Radically innovative bacterial treatment for recalcitrant industrial wastewater

ended

Manufacturing industries are responsible for large loads of contaminants discharged in water. As each wastewater has different composition, each of them requires specific treatment in order to remove the contaminants. Treatments are expensive (€40-121,4/m3) and usually their efficiency is low – as little as 20% in some sectors. Moreover, EU environmental regulations are becoming stricter. These facts are putting the industry at serious risk: factories may be forced to closure because of the high costs and the non-compliance with regulations, which involves heavy sanctions. Amapex has developed RIBATI, an integral industrial wastewater treatment service based on 3 key elements: i) Active Product, composed by a blend of a specific registered bacterial strain and a selected variety of 12 oligoelements; ii) Smart Doser Unit, an exclusive automatic device that adjusts dose, time, temperature and life cycle of the active product, and iii) an integral service including a landing study, installation, maintenance, supply of active product and recurrent analysis of treated wastewaters. Our invention has been tested with more than 30 potential clients with promising results: leading up to 59% savings and allowing for water reuse in some water-intensive industries like the textile sector. Our solution is adapted to the industry’s needs and it also adapts to the needs of every individual client. Our revenue model will be based on subscriptions, what we call RIBATI PAY PER FLOW. Our target are SMEs from the textile, tanning, metals processing, chemical and car wash sectors, which represent 30% of the EU manufacturing sector (around € 1,85 bn in Europe). Our target countries are Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. By year 5, we expect to treat about 500.000 m3 of wastewater and to generate around €12,3M revenues, an EBITDA of €8,3M, an IRR of 80% and an NPV of €7M (discount rate of 15%). We also expect to create 15 new jobs.