History
Nafion was developed as an improved material for electrolysis membranes in chlor-alkali production, where salt solutions are separated for production of chlorine and sodium hydroxide. While its extreme corrosion resistance was required for this application, Nafion’s very selective permeation by water was a serendipitous development. Perma Pure was founded in 1972 to exploit these properties for gas drying and humidifying applications.
Perma Pure purchased a license from DuPont for the technology to manufacture tubing from Nafion in 1978 and remains the sole manufacturer of Nafion tubing. In 1992, the founder retired and Halma Holdings, the North American arm of London-based Halma plc, acquired Perma Pure. Under Halma’s direction, Perma Pure has expanded its operations to include a wide range of gas sample conditioning products. Today, Perma Pure dominates the worldwide market for drying breath and is rapidly expanding its share of the high-performance gas conditioning market.
Halma p.l.c., the parent company of Perma Pure, is a holding company with subsidiaries operating predominantly in the following market sectors:
- environmental control
- fire detection
- gas detection
- safety
- security
Halma was founded in 1894, but its present era of expansion into these target market sectors began in 1972. Since that time Halma has won several Queen’s awards for environmental services while consistently growing for the last 25 years.
A Halma head office team sets policy guidelines and provides financial and publicity services to operating subsidiaries. Subsidiaries are based in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Brazil, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, China and Singapore.
