Hamon Research-Cottrell heritage
Hamon Research-Cottrell: the US company and the European organization are not the same
If you operate a Hamon Research-Cottrell electrostatic precipitator or a Hamon Environmental flue gas treatment system, the ownership changes in 2022 left an important question: where does the engineering knowledge for your installation reside today? The answer depends on a distinction that is easy to miss. Hamon organized its air pollution control activities into two separate organizations, which ultimately went in different directions.
Two organizations, documented by Hamon
Hamon's annual reports separated the activity into two business units:
Air Pollution Control & Heat Recovery - NAFTA
The North American organization (United States, Canada, Mexico), operating through Hamon Research-Cottrell, Inc. Strong in power generation, utilities, coal, steel and refining.
Signature technologies: Hi-R electrostatic precipitators, MIGI rapping, Low Pressure High Volume (LPHV) baghouse filters and a large US utility installed base.
Air Pollution Control - EMEA / Brazil
The European-led organization, headed by Hamon Research-Cottrell SA in Belgium, covering Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South America and a growing Asian market through a network of subsidiaries.
Documented centers of excellence: ESP and DeSOx in Belgium and Germany, baghouse filters in China and an engineering centre in India.
Where each organization went in 2022
The assets of the US entity, Hamon Research-Cottrell, Inc., were acquired by Babcock & Wilcox through a Chapter 11 asset sale in the United States. Babcock & Wilcox owns the assets of that North American business.
The European organization - Hamon Research-Cottrell SA (Belgian enterprise number BE 0401.881.292, incorporated in 1929) and Hamon Environmental Europe - was not included in that acquisition. Its engineering expertise, project records and former engineers are now at Studybel and Leroux & Lotz Technologies.
Addition, not substitution
The European organization was not a regional copy of the American organization. It had fully mastered the American-origin Hamon Research-Cottrell technologies - Hi-R and MIGI electrostatic precipitators, electrodes, collecting plates, HV frames, insulators, rappers, T/R sets, controllers and gas distribution - and delivered, retrofitted and rebuilt them worldwide outside North America. On top of that base, it added its own European technologies:
- Compact electrostatic precipitators
- Mechanical rotating / tumbling-hammer rapping systems (shafts, anvils, geared motors)
- Medium-pressure pulse-jet baghouse filters, in addition to LPHV
- Complete chemical flue gas treatment (dry and semi-dry; lime and bicarbonate injection; activated carbon; HCl, HF, SOx, dioxins and heavy metals)
- DeNOx
- Turnkey multi-pollutant systems for waste-to-energy, incineration and biomass
The European organization therefore covered the broader technology and market scope - American-origin heritage + European technologies + a worldwide network - while the North American organization was a strong but regional business. Acquiring the US entity does not, by itself, confer compact-ESP and tumbling-hammer know-how, waste-to-energy and biomass expertise, or responsibility for markets outside North America.
What this means for your installation
For a Hamon Research-Cottrell or Hamon Environmental installation outside North America, the original engineering was produced by the European organization. Studybel:
- Audits, troubleshoots and diagnoses these installations
- Supplies parts to the original design, based on the direct experience of former Hamon Research-Cottrell SA engineers and the available technical documentation
- Reverse-engineers obsolete or undocumented components
- Performs retrofit, modernization and rebuild work, with EPC execution through Boccard and combustion-to-stack integration through Leroux & Lotz Technologies
Studybel does not claim OEM status or rights to the Hamon Research-Cottrell trademark. Its position is based on the European engineering heritage and the people who carry that expertise today.