Projects are returning in these pandemic times

As for many companies, 2020 has been a particular year for ACS, though the impact of the pandemic has shown to be different among geographies and, particularly, business areas.

Regarding ongoing projects whose installation and commissioning works were about to start in the first quarter, some important ones were postponed due to local imposed restrictions due to the coronavirus. That was especially the case in France and Argentina.

However, most projects in our pipeline for delivery have not suffered major delays given that ACS three main fabrication partners in Portugal, Brazil and Malaysia have kept their workshops running the whole time. We appreciate all their efforts to overcome these difficult times.

Concerning new orders, the year started with a lot of traction in January and February, followed by two very bad months where uncertainty settled among clients. In April we already felt many enquiries returning to our e-mails, especially from North America and from the UK. Food and pharmaceutical applications came first. Energy related projects followed immediately after. In June activity went almost back to normal.

Despite the drawbacks, we have been involved in many interesting projects. Our partner Basuki in Indonesia ordered four end-stage systems for boiler plants with several types of fuel, including coal, castor cake, palm shell and rice husk. Biomass combustion was also the driving force in France for company Burguet where ACS hurricane HR cyclones will enable the use of a bag filter to comply with very strict emission limits. A similar project is being fulfilled by ACS and partner company Norbidel in Portugal.

The best geography for this application has been Canada, following great results in past projects with our partner Ecotherma. The first system to be installed was in Clermond Hamel sawmill where our hurricane RE cyclones have exempted an ESP to comply with local emission limits for a wood chip boiler. Next we got a second order for existing client Fontaine Lumber and a new order for company LaFontaine Lumber for a new KMW boiler. More recently, a fourth project in Canada was secured for company Cedrico Lumber in Quebec where our target is to lower emissions of an existing Vyncke boiler.

Still in biomass and in the drying application, we see a very active market in North America, particularly in the US with many enquiries we are studying in detail. Nevertheless, our first project in 2020 has been for company Bedmax- Shavings in the UK where ACS is guaranteeing emissions of 50mg/Nm3 after a rotary dryer with our hurricane AT cyclones.

In the Waste to Energy area, we are working together with company WTEnergy for high temperature high efficiency cyclones for a meat and bones gasification plant.

In the product recovery area, we are also involved in several projects. In the fertilizer business, Nutrien, the leading company in the manufacturing of potash trusted ACS to supply a hurricane RE cyclone system to reduce emissions after a fluid bed dryer. This will be the first of a series of projects aiming to eliminate ESPs in several operating plants.

The first half of 2020 has also been quite active in the pharmaceutical area, especially for company Hovione for whom ACS supplied multiple high efficiency cyclones to enhance the capture of fine pharmaceutical powder. We are also very pleased to be supplying a second system for Merck US, following a very successful first project.

As a final note, we proudly announce that ACS high efficiency cyclones were the chosen technology for the collection of a pharmaceutical component to incorporate in a Covid-19 antiviral drug. The manufacturing process, which is led by one of ACS European clients, includes Spray Drying and ACS Hurricane cyclones for maximum efficiency on powder collection.