Recycling and reusing industrial wastewater is an important aspect of water conservation, but it comes with various unique challenges. The industrial wastewater itself is highly polluted; there is also a problem with the existing treatment methods, which often involve heavy use of chemicals and are energy-intensive. Apart from that, these conventional methods also generate secondary toxic sludge.

“The challenge for industrial wastewater treatment is that it needs to be tailored to respective industries, varying water qualities and unique customer problems, thereby requiring in-depth expertise, market knowledge and experience,” explains Hydroleap Founder and CEO Mohammad (Moh) Sherafatmand in an email to e27.

This is where Hydroleap comes in with its industrial wastewater treatment solutions.

“Our solutions are helping water-intensive industries move away from chemical and energy-intensive processes. Instead, utilising advanced electrochemical technologies to enhance purification performance and water quality without any need for chemicals or high energy,” he says.

He further explains that the Hydroleap solution is based on advanced electrochemical technologies such as Electrocoagulation (HL-EC) and Electrooxidation (HL-EO), which present a shift from traditional chemical-based and energy-intensive methods.

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This leads to an enhanced operational outcome, financial savings and environmental benefit.

“These can reduce up to 95 per cent of pollutants in industrial wastewater. Due to automation, modularity and high treatment capabilities, we manage to reduce man-hours by up to 95 per cent and cost of ownership by 30 per cent for industries,” the CEO says.

Capturing the audience

Sherafatmand explains that Hydroleap serves a diverse array of customers, spanning public organisations, government enterprises, and private sector entities across various industries. Some of its key commercial clients include significant players in the food and beverage industry, cooling towers, and data centres.

“We work with Universal Robina, one of the largest branded consumer food and beverage product companies in the Philippines; CapitaLand, one of biggest developers in Asia; one of the blue-chip companies (data centres) and Shanaya, a local recycling company in environmental services,” he shares.

The CEO states that a three-pronged approach underpins the company’s acquisition strategy.

“Firstly, we leverage our lab intelligence and skill to offer unique solutions that address traditional issues like ineffective water impurity removal and high energy requirements. Secondly, we concentrate on industrial sectors, which are a significant consumer of water, often more so than domestic use,” he says.

“Thirdly, we build solid collaborative relationships with the regional water ecosystem. For example, we have been working closely with the Public Utilities Board, Singapore’s Water Agency, over the past few years on a desalination project which has resulted in 40 per cent fouling reduction on the membrane systems.”

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For Hydroleap, while this project’s primary objective is securing a sustainable freshwater supply for Singapore in the face of rising sea levels and climate change, it is also an avenue for the company to enhance operational efficiency with its proprietary electrical technology.

“Lastly, with the ESG spotlight becoming brighter, water-intensive industries are looking for environmentally friendly ways to manage water and wastewater treatments.”

The company offers its solutions through two business models: Lease and capex.

Coming up with the solutions

When asked about how Hydroleap builds wastewater treatment solutions, Sherafatmand explains that the company started off early stage development of its technology by resolving “some of the well-known challenges in the electrochemical world” such as corrosion and high power consumption.

“Once we found solutions to those, we began building pilot and bigger systems to test the reliability and consistency of the technology,” the CEO says.

“Our technology has been a continuous effort and always work in progress to bring new innovations and features to firstly, solve more challenges and also build a clear competitive edge for Hydroleap.”

Currently, Hydroleap says that it has a “strong” dataset and knowledge of some of the industries that help it develop a reliable solution in a short time. For verticals that the company has less experience in, Hydroleap approaches it by looking on a case-by-case basis.

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“We usually begin by assessing water quality which involves lab-scale experiments on water samples provided. After this we determine how our technologies can treat it by running electrochemical treatment processes under controlled conditions. While doing so, there are various assessment parameters and considerations, such as flow rate, discharge limit, and reuse requirements of the customer,” Sherafatmand says.

“We are continuing to innovate to advance and apply these technologies to more industries, for example, the palm oil industry that generates highly polluted Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME). There is a huge potential to build on current solutions to make them smarter and intuitive, apart from improving water purification efficiencies.”

On the way to make a difference

In order to make its ambition come true, Hydroleap is currently expanding its team from 15 to 20 within the upcoming months.

Following a US$2.4 million funding round in 2019 that helped the company build the foundation of its solutions development and initial operations, Hydroleap has raised a US$4.4 million Series A funding round this year.

“We plan to scale up our capabilities and make headway into new markets such as Australia, Japan, and Indonesia over the next two years. Our focus is on supporting businesses across various industries – including data centres, F&B, mining, and manufacturing – with best practices for wastewater treatments and management,” Sherafatmand says.

“We will strengthen and build a strong world-class R&D and operation teams in Singapore and Australia. This involves establishing Hydroleap’s manufacturing and R&D presence in Victoria in the time to come.”

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Apart from that, Hydroleap is looking to set foot in a new vertical for POME.

“[It] poses one of the most challenging problems to the wastewater treatment industry due to its adverse effect on the environment and high degree of oil and organic content,” Sherafatmand closes.

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Image Credit: Hydroleap

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