HYDRATICO

The problem we are solving:

• Water covers 71% of the Earth, but only <3% is water available for drinking & agricultural purposes. 785M globally people live without access to clean water, 200M people rely on contaminated water sources (source: UNiCEF). The UN estimated that water usage has been increasing by 1% every year since the 1980s, due to population growth, socio-economic development & changing lifestyles.
• Seawater desalination is one of the most efficient ways to provide potable water. Conventional technologies (evaporation or reverse osmosis) require significant amounts of energy to heat water (~3 kW/m3). Most of this energy is produced by burning fossil fuels, contributing to global warming (estimated 218M t CO2/y by 2040). Also, salt brine (the main desalination byproduct) negatively affects marine ecosystems and increases the temperature of seawater.  Promising alternative technologies of freezing and ion exchange are not commercially used, because of the low performance & high costs.
• Water scarcity is a significant global issue. Reusing wastewater & desalination of brackish & saltwater have emerged as principal strategies for managing water stress. Desalination has become increasingly urgent for providing potable water from rivers & groundwater sources, as the water composition has changed due to human activities & natural factors, e.g. climate change.
• However, conventional technologies (thermal evaporation or reverse osmosis) require significant amounts of energy to heat water (~3-45 kW/m3). Most of this energy is produced by burning fossil fuels, contributing to global warming (emissions from desalination will reach ~218M t CO2/y by 2040). Salt brine has a negative impact on wildlife ecosystems. Freezing & ion exchanges are not commercially used due to their low performance & high capital expenditure (CAPEX).

The market we are addressing:

The global market for Water Desalination Equipment estimated at US$13. 2 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US$21. 8 Billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 7

Our target market is large & growing rapidly:

• The global water treatment systems: €36.4B in 2021, 8.8% CAGR in 2021-2030. 
• The global desalination technologies: growth from €12.8B in 2020 to €24.6B in 2027, 10% CAGR.
• The global thermal evaporation systems: growth from €1.8B in 2017 to €5.2B by 2026, 5.5% CAGR. It’s an early-stage market controlled by several large players (e.g. Veolia, SUEZ, Acciona, etc.) that are looking for next generation solutions.
• Middle East & Africa are market leaders with 40%+ share of the global revenue in 2020. 

Our Solution:

Our novel & patented desalination process based on supercavitation offers a modular & mobile desalination system with low energy processing needs (as low as  ~0.5 kW/m3 at scale), which is 10X less than thermal desalination or reverse osmosis. We can manufacture a system with a throughput of 1-100 m3/h, which can fit in a container.

Our system heats water to 65°C, internal pressure further increases the temperature to 110°C & then pumps water directly into the hydrodynamic supercavitation device (key know-how). At flow velocities of ~12 m/s, large steam & gas cavities form in the vicinity of the supercavitation element. Later droplet & steam mixture is removed from the cavities through branch pipes, & separated into steam & condensate. The steam is then condensed, cooled & directed to the receiver. The concentrated salt brine leftover can be repurposed for technical salt production used, e.g. in the chemical industry.

Supercavitation is a patented technology with the highest steam take-off per m2 of evaporation surface (among the existing evaporation methods such as multistage flash distillation or thermal vapor compression). At scale, it uses 10X less energy compared to state-of-the-art traditional water desalination methods, e.g. reverse osmosis. During the desalination process electrophysical forces destroy all toxic substances, producing clean & safe potable water.

HYDRATICO successfully implemented the PoC of this unique & highly efficient technology for desalination in the chemical industry waste water and in municipal waste treatment for a reduction of high salt concentration in the output water. We are focusing on units with production capacity of 1-100 m3/h, yet the technology can be scaled up to larger industrial applications as well.

 Product demo video:

 ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bon4gAPj_hI&ab_channel=HHLabsPSA

Our priority customers groups: 

 Sewage treatment plants

1. Municipalities
2. Water treatment companies
3. Mining companies
4. Water desalination plants

 Customer/users' needs

There are few global problems we address our solution:

The shortage of fresh water impacts 20% of EU surface

• Traditional water desalination technologies require significant amounts of energy. Most of it is produced by burning fossil fuels, 76Mt of CO2/yr and will grow to 218Mt by 2040.

At present, about 1 billion cubic meters of treated urban wastewater is reused annually, which accounts for approximately 2.4% of the treated urban wastewater effluents and less than 0.5% of annual EU freshwater withdrawals. But the EU potential is much higher, estimated in the order of 6 billion cubic meters – six times the current volume.

Hydratico solution attracted interest from several market segments, including:

Utility providers: public and private of water supply, treatment & sewage services

• • We have conducted a self-funded feasibility study and validated problem/solution fit, also based on the results of system prototype trials. Our customers typical needs are: — To make use of local water sources
• Simplified & cost-effective desalination technologies.

End users:

• Agriculture (water recovery of water from cow manure),
• Mining industry (desalination of mine wastewater),
• Water treatment facilities (decreasing the usage of water treatment chemicals),
• Desalination units for installation on private & commercial sea vessels.
• Green hydrogen production: SES Hydrogen (PL) showed interest to optimize the process of hydrogen production.

Potential new markets to enter:

·        Desalination of sea water for hydrogen production

·        Desalination of chemical industry waste water

·        Small-size desalination units for ships / naval vessels

·        Emergency services/ quick response units’ equipment for water purification in areas with interrupted supply of potable water

To understand the needs of our customers we have conducted a number of studies:

HYDRATICO has been successfully tested in small-scale early prototypes with production capacity at 5 m3/h with mining & fertilizer customers in Ukraine. Our mobile unit (5 m3/h) in a container is ready for tests. Our product/market validation confirmed strong interest from several companies from the different markets:

• sewage treatment plant in Zhytomyr (UA),
• the petrochemical industry in Lysychansk (UA)
• mining industry: Silesia Mine (PL)
• distributor of WWT: Veolia (FR), Retencja (PL), Swiss Reserve (CH)
• chemical industry: Ciech Group (PL), GalNaftoGaz (UA)
• energy market: NYSERDA (US)
• food manufacturers: Barry Callebaut (CH),
• provider of water purification services: Rite Water (IN), MPWiK (PL), Zoe (PT)
• hydrogen producer: SES Hydrogen (PL).

We’ve started cooperation with Cornell University (access to the R&D lab with expert advisory services) and Institute of Colloid Chemistry and Water Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (mining and industrial water treatment and research).

HYDRATICO project was highly praised by PrimeMinister of Poland M.Morawiecki - during ceremony ,,Woman of the XXI century,, Katarzyna Geiger received an award ,,Woman CEO of the best technological company,,

Hydratico has also a team of highly qualified and motivated experts in the field of water treatment and business development with many years of experience in basic research, technology development and commercialization Management team background:

Katarzyna Geiger (CEO): 15+ senior executive manager, entrepreneur, sustainable supply chain expert responsible for business strategy, sales & logistics with a large experience working with global companies, e.g. Coca-Cola.

• Oleksandr Machinski (CTO): 30+ years of experience in the industrial companies in areas of thermal power & chemicals. the inventor of the supercavitation method implemented in water treatment.
• Kateryna Ryabiko (CGO): experienced sales & project manager working with municipalities & industry.
• Volodymyr Rudenko (Mechanical Engineer) with 30+ years of experience in manufacturing; prior experience at Kuznya na Beryslav Machine Building Plant (UA). Roman Chomiak (Mechanical Engineer): 30+ years of experience in the field of machine building, prior experience at Uzhhorod Machine Building Plant (UA). 

Our solution currently serve 6 people

Market barriers and risks

1.      Technological risks

·        Limited reliability and insufficient water flow & pressure of off-the-shelf pumps to create supercavitation effect

2.      Competition

·        In the last 10 years there have been no disruptive innovations with commercial implementation with universal applications for water treatment, desalination & purification which can reduce chemical usage. There is no comparative product for a mobile water treatment & desalination system energy consumption <1 kW/m3.

3.      Financial risks

·        Not enough runway for prototype development

4.      Commercial risks

·        Slow market uptake: Our current customers are early adopters. The market needs to be educated about supercavitation & its advantages. The customers may choose alternative solutions (e.g. reverse osmosis) as a conservative solution with the highest cost. - New competitor emerging with an attractive alternative for desalination technology

5.      Team Risk

·        Technical & business development staff shortage with experience in working with large customers

6.      Regulatory risks

·        Slow implementation of the EC water policies & other relevant regulations supporting water treatment stations. The delay can slow down the Hydratico adoption process and our sales traction.

We believe that partnership with Slove will help us to:

• Get access to potential investors, receive funding in the form of grants or/and investments.
• Find partnership with other companies. Having a strong technology partner could help us to get to the market faster, however this is not something we will be pursuing until our IP is fully protected.
• Get access to strategic and legal advice from experts in the Solve network
• Gain exposure in the media and at conferences

Hydratico technology is a super-efficient evaporation technology based on supercavitation principles, it extracts micro and macro elements from the liquids like for example salty mining water or waste water from industrial processes

 What makes our solution unique and innovative:

 The most effective method of hydrodynamic evaporation on the market.

• The technology is already proven in the mine water treatment and organic fertilizer production segments.
• High level of purified water quality - the water treatment process kills pathogenic microflora and destroys toxic substances.
• Low energy requirement to process 1 m3 of water (1.6 - 2.5 kWh).
• Small size of the water treatment stations (up to 8 times less comparing to the competition). 6. The technology can be used to modernize the existing sewage treatment or desalination facilities.

Our value proposition:

• HYDRATICO offers a modular & mobile water treatment & desalination system of hydrodynamic evaporation to process water from all kinds of water sources, even highly polluted & toxic liquids with a high concentration of salts/organic substances. 
• Our solution uses 10X less energy compared to the key traditional methods (thermal desalination or reverse osmosis). 
• HYDRATICO systems can desalinate up to 90% of input seawater, while most technologies can treat max. half of the water.
• Our solution can reduce salt brine by ~90%. Concentrated salt brine can be used for production of additional products—salt or other chemical compounds.
• The water treatment process kills pathogenic microflora and destroys toxic substances.
• It’s an original water treatment process which decreases maintenance cost, eliminates chemicals, & doesn’t need qualified personnel to maintain. 
• Small size of the water treatment stations (up to 8X smaller compared to competitors). 

We deliver potable water wherever it’s needed by using highly efficient new desalination technology—supercavitation implemented into our mobile & modular systems. We help our planet by reducing carbon emissions.

1. HYDRATICO will turn climate and environmental challenges (waste water) into opportunities (clean water and secondary raw material stream) to make the transition just and inclusive for all.
2. At scale HYDRATICO will significantly reduce salinity of rivers, create circular water application for industries, municipalities, and agriculture, reduce energy load required for water purification and treatment caused by today´s technologies. 
3. HYDRATICO stations will create a pressure on the market to compete with energy efficient and highly mobile solutions, which have a wide application on the water treatment & desalination. Most of the limitations of the current technology when it comes to distribution, time to go to market & install the technology, cost side of the complex investment project will be significantly decreased by our technology. 
4. HYDRATICO will accelerate our end customers (heavy tech, light tech, hotels, SMEs, manufacturers etc) with a competitive advantage due to the ability to implement a water circular system with water reusing capabilities.

Below is the list of the biggest possible impacts imaginable for our technology:

Climate action impact:

• • The innovation will have a positive environmental impact - properly treated waste water presents no harm to the environment. Reduced electricity consumption means reduced CO2 emissions - by year 2028 project will save up to 900.000 MTCO2e. This helps to fight the global warming – prime cause of draughts and water shortages.
  • HYDRATICO technology is able to avoid 1.82M t CO2 emissions per year, specifically: reducing ~20% of the chemicals used to treat water and reducing salt brine & other toxic by-products by ~90%.
• Zero hunger impact
  • World hunger is on the rise, affecting nearly 10% of people globally. This is a crisis driven largely by climate change and polluted water in particular. HYDRATICO solution can treat at least 90% of the water intake (competitors can treat just half of it) with the lowest energy consumption (10X better than the closest competitors). This will supply fresh water, thus securing food production
• Clean water impact
  • 2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water at home. Of those, only half have basic drinking water service. Worldwide, millions of people suffer from neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), many of which are water-related.
  • HYDRATICO technology can process highly polluted water (salinity up to 70000 mg/l and HPK up to 30000 m). By providing safe drinking water, HYDRATICO solution has a great potential to reduce the global disease burden by 10%.
• Societal impact
  • The innovation will have a positive impact on society - it helps to preserve access to water resources in Europe by reducing salinity of waste water, allows to re-use significant amount of water, and helps to preserve aqua life in affected regions.
• Economic impact
  • The economic impact of the innovation will be significant - waste water facilities and mining companies receive a 30% faster & up to 10x more energy efficient tool, helping to treat more water and re-use it according to principles of circularity.

Our key project outcomes:

1. HYDRATICO can reduce the amount of salt brine from desalination by 90% (based on 100 m3/hr unit calculations).
2. On average, 0.488 kg of CO2 will be emitted during production of 1 kWh of electricity. HYDRATICO uses 10x less electricity than RO units. 

Our core technology – Superactivation

Hydratico offers a new effective method of hydrodynamic evaporation - Supercavitation - with the highest steam take off per m2 of evaporation surface on the market. The company has successfully applied this technology in a pilot project for industrial water treatment in petrochemical industry (waste water treatment).

Hydratico’ s offers water treatment/desalination stations with a production capacity from 1 to 100 m3/hour. A modular structure allows to create small and mobile water treatment/desalination plants which can be used to meet water needs of local communities without access to centralized infrastructure, chemical companies, mines, military units, emergency services, etc. During the desalination and/ or processing water recovery process, we utilize up to 95% of input seawater, reducing the amount of waste brine.

Our team is working on a scalable, modular, CO2-neutral water treatment system to meet the needs of local communities & industry. We have established the problem/solution fit for our innovation, and have early confirmation of the product/market fit.

• We have built a functional prototype with a production capacity of 5 m3/hour.
• Our technology has been successfully tested with mining & municipal wastewater, together with organic fertilizer production.
• We have also a strong interest from the target market, as well as requests for paid trials of the current prototype.

Features & benefits of our solution

Hydratico addresses the need of the European & global water suppliers for small to large-scale systems with a variety of applications for reliable, clean & cost-effective water treatment, purification & desalination from any source of the water to produce potable water.

Hydratico has abilities to utilize toxic byproducts such as salt brine. It is particularly suited for use in local communities, intensive industrialization, remote usage (e.g. ship crews) & settlements with intensive agricultural activity. We developed a fast, modular, CO2-neutral water treatment system based on supercavitation methods with the highest steam take off per m2 of evaporation surface among existing technology. Our technology will be able to produce 25m/3 of potable water by using 10X less energy than the reverse osmosis & thermal evaporation systems.

HYDRATICO SUPERCAVITATION METHOD USPs:

Universal application.

1. Purification of strongly polluted and toxic liquids with concentration of organics up to 100000 mg/l and salt content up to 70000 mg/l.
2. High ecological safety of purified water drain and separated brine – water treatment kills pathogenic microflora and destroys toxic substances.
3. Production capacity from 1 -100 m3/hr.
4. Small energy requirements for processing of 1 m3 of purified water (0,5 kW/hr - 5,5 kW/hr).
5. Small footprint of the plant (up to 8 times less than competitors).
6. Can be used for modernization of existing sewage disposal plants.
7. Low staff requirements: only 2 operators per shift.
8. Low maintenance costs.
9. ROI 6 to 12 months.
10. Construction of the plant: 7-9 months.

Case study. Zhitomir VodoKanal (Ukraine) 2005-2010

https://www.facebook.com/zhytomyrvodokanal/?locale=ru_RU

Problem:

The total volume of sewage is 12,000 m3 per day. The initial content of harmful substances in the wastewater was about 450-500 milligrams per liter (sulphonols, sintanols, inorganic waste, and organic acids and salts). Donauchem Polska flocculants and coagulants were used for cleaning  

Solution:

To purify polluted water, we used a system based on advanced cavitation modes together with flocculants and coagulants.  The device is designed to treat 100 m3/h. Installed in a common treatment system as one of the elements of a structural solution. Electricity consumption, depending on the volume of treatment and the degree of contamination of the source water, is up to 11 kWh (pump for test installation speeding up the water purification and clarification process by approx. 30%  reducing the use of chemicals in the cleaning process by 20-25%.

The use of the proposed integrated means for wastewater treatment has led to a reduction in the content of surfactants in drinking and service water to standards, no more than:

• Sintanols (ethoxylated alcohols) -0.1mg/l;
• Sulfonols (sodium salts of alkyl sulfonic acids) - 0.4 mg/l;
• Neonols (ethoxylated alkylphenols) -0.1 mg/l.

The applied wastewater treatment technology using supercavitation modes due to the ejections of flocculants and coagulants into the cavitation zone showed that without the use of chlorine-containing reagents, it is possible not only to treat wastewater to the above indicators, but also, importantly, to achieve water sterilization thanks to the introduction of cavitation modes.

At the same time, pathogenic factors are eliminated up to 90 -95%.

Our team is well-qualified and has all the key competencies for regional market scaling included NYS. We share the principles of professionalism, competency, diversity, inclusion. We encourage initiative and expertise strengthening of team members with attention to the underrepresented minorities. 

Our existing team and future hires will continue to drive innovation and scalability in the food production and bring social and economic benefits for the low-income communities through more efficient farming and waste management. This contributes to the reduction of environmental footprint. We already investigate human and physical capital resources in the regions we operate and are willing to operate. 

Our revenue streams are:

1. The sales of Hydratico stations to industry & municipalities/ minins/ water providers. - consulting, e.g. hardware/system design, water treatment expertise

2. Licensing to a product manufacturer & distributor, e.g. Mahindra Group.

Our revenue generation for the Hydratico project is estimated as follows (in thousands €): 2021-2023: €0 2024: €50K 2025: €1.8M 2026: €8.5M 2027: €17.9M 2028: €31.4M

Hydratico is applying for research and development grants in Europe, US and Asia in amount of 2-3 M USD. Parallel to grant money applications we are in negotiation phase with big players for large scale paid testing in the mining and water treatment segment.

Hydratico offers also mobile units for water as a service, which are a fast and easy to retrofit modules, which will cover the fix expenses of Hydratico operations.

We have received the following national funding:

• Bridge Alfa Programme (The National Centre for Research and Development)—€250K in total, 80% comes from public funding. The goal was to build a mobile supercavitation prototype (20-foot container) to treat water with production capacity at 1-5 m3/hour.
• Hydratico won a 2nd prize in a Warsaw Booster in 2022—€6.4K.

We are doing our business development for pilot agreements with industry companies & water providers like Municipal Water & Sewage in Warsaw (PL), New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (US), Barry Callebaut (CH), CIECH (PL), Rite Water (IN).