TechnoSub
TECHNOSUB TURN MUD INTO WATER
Formerly a simple pump repair workshop, TechnoSub is now a world-class player in pumping or "dewatering" and water management in mines. One of its flagship products, the MudWizard, is used around the world. And this is only the beginning, because the Rouyn-Noranda SME wants to become a clean tech in its own right.
The MudWizard is a sludge treatment system used in underground mines, but also, increasingly, in large civil works, including the construction of long tunnels.
"As the name suggests, the MudWizard turns a miner into a mud magician," said Patrick Martel, vice president of integrated solutions and innovation.
"The miner can transform the mud into clarified water," he says. Water is pumped more easily to the surface. It takes a lot less energy. It's less greenhouse gas [GHG] produced by isolated mines that run on diesel generators. " - Patrick Martel, Vice President Integrated Solutions and Innovation, at TechnoSub
One of the secrets behind the MudWizard technology lies in particular in a tablet created in partnership with an external laboratory. This famous pellet, the size of an egg, accelerates the decantation process, that is to say the separation of liquid and solid in the mud.
The MudWizard, for example, was used in extremis in Mexico, where a mine filled with water and mud threatened the health of a village. But this Quebec technology, which sells for between 50,000 and 1.5 million dollars, has also found takers in Ecuador, the United States, France, Hong Kong and, more recently, Australia.
THE FUTURE DEPENDS ON INNOVATION
The SME of 190 employees, including 130 in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, still repairs some 1,500 pumps per year. And it still distributes some foreign brands. But it also manufactures its own pumps from A to Z. It has therefore put innovation at the heart of its activities in recent years.
“The MudWizard took us six years to market, because we were doing part-time innovation. We found that we should have taken it out much more quickly. So we decided to make full-time innovation. We have a team of seven dedicated to it. And we invest 3% of our turnover annually in R&D. ” - Patrick Martel, Vice President Integrated Solutions and Innovation, at TechnoSub
In addition, the Abitibian SME has just obtained the label of the Solar Impulse Foundation . Created by the Swiss inventor Bertrand Piccard, this label aims to set up a list of 1000 inventions good for the planet, but with commercial potential. The MudWizard is part of this prestigious list.
"It gives us access to many clean tech people," says Patrick Martel, mechanical engineer. And that's what we want to turn to. We want to become a reference on a global scale. "
Founded in 1983 by Yvan Blais, TechnoSub changed its business strategy in 2009 with the arrival of Patrick Martel and Éric Beaupré. From then on, the SME formed teams of engineers and technicians capable of acting quickly in the “dewatering” of mines.
Present in 70% of mines in Canada, it has offices across the country. "When a client calls us for an emergency, we can provide him with pumping service in less than 24 hours, no matter where he is in Canada," says Patrick Martel.
Source: https://plus.lapresse.ca/screens/d28dd1c0-94c0-4785-b779-9b2d6e90f6e7__7C___0.html?fbclid=IwAR1VDyi9lAN8QGIjnAbwTIP0NODCaafUIc4DeSaxWhW53sADCJJ4-dGrBWA