HYDRATICO

Water covers 71% of the Earth with less than 3% of water suitable for drinking and agricultural purposes. 785M people globally live without access to clean water and 200M people rely on contaminated water sources (source: UNICEF). The water usage has been increasing by 1% each year since the 1980s, due to population growth, socioeconomic development & versatile lifestyles.

 The global population boom, urbanization, and climate change have severely reduced water supplies. Furthermore, tap water for local communities delivery by utility providers has become more difficult.

Globally, <300M people rely on desalinated water for daily water needs. Currently, more than 20K desalination plants operate in over 150 countries, with a total global desalination capacity of ~58M m3/daily (source: https://bit.ly/49ClZVp). It still doesn’t fulfill all the water supply needs of local communities, agriculture & industry.

The wastewater infrastructure in developed countries is outdated and often requires to be replaced, repaired, or upgraded. This is long overdue, as many EU countries have not yet even introduced advanced wastewater treatment processes on a large scale. The mining industry generates pollutant-heavy wastewater and the existing desalination process is expensive and energy-intensive. The existing infrastructure compounds challenges for utility providers, leading to high energy consumption and an elevated carbon footprint.      

Water scarcity, causing annual losses exceeding €9B in the EU, affects 38% of the population and 29% of the territory (source: https://bit.ly/3n7FFNC).      

Seawater desalination is one of the most efficient ways to provide potable water from rivers and groundwater sources. Conventional technologies such as 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).

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 and high costs.

Municipalities and utility providers grapple with water scarcity, high transportation costs, and altered water compositions due to climate change and human and industrial activities. This results in rising salinity levels in European rivers, posing concerns for water utility providers and sewage treatment plants.      

We offer a novel, patented desalination process based on the supercavitation effect. Our system heats water to 65°C, internal pressure further increases the temperature to 110°C, and then pumps water directly into the hydrodynamic supercavitation device (a key know-how). At flow velocities around 12 m/s, steam and gas cavities form in the vicinity of the supercavitation elements. Later droplet and steam mixture is removed from the cavities through branch pipes, and separated into steam and condensate. The steam is then condensed, cooled, and directed to the receiver. Our technology resolved the challenge associated with the salt brine. The remaining concentrated salt brine may be used for the production of technical salts or in the chemical industry as a raw material. Our focus is on industrial and post-industrial water desalination, including mining and municipal wastewater desalination.       

 We can manufacture modular water treatment systems with a throughput of 1-25 m3/h. Our systems are highly compact and mobile. They can fit in a standard (40 ft) intermodal container, and have energy processing needs as low as ~0.5 kW/m3—10X less than thermal desalination & reverse osmosis.

As part of the Solve Global Challenge, we aim to commercialize our desalination system, increasing production throughput from 5 m3/h to at least 25 m3/h. Three demonstrations will validate the system's versatility in various applications, emphasizing energy efficiency and salt removal. We will carry out unit verification, standardization, and mobile construction.

There is a close link between water scarcity and the management of wastewater.  Nearly 50% of all wastewater originates in households from toilets, sinks, and drains, and requires harmful substances to be removed before it can be used again. The untreated wastewater and the amount of untreated sewage pumped into rivers and oceans with hugely negative effects on public health, fisheries, animals, and marine biodiversity. Therefore, HYDRATICO has been focusing on industry clients to improve the effective management and treatment of wastewater. By doing so, our technology allows us to address the problem of global water scarcity and helps manage the impact of untreated sewage on our fragile ecosystem and public health.

HYDRATICO aims to provide an energy-efficient desalination solution that meets EU regulations and is suitable for a broad range of applications. Our target customers (beachhead market) are mining and wastewater treatment facilities that deal with desalination and wastewater recycling. Based on the results of system prototype trials and a self-funded feasibility study aimed at  validating  problem/solution fit, our customer's typical needs are:

• Utilization  of local water sources
• Cost-effective desalination technologies      

HYDRATICO’s solution has attracted interest from several market segments. HYDRATICO envisions manufacturing modular, mobile units with minimal energy requirements, fitting into standard containers with a throughput of 25 m3/h. 

Future demonstrations include partnerships with PGNiG (PL), NY State Energy Research & Development Authority (US), Barry Callebaut (CH), CIECH (PL), JSW Mining Company (PL), Warsaw Municipal Water and Canalisation Company (PL), SES Hydrogen (PL). 

Our priority customer groups are: 

• Utility providers: public/private water supply, treatment, and sewage services
• Mining industry and post-mining facilities (desalination of mining wastewater)
• Chemical industry
• Agriculture 
• Municipalities
• Green hydrogen production
• Water treatment facilities 
• Water desalination plants 

Utility providers and industrial sectors within the European Union are confronted with urgent water treatment challenges. An estimated EU yearly investment in wastewater treatment facilities and related infrastructure will reach €25B by 2025. The intricate and time-consuming project permitting process poses additional hurdles for municipalities, industrial facilities, and investors. This complexity, combined with delayed project implementation, impedes progress in adopting efficient water treatment solutions.

Conventional desalination technologies, with high capital and operational costs, contribute to almost 60% of the total operating costs of water supply in desalination. For instance, the total CAPEX of desalination technology is estimated between €1.3M to €2M per day capacity, as reported by the World Bank. The construction costs of thermal technologies surpass those of reverse osmosis, making traditional methods financially burdensome.            

Furthermore, the environmental consequences extend to the global production of 141.5M m3/day of brine, harming aquatic ecosystems by reducing dissolved oxygen levels and causing lethal effects on marine life. In response to these challenges, HYDRATICO aims to introduce a paradigm shift in water treatment by providing a modular, scalable, cost-effective, energy-efficient, and environmentally sustainable desalination solution. This innovative approach not only addresses financial constraints and regulatory compliance but also contributes to resource recovery, making water treatment more economically viable and ecologically responsible for municipalities and industrial stakeholders alike.

HYDRATICO has a team of highly qualified and motivated experts in the field of water treatment, sustainability, and business development with many years of experience in research, technology development, and commercialization.    

• Katarzyna Geiger (CEO): 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 industrial companies in areas of thermal power & chemicals. The inventor of the supercavitation method implemented in water treatment.
• Kateryna Ryabiko (CSO): experienced government relations and senior manager working with national and local governments & 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).

The company has devoted significant time to surveying the needs of potential customers and communities. HYDRATICO’s technology has been successfully tested via small-scale early prototypes with a production capacity of 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 launched cooperation with Cornell University and accessed the R&D lab facilities and expert advisory services.  The Institute of Colloid Chemistry and Water Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine to explore mining and industrial water treatment needs.      

HYDRATICO technology was highly praised by the Prime Minister of Poland M.Morawiecki  during the ceremony     ”Woman of the XXI century” where Katarzyna Geiger received an award for Woman CEO of the best technological company.    The technology significantly contributes to the development of sustainable communities by ensuring a steady water supply without depleting local rivers and lakes. Combined with improved waste management practices our technology contributes to economic sustainability, enhanced water security, and drought resilience of communities.  

Work accomplished so far:

• We have built 2x prototypes (TRL 6): the evaporation prototype is for seawater desalination with a production capacity of 5 m3/h, second is for injection of coagulants into supercavity and increasing the speed of chemical reaction of cleaning agent and polluted water - 20m3/hr.
• Multiple lab experiments were conducted on the supercavitation principle, leading to the development of a portable desalination prototype tested in Poland. During this time, we prepared an extended FTO analysis and filed a patent application.
• We secured pilot agreements with industrial and water providers, including PGNiG (PL), NY State Energy Research & Development Authority (US), JSW Mining Company (PL), and Warsaw Municipal Water & Sewage     Company (PL).

Agreements with key customers reached:

• Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa - desalination of mining water, test capacity 100m3/h, potential overall capacity up to 1000m3/h.
• BZUG - desalination of mining water, potential test capacity up to 100m3/h.
• Orlen - utilization of water used in wet gas cleaning systems - overall capacity up to 50m3/h
• KyivVodokanal  - communal wastewater treatment (test capacity 100m3/h, potential overall capacity 10000+m3/h)
• MPWiK - communal

We have been actively promoting our technology:

• Established a partnership with NYSERDA.
• Secured 2nd place in ING Grant program 2023 and received the 2nd award Warsaw Booster.
• Recognized as a finalist in the 2023 Impact Arena Incredibles competition.
• Attained finalist status at TechTour Water Aarhus (DK), among the 30 most promising water technologies in Europe.
• Finalist in the GrowNY, the largest NY state agritech competition.
• Invited by the Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PAIH) to participate in the Lagos water desalination project in Nigeria.

The 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

The challenges can be categorized as follows:         

• Technological risk    
  • Limited reliability and insufficient water flow & pressure of off-the-shelf pumps to create supercavitation effect
• 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.
  • Some other actors can enter the local markets, but HYDRATICO has a focus on a standardized system easy to scale & install.
• Financial risk      
  • Not enough runway for prototype development.  
• 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
• Team risk
  • Technical & business development staff shortage with experience in working with large customers
• Regulatory risk      
  • 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. 

HYDRATICO’s technology is a super-efficient evaporation technology based on supercavitation principles, it extracts micro and macro elements from liquids like for example salty mining water or wastewater 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 compared to the competition).
• The technology can be used to modernize the existing sewage treatment or desalination facilities.

HYDRATICO has a positive impact on the environment and is consistent with the UN  Sustainable Development Goals and the European Union Environmental Protection Law, especially with SDG 6, saving water resources, improving quality of life and access to clean water.

HYDRATICO technology contributes to the implementation of the priorities of the European Green Deal for 2021-2024. This is a significant breakthrough in the energy and cost efficiency of water treatment and desalination technology in small, mobile, and modular systems that are affordable to industry and utility providers.

Project outcomes:

• HYDRATICO can reduce the amount of salt brine from desalination by 90% (based on 100 m3/hr unit calculations).
• 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.

The solution's performance significantly exceeds state-of-the-art solutions and represents a significant technological advantage:

• The desalination process can use up to 90% of the input salt water, reducing the amount of waste brine. Competitive approaches can treat ~50% of abstracted water.
• The technology also reduces the need for post-processing processes and the use of additional chemicals by ~20%.
• The water treatment process can process highly contaminated and toxic liquids with high salt/organic concentrations (salinity up to 70 g/l and hydrocarbons up to 30 g/l).
• Low energy cost: Power consumption for purifying 1 m2 of water is 1.6 – 2.5 KW-h.
• Non-chemical technological process: the technology does not use consumables for wastewater treatment (reagents, membranes, cartridges, filters) and their disposal.
• The technology allows obtaining high-quality water with minimal power input, with separate plants, from different ponds and sources (rivers, lakes, underground springs, saline lakes, seas), even if the concentration of contaminants for salinity is up to 70,000 mg/l and HPK is up to 30000 mg/l.
• Electrophysical forces allow the destruction of toxic substances, microflora, and organic impurities.
• The technological process does not produce organochlorine compounds (dioxins).

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 (wastewater) 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 the salinity of rivers, create circular water applications for industries, municipalities, and agriculture, and reduce energy load required for water purification and treatment caused by today´s technologies. 
3. HYDRATICO stations will create pressure on the market to compete with energy-efficient and highly mobile solutions, which have a wide application on water treatment & desalination. Most of the limitations of the current technology when it comes to distribution, time to go to market & install the technology, and 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.

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 the petrochemical industry (wastewater treatment).

HYDRATICO’ s offers water treatment/desalination stations with a production capacity from 1 to 100 m3/hour. A modular structure allows creating portable water treatment/desalination plants that can be used to meet the 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 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:

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

We have developed the first laboratory model for desalination and wastewater treatment use cases. In the years 2006-2009 and 2010-2015, possibilities of wastewater treatment in the petrochemical industry were verified. In the years 2016-2021, we tested the technology as part of the production process at the chemical plant. The Hydratico prototype increased the water purification rate by 30%, and also reduced the purification costs to approx. EUR 0.05/m3 and the consumption of chemicals by approx. 20-25%.

Link to an academic paper:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hH6TBQCSayRkYDf1ThdMj_l0qmtmP9Ka/view?usp=drive_link

Six full time employees

Our CTO Oleksandr Machinskiy has been working on the supercavitation theory in Kyiv Polytechnics since  1995. The first lab tests for the application of the supercavitation theory in wastewater treatment and desalination were conducted in 2010.

A  large-scale prototype was built following the seed funding in 2022.

Our team is well-qualified and has all the key competencies for regional market scaling. We share the principles of professionalism, competency, diversity, and 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 food production and bring social and economic benefits to low-income communities through more efficient farming and waste management. This contributes to the reduction of environmental footprint. 

Our value proposition:

• HYDRATICO offers a modular and mobile water treatment and desalination system of hydrodynamic evaporation to process water from all kinds of water sources, even highly polluted and toxic liquids with a high concentration of salts/organic substances to improve the quality of life of communities, including low-income communities.
• Our solution uses 10X less energy compared to the key traditional methods (thermal desalination or reverse osmosis) and can be installed in environments with unstable power grids.
• HYDRATICO systems can desalinate up to 90% of input seawater, while most technologies can treat max. half of the water, minimizing the negative impact on the environment.
• Our solution can reduce salt brine by ~90%. Concentrated salt brine can be used for the production of additional products—salt or other chemical compounds that additionally create economic opportunities.
• The water treatment process kills pathogenic microflora and destroys toxic substances.
• It’s an original water treatment process that decreases maintenance costs, eliminates chemicals, and doesn’t need qualified personnel to maintain. 
• Small size of the water treatment stations (up to 8X smaller compared to competitors).

Our revenue streams are:

• The sales of HYDRATICO stations to industry & municipalities/ minins/ water providers. - consulting, e.g. hardware/system design, water treatment expertise
• 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, the US, and Asia amounting to 2       M USD. Parallel to grant applications, we are in the negotiation phase with several potential partners for large-scale paid testing in the mining and water treatment segment.

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