Nalco India Ltd, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Nalco Company, is to set up an R&D unit at its Konnagar plant in Hooghly, with an yearly production of 1,100 tons of specialised chemicals, as a centre for development of the 3D TRASAR technology.

According to company officials, the 3D TRASAR system is an automated way of managing cooling water technology, which has 4,000 installations worldwide, including 35 in the country. “There is a huge market potential here with steel industries and petrochemicals coming up in the state,” said Alok Kumar Bhadra, country-marketing manager of Nalco India Limited, at “Showcase US”, a seminar organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce. Five American companies deliberated on issues related to water management at the seminar and showcased their products and services.

Representatives of Dow Water Solutions, another subsidiary of a US enterprise, are marketing ADSORBSIA, a titanium-based arsenic removal media, in the state. “We are talking with the government of West Bengal for the arsenic treatment product,” said Chrys Fernandes, general manager-new business development, Dow Water Solutions.

Fernandes did not, however, elaborate on the issue saying they are providing to a client, who in turn, is providing services to the government.

The seminar saw other US companies like Certainteed Corporation, a company providing speciality services for mining and port operations; YSI Incorporated that provides facilities like water quality and instrumentation and Clearbook Water filters.