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...
Sep 08, 2022•53 min
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 an...
Aug 25, 2022•1 hr 58 min
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 ...
Aug 11, 2022•58 min
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 tota...
Jul 28, 2022•1 hr 3 min
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 trans...
Jul 14, 2022•1 hr 34 min
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....
Jun 30, 2022•47 min
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...
Jun 16, 2022•1 hr 45 min
"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...
May 26, 2022•53 min
“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 ...
Apr 28, 2022•1 hr 55 min
''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....
Apr 14, 2022•59 min
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 fo...
Mar 31, 2022•1 hr 6 min
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...
Mar 17, 2022•47 min
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....
Mar 03, 2022•50 min
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. Amand...
Feb 17, 2022•51 min
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....
Jan 20, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 39
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....
Jan 06, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 38
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...
Dec 23, 2021•55 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Desolenator uses both solar-generated heat and electricity to power the desalination process. William Janssen, discusses how Desolenator add techno-economic benefits compared to conventional desalination techs combined with renewable energy.
Oct 21, 2021•57 min•Season 1Ep. 36
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....
Sep 24, 2021•57 min•Season 1Ep. 35
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 Scienti...
Jul 29, 2021•55 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Peter Christou, founder and CEO of Swirltex, elaborates the following points: · how buoyancy manipulation of solid contaminants is paired with a swirling flow pattern leads to over 100% flux increase of a tubular membrane. · 50% of air mixed with water pumped through a tubular membrane where water spiraling around the membrane and air creates a surface tension around suspended solids to diminish concentration polarization and overcome building cake layer. · value of coupling Swirltex with RO tec...
Jul 15, 2021•59 min•Season 1Ep. 33
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 miner...
Jul 01, 2021•50 min•Season 1Ep. 32
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....
Jun 17, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 31
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.
Jun 03, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 30
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.
May 20, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 29
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.
Nov 26, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 28
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.
Sep 24, 2020•48 min•Season 1Ep. 27
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.
Aug 27, 2020•40 min•Season 1Ep. 26
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).
Jul 23, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Jeroen De Lathouwer , VP business development, discusses how to increase the capacity of a wastewater treatment plant via only software upgrade!
Jul 09, 2020•42 min•Season 1Ep. 24
