This technology is addressing an industry focused need in the water, wastewater and desalination treatment space. The company's technology developed through 6 years of research and development provides an innovative cloud-based platform for optimisation of water treatment activities. The technology is available as software-as-a-service (SaaS). The cloud-based platform is capable of ingesting and aggregating data flows across a treatment facility to provide real-time, proactive operating instructions to minimize energy and chemical consumption, increase equipment life, and mitigate plant downtime. The technology platform is plant-agnostic and uses available infrastructure and sensors, process models (digital twinning) and proprietary hybrid algorithms (combination of physics-based and machine learning techniques) to optimize plant processes across the entire facility rather than just one-unit process.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a biological method widely used to treat wastes and wastewater containing high levels of organic matter in the absence of oxygen to convert chemical energy in organic carbon to biogas. With AD, the waste volume can be reduced drastically with green energy generation simultaneously. In practical applications, complex structure or toxicity of substrates often impair AD performance associated with low degradation rate and unstable biogas production. Electron transfer among different guilds of microorganisms is the rate-limiting step of AD process, and it is also the basic reason behind the deteriorated AD performance. This technology relates to the dosing of conductive materials which can facilitate interspecies electron transfer and improve the overall metabolic activity in anaerobic digestion. In addition, it is a green and cost-effective technology as those selected materials (e.g. biochar, activated carbon, and iron scrap) can be readily obtained from nature or produced from wastes and recovered for repeated use. The technology provider is looking for waste and wastewater biological treatment providers to license and commercialize this technology.

Industrial processes can produce effluents that are challenging in terms of strength, variability and composition. Treatment of industrial effluent is complex and depends very much on the load and process nature of the wastewater stream. Advanced oxidation processes (AOP) are commonly used to deal with recalcitrant COD as a final polishing step in water treatment. However, conventional AOP consumes a significant amount of energy. This technology relates to an advanced water treatment method that is capable of breaking down persistent organic compounds, micropollutants, COD and colour through a combination of adsorption and electrochemical oxidation. The contaminants are bound to the adsorbents while an electric current is passed through the adsorbents, oxidizing the adsorbed pollutants to water, hydrogen and carbon dioxide which can be safely vented away.  The hybrid process utilizes lesser energy compared to conventional AOP processes.  The technology provider is keen to work with potential technology adopters through technical collaboration and licensing agreement to deploy the technology.

Water scarcity is a global problem. To try to address this and reduce water consumption, smart systems are already being rolled out globally. However, these smart systems are relatively high cost as they are often relying on re-purposed industrial systems delivering static usage data, delivering minimal value add to the end user. The technology owner has developed a low-cost smart water meter based on ultrasonic sensor. Designed for domestic residential use, the smart water meter can be installed through its unique ‘clamp-on’ mechanism in a non-invasive manner. As such, large scale roll-out of systems using the meter is readily achievable. A smart phone app was also developed to allow users to identify their water consumption habits or potential leaks. It is attractive to both consumer and supplier by providing usage data which is designed to drive behavioural changes to reduce water consumption. The technology owner is seeking licensing partners to manufacture and/or develop a version of the meter meeting local requirements, e.g. pipe size, pipe material, communication protocols – for domestic residential application.  

Environmental pollution is one of the major challenges that the world face today. Our water resources are threatened by contamination from industrial wastewater namely volatile organic pollutants generated from the petrochemical, textile, pharmaceutical, chemical, and automotive industries. A class of compounds that is of great concern are the organic dyes, which represent a large family of refractory organic pollutants. It is estimated that over 10,000 different dyes and pigments are used industrially and over 700,000 tons of synthetic dyes were produced in 2003 worldwide. With about 1-20% of the total world production of dyes being discharged to the aquatic environment during their application, this can potentially result in severe damages to the photosynthetic activities of aquatic plants and the health of humans. Conventional methods for wastewater treatment include biological process, thermal decomposition, adsorption, membrane separation, and advanced oxidation process. Each of these methods has its strengths and limitations. The catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) process has gained much attention recently as its uses air as the oxidant at a relatively low cost. This technology relates to a bimetallic hybrid catalytic system for oxidative degradation of organic pollutants. Compared to conventional wet air oxidation processes, CWAO utilizes less energy as it can operate under ambient conditions using a novel catalyst.

Inspecting tunnel and pipeline infrastructure can be a daunting and expensive task due to remote inaccessibility that is unsafe for humans. The technology provider has a drone solution that can inspect both underground and overground spaces within a fraction of time and cost of a conventional solution. Deployment is effortless and operation is entirely autonomous. Result analysis is made possible through curated Artificial Intelligence and an asset management software. As assets get older, the need for inspection becomes more vital for the continued sustenance of cortical water and transport infrastructure. The technology is ideal for these critical infrastructure owners like authorities, asset managers, contractors and end-user solution providers like consultants.

Industrial wastewaters are usually treated by a combination of chemical and biological treatment methods. In some cases, COD and BOD levels are too high to be treated by these conventional methods and are sent directly for incineration which is often energy-intensive and costly. Supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) is a technology that is capable of oxidizing the toughest organic compounds in wastewater. Wastewater is mixed with oxygen and raised beyond the critical point of water (221 bar and 374oC). At supercritical conditions, oxygen rapidly and completely oxidizes all organic pollutants in the supercritical wastewater in a span of seconds to form water nitrogen and carbon dioxide. SCWO can be used to treat highly hazardous waste that cannot be handled by conventional technologies including brine, industrial wastewater, hazardous organic material or sludge from water treatment plants containing non-biodegradable pollutants.      

Due to climate change, extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall are becoming a common occurrence. In a tropical setting, rain can be highly localized and changes quickly. Rainfall tends to appear and disappear quickly within an hour causing flash floods in urban areas. This technology relates to a novel smart rainfall prediction system utilizing data from multiple X- band rainfall monitoring radars. The X- band radar scans the sky for rain, feeding data into the system every 2 minutes to create an accurate map of the real-time rainfall intensity though the use of a nowcast model. This allows the relevant municipal authorities to improve on existing flood management measures and react quickly in case of flash floods. The technology owner is currently looking to license the technology to logistic companies and city governments.    

Freshwater algae blooms are the result of excessive nitrogen and phosphorous originating from runoff from fertilizers and household cleaning products. Excessive algal bloom may adversely affect the ecosystem as it causes the depletion of oxygen levels in water and prevents sunlight from reaching other organisms in the water. When microalgae die, the decomposition process also consumes dissolved oxygen and releases nutrients back to the water. This decreases the dissolved oxygen levels in the water and resulting in constant regeneration of microalgae under favorable conditions. This technology relates to an Ultra-Low Frequency (ULF) Algae Control Unit (ACU) treatment system that can be used to control excessive microalgae growth in water bodies. The ULF technology uses an electromagnetic field of ultra-low time-varying frequency range of 100 Hz to 2000 kHz. The ACU comprises emitters and receivers which are energized by a power unit during operations. The ACU creates a disinfecting effect on microorganisms similar to an avalanche current produced in fluorescent tubes.