Pionetics And Elantec Partner To Build Drinking Water System In China

Highly Efficient Home Water Purification Systems Deliver Superior Water Taste and Purity at Lower Cost for Chinese Consumers

San Carlos, CA — In the wake of a pollution-induced water system shutdown in Harbin, China, Pionetics Corporation today announced a joint venture with Elantec of Beijing, China under which the two companies will manufacture and sell the LINX Drinking Water System for the Chinese market. Under the terms of the deal, Pionetics gains a strong foothold in the world's largest market for home water purification systems, and Elantec, which has about 20 percent of the Chinese market, obtains a totally new water purification system that wastes 80 percent less water during the purification process and works very well under conditions of low water pressure, which are typical throughout China. Elantec is projecting 50,000 LINX systems in sales for 2006, rising to 150,000 in 2007.

"Water is an expensive commodity in China, so we are very excited about being able to offer Chinese consumers a water purification system that uses only a tenth as much water during the purification process when compared with traditional reverse osmosis systems," said Dan Wang, CEO of Elantec. "And given the water purity challenges present in a country that is rapidly industrializing, we believe that a highly efficient purification system like LINX will be very popular here."

LINX System Lowers Costs, Higher Volume
The LINX Drinking Water System is a breakthrough in water purification that promises better-tasting water with lower costs and higher efficiency than ever before possible. Designed to replace bulky systems based on decades-old reverse osmosis (RO) technology, the compact LINX delivers purer water in higher volume with less wasted water than any other product on the market, works well under low water pressure conditions, and is the only water purification system that allows users to adjust the taste of their purified water to suit their individual palates.

Unlike other methods that use harmful chemicals, LINX purifies water using only clean, efficient electricity and a proprietary ion exchange membrane to remove perchlorate, nitrites, nitrates, Arsenic III and V, potassium, lead, and other contaminants from water along with 90 percent of total dissolved solids.

LINX is the only water purification system in the world with Dial-A-Taste(TM), a control that allows users to regulate the level of dissolved minerals in purified water to vary the taste to their liking. With a twist of the dial, users can adjust the water taste over a range from a very neutral flavor for cooking or coffee making to a highly mineral flavor for drinking.

Rather than requiring the use of harmful chemicals such as hydrochloric acid or sodium hydroxide, LINX uses ion exchange membrane powered by electricity to remove impurities from water. In addition, LINX works just as efficiently at low water pressures, while other purification systems require booster pumps or don't work at all. Because the LINX ionization process is so efficient, the LINX system delivers nearly twenty times as much water volume (1.9 liters/minute vs. .1 liter/minute at 60psi), uses one tenth as much waste water, and eliminates more hazardous chemicals (such as Arsenic III and V) when compared against reverse osmosis systems. Thanks to the higher water volume delivered by LINX, the system also does away with the bulky under-sink storage tank that wastes space and provides a breeding ground for water-borne bacteria in reverse osmosis systems.

With its simpler and far more efficient approach to water treatment, LINX is also easier to maintain. Each of its two cartridges can process up to 1,000 gallons of water -- enough for a year or more of average use in the kitchen.

"Pure, delicious drinking water becomes a scarcer commodity every day, particularly in developing countries like China," said Mark Stephenson, CEO of Pionetics. "The LINX system is the first product in decades to apply new scientific breakthroughs to solving this problem, and we are anxious to offer it to the Chinese market."

Elantec expects to begin shipping LINX units to Chinese customers in March of 2006.

SOURCE: Pionetics Corporation