Decarbonizing Wastewater with Advanced Particle Filtration

Summary

In 2023, renasys committed to transform “Wastewater Treatment Plants” (WWTP’s) into “Water Resource Recovery Facilities” (WRRF’s) , starting by scaling their pilot to a full-scale modular facility in Sunnfjord Municipality, Norway. This will ultimately filter 100% of the incoming wastewater beyond environmental compliance and cut collective carbon emissions by 20,000 tons. renasys’ revolutionary filtration solution removes 99% of wastewater particles above 5 microns, regardless of industry, scale, or wastewater composition. The technological breakthrough enables unparalleled carbon harvesting, accelerating the transition towards Net-Zero energy water treatment with climate neutral operations, even net renewable energy producers, with enormous industry potential within global decarbonization frameworks. The technology can rapidly, more sustainably expand wastewater treatment across diverse scales, from small villages to large cities. These efforts are a first step towards MISSION ZERO, a three-pillar campaign to eliminate wastewater pollution, support 100% resource recovery, and provide net-zero energy water treatment, converting a significant environmental and financial challenge into a revenue-generating, climate-positive system.

Approach

renasys commits to scaling its containerized pilot to a full-scale modular Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) in Førde, part of Sunnfjord Municipality in Norway. This commitment will ultimately support the filtration of 100% of the incoming wastewater, going above and beyond environmental compliance, and reducing collective carbon emissions by 20,000 tons. renasys has developed this state-of-the-art fine particle filtration solution for wastewater removing 99% of wastewater particles above 5 microns, regardless of industry, scale, or wastewater composition. The purification capacity – measured in filtration level, cubic meters of water purified and per time unit – represents a quantum leap in relation to the current technologies on the market. The solution has also demonstrated unparalleled carbon harvesting performance during the pilot phase, increasing the capacity of the existing plant’s downstream processes, by significantly reducing the wastewater loading levels. Carbon harvesting refers to the recovery and utilization of valuable organic matter resources from wastewater, for production of energy (e.g. biogas) and soil-improvers (e.g. bio-coal) . The technology has significant flexibility to adapt to the needs of the population, with 5 core implementation options that can either be temporary, short-term immediate actions or permanent, long-term upgrades/expansions.

Ultimately renasys is working towards a common “MISSION ZERO”, a three-pillar campaign: ZERO Discharge – going above and beyond regulatory compliance eliminating wastewater discharge altogether. ZERO Waste – harvesting and galvanizing 100% of the renewable carbon resources into energy, fertilizers, and soil conditioners. ZERO Energy – decarbonizing the wastewater sector into net zero energy consumers, potentially even net renewable producers.

Scaling renasys’ first WRRF will provide a model for implementation that can revolutionize and rapidly and more sustainably expand wastewater treatment capacity for diverse scales – from small villages to large cities and is a first step in implementing the larger “MISSION ZERO” campaign, creating a healthier, more sustainable future.

Action Plan

Q1 to 4 2023, Phase 1, 2:

Phase 1: Design Full-scale WRRF

Phase 2: Decommission Pilot

Run first publicly open investment campaign

Q1 to 2 2024, Phase 3, 4, 5:

Phase 3: Install Full-Scale WRRF

Phase 4: Build Nationally Accredited Laboratory. This will be Norway’s leading wastewater and sludge testing scientific laboratory. This will increase testing and data collection capacity, enabling continuous impact measurement across several environmental, social, and economic indicators.

Phase 5: Start-Up Operations

Q3 2024 to Q2 2025, Phase 6:

Phase 6: Test-period 1- Testing Operations – 12 months, taking 50% of the flow, comparing a baseline (existing treatment process) vs. a new line (renasys) .

Develop first commercial contract with an international customer

Conduct Municipal / County Partnership for Testing (7 WWTPs under management) Conduct Municipal / County Partnership for Testing (Biogas production site under management) Submit B Corp certification

Q3 2025 to Q2 2026, Phase 7

Phase 7: Test-period 2, Stabilized Operations, 12 months, taking 100% of the flow, employing the then preferred technological solution.

Background

Water is the fundamental molecule that allows all life to thrive on earth and society to exist in its current form. Water sanitation has been a huge milestone in human development to reduce disease and advance society, yet 80% of global industrial and municipal wastewater is dumped largely untreated into the environment with detrimental impacts on human health and ecosystems (WWAP, 2017) . Today, approximately 1.8 billion people use a source of drinking water contaminated with feces, putting them at risk of contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and polio. Wastewater pollution into natural water bodies is at record levels, leading to eutrophication, algae blooms, and hypoxic dead zones. Research shows that ocean dead zones now conservatively affect 240,000 square kilometers (or over 92,000 square miles) , which is equivalent to the size of the United Kingdom (Ellen Macarthur Foundation, 2017) . Research shows that in Europe alone, carbon energy potential from wastewater equates to 87,500 GWh per year (PowerStep H2020, 2018) . This is equivalent to the annual household energy consumption of 55 million people – almost 14% of Europe’s population.

Wastewater tends to be regarded as a highly capital-intensive infrastructure and technology problem, which has led to significant deferred maintenance and declining integrity of infrastructure. Additionally, municipal WWTPs face significant pressure to upgrade their facilities due to population growth, industrial expansion, and tightening of legislation, but face barriers that hinder rapid action.

It is estimated US $8 trillion will be required for global water resources infrastructure through 2030 (OECD, 2017) . Norway alone has over 1,900 Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) requiring upgrading by 2040, costing an estimated 186 billion NOK (US $17.9 billion) . Stricter EU regulations from 2024 could make this several times greater. Ranked by the UN’s SDG 6.2, Norway is 6th lowest in Europe, despite having the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, a reputation for abundant natural resources, and its “pure” natural beauty being the primary tourism draw.

Progress Update

Partnership Opportunities

Financial resources: renasys seeks to close its first external investment round by the end of 2023 to fuel market expansion and scale impact.

Implementation partners: Engineering, construction entities that can support the development, build, and implementation of WRRF projects of the future. renasys also seeks to attract purpose-driven, top talent to their team to achieve Mission ZERO.

Best practice information: business and scientific community actors who can support, peer-review, and further improve the work and Mission ZERO opportunities ahead.

Media support: Critical to both boost impact of renasys, while inspiring young professionals around the world to make water / wastewater their industry of choice when thinking about ‘what do I want to be when I grow up’

renasys offers best practice information and implementing partners for those interested in exploring the technology.