Halosource, SCFI Rank Well Among Water Treatment Start-Ups; GE Announces Product Launch, Investment

by | Jul 6, 2011

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Lux Research has ranked the potential of up-and-coming companies offering chemical and chemical-alternative water treatments, in a new report.

The report, Water Chemicals and Competitors: The Long, Long March of the ‘Chemical-Free’ Revolution, identifies the emerging companies and technologies most likely to survive and thrive in key treatment markets, including drinking water, wastewater, cooler and boiler water, desalination, mining, industrial, and oil and gas, Lux says.

In order to distinguish winners from losers, Lux Research conducted more than 60 interviews with companies competing in the space, and assigned them scores for technical value, business execution, and maturity. Based on these scores, analysts plotted each company’s relative potential on the Lux Innovation Grid, which comprises four quadrants: dominant, high-potential, long-shot, and undistinguished.

Halosource has been singled out as the treatment company deepest into the “dominant” quadrant. Its technology uses slow-release bromine disinfectant with a filter to treat water.

Another “dominant” start-up, SCFI, is currently working on a self-perpetuating wastewater treatment that eliminates complex organics through complete oxidation while allowing for retrieval of metals and phosphates, Lux says.

In other water treatment news, General Electric has introduced a next-generation membrane bioreactor wastewater treatment technology called LEAP*mbr. The product aims to address pressing water quality and operational cost issues faced by owners of municipal, industrial and residential water and wastewater treatment facilities.

According to the company, the cost and efficiency savings of the GE LEAP*mbr system compared to existing GE MBR technologies include:

  • A minimum 30 percent reduction in energy costs;
  • A 15 percent improvement in productivity (greater water-treatment capacity);
  • A 50 percent reduction in membrane aeration equipment and controls, leading to a simpler design with lower construction, installation and maintenance costs;
  • A 20 percent reduction in physical footprint leading to further reduced construction and installation costs as well as lower ongoing consumption of cleaning chemicals.

In related news, Energy Technology Ventures – a GE, NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips joint venture – is making its first non-U.S. and first water-related investment by providing capital to Emefcy Ltd, an Israeli company that says it can turn wastewater treatment from a huge energy drain to an electricity generator.

Emefcy’s technology uses naturally occurring bacteria in an electrogenic bioreactor to treat wastewater. The organic material in the waste produces power and treated water, transforming wastewater treatment from an energy-intensive, cost-intensive and carbon-intensive process, into an energy-generating and carbon-reducing process, according to the Israeli company.

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