Mr. Jerome Barrillon
President, Residential Filtration, Marmon Water, USA
Mr. Jerome Barrillon, an experienced business leader, has managed manufacturing businesses for Ahlstrom, ITW and the Marmon Group. Over the last 25 years, Jerome has spent over half of it connected to the world of filtration, first with Ahlstrom, both in France and in the US, and more recently with KX Technologies, part of the Marmon Group. Jerome currently leads the Residential Filtration business of Marmon Water, which produces drinking water filters for the world’s leading OEMs, focusing primarily on activated carbon technologies. Under his tenure for the past 8 years, Marmon’s business in Residential Filtration has more than doubled, and it currently supplies products globally, with manufacturing in the US, Singapore and India. Jerome is a global citizen, holding both French and American nationalities, an avid traveler and foodie, and an evangelist for how proper water filtration can be a game changer for many communities around the world.
The topic will be presented by Mr. Rob Astle, the Vice President of Innovation and Technology for Marmon Water – Residential Filtration (USA), which is a company that sells POU drinking water products to OEM customers. Mr. Astle has a strong passion for water purification and filtration and has over 30 years’ experience in the industry. In that time, he has served diverse markets and is an expert in current and emerging aqueous separations technologies. In addition to holding a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Electrochemical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University, Rob has over 26 issued patents and multiple patents pending in the water purification space.
Dec 6, 2023, 8:10AM–8:25AM EST
PFAS: Challenges and Opportunities for the Global Water Filtration Industry
Scientists have discovered an alarming prevalence of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) substances in natural water and drinking water around the world. These compounds are known as ‘forever chemicals’ because once they are created, they do not naturally decompose. It takes an extraordinary amount of energy to break the carbon fluorine bonds. As such, these chemicals have accumulated in the environment, and are known to bioaccumulate, or accumulate in the bodies of living things, including humans.
Now, toxicology studies indicate that these contaminants pose health risks at trace levels, and the USEPA has established a MCLG (Maximum Contaminant Level Goal) in the parts per quadrillion levels! It is not currently possible to measure quantities in this range.
As Regulators now race to define and implement enforceable MCL’s, Municipal Water suppliers are struggling to find affordable solutions to remove and properly dispose PFAS from drinking water. And, roughly 15% of households in the US are served by private wells, which are not regulated, but still need PFAS removal and disposal solutions.
This changing landscape could change the paradigm of Centralized treatment. Is there a place for (Decentralized) Managed POU Treatment in the home? It is theoretically more affordable in many cases to treat just the water for drinking and cooking at the POU vs. treating all water Centrally. Remaining rigid on requiring Centralized treatment will have large financial implications and potential raise social justice issues.