NAPERVILLE, IL - Nalco has opened a new corporate office and research and development facility in Pune, India. The $8.5 million, 60,000-square-foot facility will serve as the headquarters for sales, marketing and supply-chain operations for NLC Nalco India Ltd. as well as house a new state-of-the-art technology and innovation center. The Pune laboratory will eventually employ more than 100 engineers and chemists.

"Pune Center will become one of Nalco's major innovation hubs for water and energy technologies. Its immediate focus will be to provide technical support to our energy upstream (oil field) and downstream (refinery and chemical processing) customers throughout the eastern hemisphere, including the Asia-Pacific region, the Caspian, Middle East, North Sea and West Africa," said Manian Ramesh, Nalco's Chief Technology Officer. "It will focus on troubleshooting and customer problem solving areas and will transform into another Center of Innovation for Energy in addition to our Sugar Land, TX, laboratories. The Pune Center will also focus on water and process research by developing integrated solutions that uniquely combine chemistry, engineering, equipment, performance data and service automation. It will build water sustainability solutions for our global customers, incorporating leading research done at our Naperville, IL, center."

In addition, a global knowledge solutions group will develop advanced modeling tools for water, wastewater and thermal-energy systems. These models will help identify areas of improvement in industrial water use, recycling and energy conservation.

“The Pune technology center includes an advanced analytical laboratory that will provide diagnostic services to a broad range of customers,” said Peter Scrivener, Managing Director for NLC Nalco India Ltd. "Within the next year, we plan to expand Pune's capabilities by adding a microbiology services laboratory."

The Pune center, under the leadership of R&D Director Hari Reddy, will be an integral part of Nalco's innovation network and will collaborate with existing Nalco laboratories in the United States, Europe, China and Brazil.