Desalinating seawater may seem an obvious way of confronting shortages of potable water. However, current technologies are energy-intensive and have high operating costs. As much as 30 per cent of costs go into pre-treatment systems to remove contaminants such as algae, before water is ready for desalination. Pre-treatment can take up to 50 per cent of the facility area.
akvolution has developed a new purification technology using ceramic materials to pre-treat and filter water. The company claims this will allow treatment plants to be built with a 20 per cent smaller footprint. The method is suitable for desalinating seawater and for cleaning industrial wastewater, for example, from oil and gas operations.
The company won the Green Award at the sixth edition of the Academic Enterprise Awards (ACES), organised by Science|Business on 7 October in Berlin.
The technology, called akvoFloat, is the result of a four-year of PhD research project carried out by the founder and CEO of akvolution, Matan Beery, at the Technical University of Berlin. Beery set up the company in 2013 with Johanna Ludwig, chief technical officer and Lucas León, Business Development Officer.
Since then, the company has raised over €1 million and is now looking for another €500,000 to move the akvoFloat technology to the market.
Combining processes
akvoFloat combines the pre-treatment process of flotation, in which suspended particles such as algae and other contaminants float to the surface and are removed, with the process of filtering the water to deliver high quality water for efficient desalination. Both flotation and filtration are carried out using ceramic materials in a single operating unit.
akvolution is running a pilot plant at the Sealife aquarium in Berlin, and is looking for partners to set up pilot plants to purify other types of wastewater.
The pilot plant has had good results to date, treating 15 cubic metres of water per day. “The results are very good and the next step for us is to go to a bigger desalination plant and try our product there, and with other types of wastewater,” said León.
Funding & investment
In September 2012, akvolution received a €20,000 Startup Grant from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s Climate-KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community). This was followed by a €550,000 EXIST Technology Grant in March 2013.
Later in the year the company started its first commercial project with ThyssenKrupp Industrial Services. The EXIST grant helped akvolution to move forward and to further develop the technology, León told Science|Business. “The grant also helped us to put together a solid business plan that we presented to our current investor, High-Tech Gründerfonds.”
The German public venture capital fund invested €500,000 in akvolution’s technology. However, the company needs a matching investment to complete the construction of a demonstration plant that is hopes will secure its entry to the market.
“The market in this area is worth billions and is growing at a 10 per cent every year, both in small scale desalination and in oil and gas wastewater cleaning,” said León. The company expects that the global market for small scale desalination will surpass €1 billion by 2016, while the market for oil and gas wastewater treatment equipment will reach €4.2 billion by 2020.
Since October 2013 akvolution has been generating revenues by carrying out engineering consultancy for the Technical University of Berlin and ThyssenKrupp Industrial Services, whilst working to commercialise the technology. “We are trying to talk to different players, especially for the oil and gas side of our business,” said León. “We are discussing with companies such as Repsol, but also with related services companies like Baker Hughes in the US, and with equipment manufacturers such as Siemens Energy,” he added.
Advice for young entrepreneurs
León’s key piece of advice for scientists contemplating forming a start-up around their research is to ensure business skills are in place. Researchers tend not to appreciate the value that people with business experience can bring to a university spin-out. “But that is a wrong approach: Researchers will dismiss most business experts by saying these people do not understand what our technology is about. But the idea is to bring the business expertise to the team as quickly as possible,” León said.
León believes that the government should work with universities to help overcome this reluctance to take on business experts. “The EXIST grant required us to have a business expert in the team,” he said. “There is still a need to encourage the use business expertise” he said.
About the ACES
ACES – the Academic Enterprise Awards, were launched in 2008, and are the only pan-European awards for spin-outs from universities and public research institutes. Nominations come from all sectors, disciplines and countries in Europe and are judged on criteria including novelty, fundraising, market potential, and impact on society by the Science|Business Innovation Board.
This year’s winners were announced in Berlin on 7 October 2014, at the Science|Business Innovation Connection Summit.
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