropping into the venue. In the technology front, announcement of five projects including "Advanced RO Membrane for High Temperature and High Concentration Desalination at the Arabian Gulf" by Masahide Taniguchi, Chief Technology Associate in the Water Treatment System Dept., attracted attention of the participants and enabled us to showcase a Toray backed by high technological ability.
