A FULL CIRCLE SOLUTION

Since the last edition of A Pure World, we have seen Jacobi Group’s third business unit, Jacobi Services, grow substantially. In this article we explore the history of Jacobi Services as well as its current success.

JACOBI SERVICES PROVIDES mobile filter units to be used in liquid and gas treatments at customers’ sites, along with all the legwork required to get these filters, and the carbon and/or resins used inside them, up and running. This includes lab testing, all the logistics involved in physically moving the filters and media, installation and troubleshooting,  as well as the reactivation, or correct disposal, of spent carbon after treatment. The culmination of all three divisions means that jacobi can provide customers with a full-circle solution to their problems, rather than simply supplying products to them.

The History of Jacobi Services

We began to see demand for mobile filter units, or MFUs, a little over a decade ago and decided to dip our toes into the water, experiencing what was initially a small, local, and humble success in this area.

Having explored the market, several members of Jacobi teams in Europe saw potential here and began to push the project further. Starting off with small vessels, the fleet grew in both number and filter volume. From here, Jacobi Services grew exponentially, and today, we see hundreds of filters flow through our French plant, Vierzon, and have begun the build of a new, larger site which will hugely expand our reactivation capabilities.

Growth and Success

The success of Jacobi Services was, in the beginning, scattered around France, however, today we see MFUs all over Europe with many in use in several industries within a 100km radius of Vierzon. There are hundreds of Jacobi Services filters in place in France, Germany, Sweden and Spain.

EMEA Business Development Director, Jan Reinier Gosker, put the rapid success and growth of Jacobi Services down to the provision of complete solutions for customers. Activated carbon and its effective use is incredibly technical, requiring a lot of application know-how to make the multi-step cycles function effectively. The benefit of services to our customers is that this work is done for them, from filter testing right through to repairs and removal.

“Typically, a business provides a product or a service,” said Jan Reinier. “We can do both. We’ll provide multiple products – both activated carbons and resins – that we can use within the filter, plus everything you need to make it work. We’re unique in being able provide all three aspects.”

Of course, it is not always plain sailing and growing a multi-million Euro business within the footprint of a plant built in 1956 has presented challenges to our teams on many occasions. Hard-working and innovative teams have counteracted such challenges, continually pushing forwards to find solutions. As well as taking a proactive approach, the company has invested and continues to invest significantly in the growth of services.

Milestones – A Growing Fleet

Towards the latter end of 2024, we saw the 1000th filter leave Premnitz – a hugely significant achievement for those who have spent ten years improving our services offering for customers and a signal to all that this service is highly in demand.

“I am obviously proud of how far we have come to diversify Jacobi Carbons France’s activities and become the leader and role model for Jacobi Group in the MFU sales growth,” said Usman Saeed, EMEA Director of Operations.  “I stay humble in our success knowing that we have a long way to go with fierce competition on the French soil. I am convinced that we will set the stage with the ramp up of our new site, Jacobi Services Vierzon.”

The Future of Jacobi Services

The markets we work within are incredibly dynamic and it is imperative that Jacobi keeps abreast of the rapidly changing landscapes within them. As an ambitious company, we hope to continue to grow across all markets, although we are expecting to see more growth in some specific areas.

For example, the biogas market. The production of biogas involves taking organic waste and converting it into fuel. This is a far more sustainable method of energy generation than traditional fossil fuels and, with awareness of environmental concerns ever increasing, this is something we are expecting to see more frequently in the near future.

Another filter hits the road off to a customer's site.

In a similar vein, awareness of PFAS within water supplies is also increasing and consequently, legislation across Europe is becoming tighter. We expect to see more activity within both municipal water treatment and industrial soil remediation related to PFAS removal. The same applies to the removal of pesticides and pharmaceuticals from drinking water.

Regulations related to air quality are expected to update soon, in France specifically, and we anticipate many more requests for air treatment also.

Development has begun on Jacobi’s newest site, a waste handling and industrial reactivation plant just seven kilometres away from the current production plant in Vierzon. This site will vastly improve our reactivation capabilities.

Lastly, we will be investing heavily in modernising production tools. We know that this is a must in facilitating the work of our production teams and provides a boost in morale and business growth too.

Sustainability in Services

Awareness and a desire to work more sustainably, for both our customers and our people here at Jacobi allows us to be more active within the services market. This encompasses two aspects: wanting to operate more sustainably and thus seeking out more environmentally friendly services such as reactivation with more vigor and determination, and the growth of markets that serve a sustainable purpose, air and water quality, or the production of biogas, for example. As such, the markets we serve often serve an environmentally related purpose themselves.

Reactivation is a key service. It will be located centrally in Europe and so will be able to provide support to our sister companies in the Nordic countries, Germany, Italy and Spain. This presents an advantage in terms of lead times for our customers and also means a lower carbon footprint for them too, as large filter vessels are travelling shorter distances.

At the heart of reactivation, though, is the lower global warming potential of reactivated carbon. Following various studies, we know that using reactivated carbon results in a far lower global warming potential than buying virgin carbon every time. Our new site means that our reactivation capacity will vastly increase.

Jacobi Services endeavours to make this the easiest option for customers by providing all that’s required, not only the reactivation itself but all other handling of spent media and logistics involved, to make the process as smooth as possible for our customers. Reactivation poses a much more sustainable option for all parties and is also far more cost-effective with no negative effects on efficiency either. It’s a win-win solution all round.

 “During my time at Jacobi, I have seen the market demand for an easy plug & play solution for mobile filter units increase exponentially. They want a system they can rely on to plug into their plant, run and have removed,” Jacobi’s EMEA Sales Director, Denis-Vincent Ulvoas told us. “Jacobi Carbons is a manufacturer that has developed new products and solutions which fulfil customers’ expectations and addresses their challenges and so we are able to provide a true turn-key service.”

If you would like to find out more about the different applications that Jacobi Services business can assist with, be it PFAS removal, biogas purification or many of the other sustainable applications we serve, you can visit our dedicated website.