Where are the best opportunities in water innovation?

Novozymes is a leading global player in the biotechnology industry with enzyme manufacturing activities. Novozymes had also smaller water technology business focused on the use of enzymes and particular bacterial strains to enhance performance.

Novozymes wished to carry out a very detailed map of how biotechnology could present growth technologies in the water sector. BlueTech carried out a detailed review mapping biotech opportunities including use of enzymes, bacteria, microbial encapsulation technologies, and bio-augmentation in areas including wastewater treatment, drinking water treatment, and groundwater treatment.

We carried out a review on current state of the art in the areas of biotechnology, including biomimetic membranes, removal of merging containments, using targeted bacterial strains and enhancements and efficiency improvements in waste water treatment plant operations. We then analysed a number of potential acquisitions targets to determine whether Novozymes enzymes should grow organically or inorganically to exploit biotech opportunities in water. On the basis, of this analysis a strategic decision was taken to focus on internal organic R&D to develop new products and solutions to expand Novozymes’ business in water.

Client Needs:

The client was looking to advance internal sustainability goals through reduced water use by reusing site wastewater as process make-up water. This required a review of suitable treatment technology that could treat wastewater to process water specifications, while being innovative enough to potentially skip steps in the internal sustainability roadmap by means of higher water recovery, reduced cost, or reduced waste. This was complicated by the fact that wastewater generated at site contained highly recalcitrant organics that standard treatments had failed to address in the past. Overall, the client was looking to review a combination of earlier stage, innovative technologies (where they could be an early adopter), as well as more well-established technologies that had been proven in other industries or market applications. A surrogate site was selected for the analysis, with the idea that the client would be able to replicate the results of the study at multiple sites across their global asset base.

Our Approach:

To achieve our client’s needs, BlueTech sourced suitable technologies from our online Innovation Tracker of differentiated technologies and contacted our network of Subject Matter Experts to obtain their opinion on suitable technologies. An overview of all technologies considered was provided to the client. Vendors were contacted and provided water quality data and treatment specifications so cost estimates and expected water quality after treatment with their process could be provided. This was done for several possible treatment train combinations for the segregated waste streams at the site (to realize synergies in treatment efficiency and decreasing treatment cost). After vendor data was returned, BlueTech modelled several treatment trains for different waste stream combinations, providing expected final water quality, and estimated costs.

Results:

BlueTech made final recommendations on prioritized solutions and the specific vendors that stood out in the analysis. The client began bench-scale testing with several of the technology vendors presented to select which process to advance to pilot-scale testing, prior to finalizing a selection for full-scale deployment.