California water startup tackles huge wastewater problem

By Saheli Roy Choudhury

With natural sources for clean and potable water diminishing across the globe, the demand for technology to treat industrial wastewater is poised to grow by more than 50 percent over the next five years, according to a report published by Global Water Intelligence. The market’s value is set increase from $7 billion in 2015 to over $11 billion in 2020 as more resources get shifted to meet the growing demands of water treatment technology.

The United States, on average, generates over 80 cubic kilometers of wastewater a year. One cubic kilometer is about 220 billion gallons. The high volume of wastewater gives rise to several problems.

First, the water needs to be treated for contaminants before it can be released back into water bodies; second, wastewater treatment is expensive; and lastly, the treated water generates secondary waste, which requires responsible disposal so as to not harm the environment.

The complexity of the existing purification processes may explain why in the US, out of the 80 cubic kilometer of wastewater, only 2.3 cubic kilometers is reused after treatment.

Water treatment requires adequate funding, infrastructure and supply of resources. The high price tag makes it harder to build more water treatment plants without compromising on their technical effectiveness, especially in countries that are not economically well off.

The publisher of GWI, Christopher Gasson has said: “Water technology companies will find major opportunities in this market if they can solve the problems of industrial water users with cost-effective, innovation solutions that improve efficiency.”

As the search continues for more efficient, and cheaper methods of wastewater treatment, one technology startup believes it has found the right balance between low cost and technology with a solution that does not generate secondary waste and is thus environmentally friendly.

Microvi Biotech, based in Hayward, California, has engineered a development platform called MicroNiche. The technology uses low energy, produces no waste, and uses a natural process of breaking down compound substances, perfected by microorganisms over billions of years, said Ameen Razavi, Director of Innovation Research at Microvi.

Microvi Biotech’s solution aims to solve some of the common pain points that many companies in this line of business experience. “I would say there are two major areas of challenge,” said Razavi. “One is finding cheaper technologies that are just as effective and the second has to do with environmental sustainability.”

Existing methods of water treatment cost a fortune; the United States spends at least $4.3 billion to remove contaminants like phosphorous and nitrogen from its supply of drinking water. Chemical precipitation or filtration, processes that are commonly used in conventional methods of water treatment, produce plenty of by-products. “That is a concern when you’re dealing with hazardous contaminants,” said Razavi.

Water contaminants come in two forms; solid, suspended particles and dissolved particles. In almost all wastewater bodies, contaminants exist in both forms. The way Microvi Biotech’s technology works is that contaminated water passes through a bioreactor, a vessel designed to support a biologically active environment. Here solid particles are filtered out and the dissolved contaminants come into contact with microbes placed inside semi-permeable membranes. Within this environment, the microbes break down the pollutants found in wastewater into harmless by products, which are then released back into the environment. Some of the most common pollutants found in municipal wastewater are nutrients like ammonia, nitrate, and phosphorus.

Analysts feel Microvi’s prospects look bright as demand for clean water technology continues to grow, driven by water scarcity. Last year, Lux Research put out a report, “Making Money in the Water Industry”, which found the industry is generating average operating profit of 12.9%. The report also listed Microvi as one of the nine startups to keep an eye on in this sector. Microvi was awarded a grant of $1.5 million by the National Institute of Environmental Health (NIEH) to demonstrate a solution to treat a common organic compound, 1,4-Dioxane, found in the country’s drinking water. Razavi said a lot of their research receives funding from the NIEH as well as the NSF.

This year started on a positive note for the West Coast startup as it secured Series B funding to grow and commercialize its products. They received funding from SKion GmBH, the investment firm for German entrepreneur Susanne Klatten, which has stakes in companies like BMW, and chemical companies like ALTANA and SGL. Dr. Reinhard Hubner, the Investment Manager at SKion GmBH said the MicroNiche technology has potential to change the way water treatment is done.

Microvi’s growing client base is a mix of local and international clients, a majority of whom are engineering or consulting firms, across Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America. Razavi said the partnerships were selected carefully for the strategic value they generate for Microvi.

In 2010, Microvi sealed one of its first international partnerships. The company teamed up with Australian clean technology company Clean TeQ, which had won a contract from the government to provide water treatment services to groundwater used by the aboriginal communities of Australia. Clean TeQ used the MicroNiche process to treat the water for nitrate contaminants, which have harmful side effects if consumed. The partnership was awarded a Smart Infrastructure Project Award in 2011 as part of the Australian National Infrastructure Awards.

Razavi remains optimistic about Microvi’s future as the grants and funding and the strategic partnerships continue to pour in; he said Microvi has several new projects and partnerships in the pipeline in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. “We focus on what we do best and our partners can focus on what they do best.”

You can contact Saheli at sr3152@columbia.edu or @sahelirc