Smart Water Solutions

The water footprint is the water that we consume and pollute in the supply chain of our daily goods. We may use around 125 liters of water/day at home, but in total we are consuming around 7000 liters of water/day via the food we eat and the fashion we buy. To better understand the water footprint, Rhea and I hosted prof Markus Berger from the University of Twente. We learned more about different types of water and, more importantly, about how much our awareness of our daily purchased goods can affect water scarcity. It may sound like an exaggeration but raising awareness about and decreasing our water footprint may solve the current water crisis much faster than developing breakthrough water technologies.

Investing is oxygen for water techs. One can invest in assets such as oil and gas and real state, but how about investing in water? Apparently, there is not enough financial infrastructure to invest in water beyond a handful of large water OEM’s (Origin Equipment Manufacturing or a company that builds water treatment systems) and few big chemical firms which regularly acquire water tech startups. Riggs Eckelberry, CEO of OriginClear, discusses in this podcast episode the possibility of investing directly in water asset by investing in decentralized water systems. These systems can be outsourced and paid per the amount of treated water/wastewater.

Ceramic membranes are robust, durable and outperform polymeric membranes in harsh liquid environments. However, their price is still high because of the raw materials and the high temperature of manufacturing. Here is an advanced silica-based (silica is the most abundant elements in Earth's crust) sol-gel ceramic membrane that is synthesized without high temperature processing. In this episode, Greg Newbloom, founder & CEO of Membrion, shares how he scales up an academic lab membrane to an industrial membrane to treat difficult wastewater such as produced water in petroleum industry. The Membrion technology comprises ion exchange membranes that are stacked together to remove charged species and recover clean water from wastewater.

Prof. Wiebe M. de Vos, leader of the research group Membrane Surface Science at Twente University, tries to solve complex water treatment problems through interdisciplinary and creative research. In this episode, he shares his three research pillars with us: 1- Complex fouling mechanisms occurring when treating e.g. produced water from O&G, 2- Coatings, layer by layer and polyelectrolyte membranes, and 3- A fully aqueous membrane synthesis platform. We also talk about the research edges and opportunities in ion exchange membranes.

Imagine whenever you go to the supermarket, you can find the water consumption of any food product on its label! The amount of water that was consumed from its planting to its harvesting. Wouldn’t that help you make a sustainable choice? Why food?! because agriculture consumes above 60% of the total water consumption across industries. According to the United Nations, above 12 million hectares are becoming desert every year or as Ole Kristian Sivertsen said, “about one football field of fertile land disappears every two seconds”. One nonchemical way to return desert to fertile land has been developed by Desert Control. Ole Kristian Sivertsen, CEO of Desert Control, explains in this episode how big and challenging the desertification problem and how Desert Control solution can stop and recover dying lands to green land. The solution is called Liquid Natural Clay (LNC) that can be produced onsite and sprayed directly to sand or arid soil to form a structure like sponge, which enables the sand to capture water for a long time and improve its mineral composition contents for agriculture. As a result, LNC saves up to 50% of water and fertilizer consumption.

Urban population growth, economic development and change of consumption patterns increase water demand. The challenge is how can water utilities continue using old water infrastructure to maintain the increase of water demand at lower cost? Daily urban water consumption is processed by algorithms to predict the exact needed water amount that should be supplied to the right underground reservoir and at the right time. This water supply via pumps consumes electricity which makes 30-40% of the total tap water cost. Electricity price in Europe and abroad changes every hour of the day for 24 hours. Processing all these data to reduce the water supply cost by more than 3% is one of SCUBIC achievements. Bruno Abreu, co-founder of SCUBIC, discusses in this episode how his platform deploys mathematical algorithms that benefit water utilities making intelligent decisions to cut the water supply cost and reduce the overuse of water infrastructure.

Professor Mathias Wessling from RWTH Aachen University in Germany, winner of the Leibniz 2019 price, is innovating four pillars of membrane technology: 1-hollow fiber NF, 2-layer by layer membranes, 3-AI backward design recipes, and 4-water treatment inverse problems. We (Rhea Verbeke and I) talked about the contributions of his research that have been made it from lab scale to pilot scale to industrial products.  His membrane innovations are either licensed to companies such as Evonik or transformed into new companies such as Con-vergence, furthr-research, Amovion and Biothrust. Currently, his team is developing a novel membrane for dialysis that has thepotential to shift the dialysis market. Enjoy this episode that bridges valuable insights for academics, industrial experts and investors active in water field and beyond!

According to HydroIQ, half of the water supplied by utilities in Africa is lost before reaching the consumer due to leakages. Hence, there is a need for an online platform layer between water suppliers and consumers to visualize the exact consumed amount of water and pay for this amount frictionless. Victor L. Shikoli, co-founder of HydroIQ, shares in this podcast episode how HydroIQ assist homes, utilities, businesses and industries to use, manage, report, bill and pay for water efficiently.

Professor Mihail Barboiu belongs to the pioneers of biomimetic membranes. Via supramolecular chemistry, he designs artificial channels, embedded in membranes, through which water or ions can selectively permeate. In this episode, we dive into Prof. Mihail’s journey: his inspiration, the working mechanisms of artificial channels, the upscaling of these membranes, and the impact they can have on society as they can reach  2 LMHbar output. These membranes seem way ahead of the game implying they can cut CAPEX and OPEX of seawater desalination by half! We also touch on other applications such as the selective removal of lithium from sea water and the potential of artificial water channels in medical applications. This episode contains many insights, all the way from nano to macro!

"I have a dream: safe water for all children" professor Andrea Iris Schäfer, KIT. In this episode, Rhea and I hosted Prof. Andrea Schaefer who develops reliable drinking water systems at an affordable price for several communities in Africa and abroad. These decentralized systems combine membrane technology with renewable energy. Moreover, she is researching and developing low pressure reactive membranes to remove endocrine disrupters from wastewater. It was inspiring to learn how her academic career started and how it developed over the years. Her vision and the key insights she shared with us in this episode can be valuable for junior researchers who would like to pursue an academic career.

“Our ideas are our art as scientists” professor Jeffrey McCutcheon at the University of Connecticut, USA. In this episode, my co-host Rhea Verbeke and I discuss Prof's breakthrough research on additive manufacturing methods for water purification membranes. We talk about the gaps between academia and industry, about the hype cycle of new water technologies and the opportunities that lay in convergence research. He also shares interesting new research directions and talks about what you need to become a good academician.

''Thousands have lived without love, not one without water'' W.H.Auden was a poet (1907-1973).  The Wyland Foundation, a non-profit organization, brings artists, scientists and teachers together to raise environmental awareness through education programs, public arts projects, and community events. Steve Creech, president of The Wyland Foundation, shares in this episode the tools and the key lessons of the US Mayor’s Challenge to save water across the US.

In water, the business of science and engineering is to transfer skills that straddle both academia and industry towards solving urgent firm water challenges. In these regards, Wetsus is a platform coordinating multidisciplinary experts from both industry and academia to skill young water solutionists and deliver innovations applicable to the society. Jan Post, program director at Wetsus, discusses in this episode how Wetsus impacts water sector and what is going on its innovation pipelines focused on four research themes: 1-drought resilience, 2-healthy environment, 3-recovered resources and 4-sustainable water.

Water and wastewater utilities process their network data to secure safe drinking water and ensure treated wastewater discharge to the ecosystem. Displaying worth processed data on the screen to the operators to take the right action at the right time for the right location is vital. Syrinix is one of the key players in developing hardware and software to process and monitor utilities water networks. James Dunning, CEO of Syrinix, speaks in this episode about the value of proceed data to water utilities and how Syrinix adds value in this matter.

The harvesting cost of algal biofilm is one of the bottleneck of commercialising algae-based product. GWT developed a system that uses vertically oriented conveyor belts that grow algae on their surface. Max Gangestad, COO at GWT, elaborates on GWT solution and how algae can be used to make fertilisers, bioplastics, and biofuels.

According to Eureau.org, the total length of the sewer network in EU is 3 million km. Because of the aging, population growth and pandemic situation, the stress is increasing on this network, which leads to leakage and abrupt. One efficient way to assess the sewer network is to record and watch the cleaned pipes via cameras. VAPAR is a platform using AI to process this CCTV (closed-circuit television) files at a fast pace to detect the leakages and increase network exploitation efficiency. Amanda Siqueira, CEO at VAPAR, explains the golden circle: why, how and what is VAPAR solution to the water market.

Amrit Om Nayak, Co-Founder & CEO at Indra Water, discusses a novel decentralized Electro-oxidation (EO) system designed to treat two wastewater categories; Blackwater and greywater. This system provides a chemical free alternative to chemical coagulation or Membrane bioreactor (MBR). Among questions in the episode: when and how to use Indra system instead of conventional ones to treat a wide range of COD and harmful chemicals from different industrial wastewater streams.

Non-revenue water (NRW) is water that is supplied to the system but doesn’t reach the customer. Among the factors behind this phenomena are the lack of knowledge of the network and outdated infrastructures. Baker Bozeyeh, CEO of Flowless, explains in this episode how Flowless can enhance water supply efficiency by deploying emerging technologies for automated faults detection & process optimization.

Global demand for lithium is increasing at a faster clip than it was forecasted. The lithium is manufactured from either the extraction of lithium-containing salts from underground brine reservoirs or the mining of lithium-containing rock. Its concentration in the brine is one of the challenging steps in the mineral processing. Zachary Sadow, Chairman & CEO at KMX Technologies, discusses how KMX membrane technology facilitates a separation of pure water and valuable minerals such as lithium from brine and waste-streams at low temperature and pressure.

AQUA4D® is a resonance fields technology that solves salinity while decreasing water use and increasing overall productivity. In this 35# episode, Chris Thomas, marketing leader at AQUA4D®, discusses the sustainable impacts of this cleantech in the water industry and beyond.

Reverse Osmosis membrane (RO) and thermal (MED, MVC and MSF) desalination are two main types of desalination technologies in the water market. The two solutions cost energy that is not always affordable. One way to reduce the energy cost is to couple renewable energy with these two desalination techs. Another way is to transfer academia breakthrough technologies such as solar membrane distillation to the industry. In this episode Prof Qilin Li at Rice university and the Founder and Chief Scientist at SolMem discusses:

1.  Engineering one reactor that combines a solar thermal collector with a membrane distillation reactor.

2.  Advantages of using a spiral wound membrane configuration in SMD

3.  Challenges to transfer an academia SMD water tech to the water market

Moritz Waldstein, CEO of "mitte’’, lays out in this episode the key components of how ‘’mitte’’ solution will not only clean water but also enhance its taste and regain its natural mineral composition:

·  Could an ‘’iPhone’’ moment happens in the drinking water industry? An intuitive home drinking water solution that combines state of the art water techs with an IOT system and respects the product life-cycle sustainability.

·  Instead of only removing substances from water, ‘’mitte’’ adds minerals to water to restore its naturalness and tastiness.

·  Sooner or later existing drinking water techs will be canalized and wiped out of the market, while the need for healthy and tasty water will continue to be more fragmented.

Michael Gardner, founder and CEO of AQAIX, discusses the following solutions:

Water industry can mimic the financial infrastructure available for the IT and electronic start-ups to release their product to the market. AQAIX is one promising platform.

Building a strong IT team inside a water tech company will not only enable extracting the values from the data but will also construct a strategic digital infrastructure.

Christoph Kellenberger is the founder and CEO of Novamem, elucidates the possibility of making a polymeric micro- to nanofiltration membrane from almost any polymer designed for specific water and solvent applications.

Wolfgang Vogl, CEO-Founder at VWMs GmbH, talks about his rapid microbiology analyser, how does it work, its techno-economical values and the ability of this technology to change the design of wastewater treatment plant configuration.

Piotr Dlugolecki, head of technology, discusses three points in this episode: 1- the techno-economical values of Berghof’s tubular UF, 2- B-smart ecosystem to run B-UF in a reliable and optimised way, 3- B-care service to develop a solution from an idea or technical challenges till the realization of an industrial water solution.

Maarten Ter Keurst, director of Investments at PureTerra Ventures, shares why, how and when water start-ups can consider investors such as capital ventures. Meanwhile, he elucidates the key mistakes that young water start-up leaders can circumvent.

Hassan Aboelnga, vice president of the Middle East Water Forum, explains that securing urban water is like solving rubik's cube. The solution is based on a developing and implementing water security indexes which takes into consideration the climate change, urban population growth, the water resources stress and the aging of tap water, rain water and wastewater infrastructures.

William T. Guiney, founder of Artic Solar, expounds the uniqueness and values of the XCPC (External Concentrating Parabolic Collector) technology as well as its implantation in the solar-thermal desalination (STD).

Jeroen De Lathouwer, VP business development, discusses how to increase the capacity of a wastewater treatment plant via only software upgrade!

Elango Thevar, CEO of NEER digital platform, elucidates how this platform uses Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, to identify leaks and predict water, sewer and stormwater collection systems failures.

Howie Honeyman, CEO of Forward Water Technologies, reveals how custom made Forward Osmosis solutions enable accessing values in the wastewater treatment sector.

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Markus Multhauf shares a technical overview on how advanced purification techs produce pharmaceutical waters.

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Rachel Major and Ari Ochoa talk in this episode about the innovative NuLeaf-tech solutions as compact ecosystems for smarter off-grid water.

Dr. Peter Holme Jensen, CEO of Aquaporin, elucidates how Aquaporin brings advanced sustainable values into the water market vs the conventional polymeric membrane.

Grégoire Landel, CEO & Founder of CityTaps, emphasizes the transparency and the values of prepaid with smart metrics potable solution towards the potable water consumers as well as the providers.

Grant Gibbs, director of Hippo Roller, shares the south African genuine solution that saves time and effort for rural area communities and return the time to African kids to play and study.

Dr. Wim Audenaert shared his entrepreneurial experience in the water industry and how he leveraged his academic knowledge.

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In this episode, Kai-Uwe Hoehn sheds light on the technologies used to achieve zero liquid discharge in the water industry including the option of using second-hand RO membrane.

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Anna Poberezhna sheds light on how can blockchain technology save the water. Moreover, how it could disrupt the water industry.

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Dr Peter Aerts shared his vision on how the world first back washable membrane could shift the wastewater treatment industry.

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Steve Pease explains how and why Ion Exchange Resin is the key solutions to separate and purify the sugar and starch industries. He elucidates how idea are shaped from the customer needs to launching a new product. The current trend of healthy sugar is an emerging market for IXR.

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Dr. Bob Goltz shed light on how contemporary produced water management practices have shifted their focus from discharge and re-injection to reducing, reusing, and recycling.

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Dr. Andi Gorenflo shared how marketing navigates water business like Dow Water & DuPont water biz into untapped markets as well as guide the R&D team to develop innovation based on the market needs. Moreover, you will learn about his new developed water tech portfolio that add values to untapped water applications.

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In this episode we will learn how renewable energy combined with membrane technology solves groundwater fluoric and arsenic contamination. In addition, Prof. Jan Hoinkis shed light on how wastewater treatment can be tailored for each type of corps irrigation.

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The clock is ticking for the day zero water in metropolis like Cape Town, Bangalore and Dubai. 

Water desalination is not enough. The current water management is not yet operating in an efficient way. How could smart water grid solve or delay the day zero water? IT infrastructures combined with advanced sensory are looked-for to play a vital role here. 

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In this episode, we shed light on the following key points:

•  brief history development of Reverse Osmosis membrane

•  what water engineers should know while designing RO & NF for dairy applications 

•  how to operate RO & NF in efficient way for dairy applications

*NF: Nanofiltration membrane * RO: Reverse Osmosis membrane

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A controlled pretreatment connected with a well-designed Reverse Osmosis plant will enable you to run RO membrane plant for more than a decade. Dr Jochen Henkel has more than 7 years’ experience in designing Ultrafiltration, Reverse Osmosis and Nanofiltration membranes units for brackish water treatment. He has shared valuable technical insights from his experiences within this episode. 

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In this episode, we discussed:

•  what water engineers should know while using RO & NF in process applications 

•  how to operate RO & NF in efficient way in process applications

•  key technical hints that will save you money while designing RO/NF plant for process apps

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