BWT, registered name BWT AG, is an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n manufacturing company of

water treatment Water treatment is any process that improves the quality of water to make it appropriate for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow maintenance, water recreation or many other uses, ...

systems with its headquarters in Mondsee.

Production sites and subsidiaries

The company has four main production sites at Mondsee (Austria),

Schriesheim Schriesheim (; South Franconian: ''Schriese'') is a town located in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is part of the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis and the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region. Geography Schriesheim lies on the Bergstraße, at the western ed ...

(

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

(

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

), and Aesch (

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

), as well as numerous

subsidiaries A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unl ...

and affiliated companies, and a global distribution network.

History

BWT was founded as Benckiser Wassertechnik in 1823 by Johann Adam Benckiser in

. Following several acquisitions and mergers, the company was purchased in 1990 by Andreas Weißenbacher in a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

. The company was floated on the

Vienna Stock Exchange Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

in 1992. The WAB Group is the principal

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...

of BWT, with around 20% of

shares In financial markets, a share (sometimes referred to as stock or equity) is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation. It can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Sha ...

owned by diverse

s and roughly 6% owned by the company (as of February 2014).

Products

BWT provides products, water treatment systems and services for: * filtering and

desalination Desalination is a process that removes mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a substance. One example is Soil salinity control, soil desalination. This is important for agric ...

drinking water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

pharmaceutical Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...

and process water (pure water, ultrapure water, water for injection, et cetera), and

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

water. The pharmaceutical water division, BWT Pharma & Biotech, is headquartered in Germany near

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

. * Fuel cell and battery

membrane A membrane is a selective barrier; it allows some things to pass through but stops others. Such things may be molecules, ions, or other small particles. Membranes can be generally classified into synthetic membranes and biological membranes. Bi ...

s * Heating, boiling, and cooling water *

Ion exchange Ion exchange is a reversible interchange of one species of ion present in an insoluble solid with another of like charge present in a solution surrounding the solid. Ion exchange is used in softening or demineralizing of water, purification of ch ...

systems for demineralisation (including

water softening Water softening is the removal of calcium, magnesium, and certain other metal cations in hard water. The resulting soft water requires less soap for the same cleaning effort, as soap is not wasted bonding with calcium ions. Soft water also extend ...

) * Metering technology *

Electrolysis In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a technique that uses Direct current, direct electric current (DC) to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction. Electrolysis is commercially important as a stage in the separation of c ...

electrodialysis Electrodialysis (ED) is used to transport salt ions from one solution through ion-exchange membranes to another solution under the influence of an applied electric potential difference. This is done in a configuration called an electrodialysis ...

, and electrodeionisation

Awards and prizes

The company's filter cartridge for table water received the National Award for Innovation for

Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg (state), Salzbur ...

in 2011. The same year, the Rondomat Duo S series of water softeners won the Austrian national design prize in the Capital Goods category awarded by the Federal Ministry of the Economy Family and Youth (German: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft, Familie und Jugend). BWT’s products for private households have been winners of the Plus X Award on two occasions. In 2012, the AQA perla water softening system was voted "Best Product of the Year 2013", and the E1 Single Lever filter received the same accolade in 2013. In 2014, the "black penguin" BWT table water filter won the

Red Dot Design Award The Red Dot Design Award is an international, annual design competition for product and industrial design, brand and communication design as well as design concepts, in which the Red Dot quality label is awarded to winners. The Red Dot Design A ...

Sponsorship

Mazepin Force India VJM11 Testing Barcelona

BWT has a wide range of sponsorship deals with various motorsport teams, such as Mücke Motorsport in DTM, Forze Hydrogen Electric Racing (a student racing team from the

Delft University of Technology The Delft University of Technology (TU Delft; ) is the oldest and largest Dutch public university, public Institute of technology, technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. It specializes in engineering, technology, computing, design, a ...

making hydrogen-powered race cars),

ADAC GT Masters The ADAC GT Masters is a grand tourer-based auto racing series founded by the international Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) and supported by the German ADAC automotive club. Similar to an earlier ADAC GT Cup series in the 1990s, the new GT ...

Formula 4 FIA Formula 4 (F4) is an open-wheel racing car category intended for junior drivers. There is no global championship, but rather individual nations or regions can host their own championships in compliance with a universal set of rules and speci ...

, and Walter Lechner Racing in the high-profile Porsche Carrera Cup Germany and

Porsche Supercup The Porsche Supercup (officially known as Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, known as Porsche Michelin Supercup prior to 2007 and often abbreviated as PSC) is an international One-design racing, one-make production stock car racing series supporting the ...

. Most notably, in

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

, the company was the title sponsor of the

Racing Point F1 Team Racing Point F1 Team, which competed as BWT Racing Point F1 Team and commonly known as Racing Point, was a British motor racing team and constructor that Racing Point UK entered into the Formula One, Formula One World Championship. The team ...

(previously Racing Point Force India and Force India Formula One) from

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

through

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

as the BWT Racing Point F1 Team, up until its rebranding as the

Aston Martin F1 Team Aston Martin is a British car manufacturer that has participated in Formula One in various forms and is currently represented by a team named as Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team. The company first participated in Formula One during the 1959 Formula ...

for the 2021 season. The F1 sponsorship was continued with the new Aston Martin team for 2021, with BWT assuming the role of a "Global Partner". In 2021, Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team driver

Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel (; born 3 July 1987) is a German racing driver who most recently competed in Formula One from to . Vettel won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won consecutively from to with Red Bull, and rema ...

signed on to become a BWT Ambassador. In 2021, BWT announced that they joined the ranks of the Salzburg Festival's main sponsors. The sponsorship deal became effective at the start of the festival's 2021 season and is set to expire in 2026. In 2022,

Alpine F1 Team Alpine F1 Team, currently racing as BWT Alpine F1 Team for sponsorship reasons, is the name under which the Enstone-based Formula One team has been competing since the start of the 2021 Formula One World Championship. Formerly named Renault F1 ...

signed a title sponsorship contract with BWT, with the team renamed as the BWT Alpine F1 Team. In 2023, BWT's deal with Alpine was extended to the Alpine Academy's young driver lineup.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.bwt.com/ Manufacturing companies of Austria Manufacturing companies established in 1823 Companies based in Upper Austria 1823 establishments in the German Confederation 1990 mergers and acquisitions Vöcklabruck District