Aquacycl

Provides the only plug-and-play technology for decentralized wastewater treatment

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Aquacyclâ„¢ provides the only plug-and-play technology for decentralized wastewater treatment that produces direct electricity (without methane), eliminates sludge, and enables water reuse with minimal operating expense. Aquacycl technologies addresses treatment needs in food & beverage (F&B) industry, agriculture, emerging markets and military applications through competitive equipment rental and service plans.

 

Today, 80% of wastewater is discharged to the environment without being treated. Water is one of our most valuable resources, and access to clean water is a basic necessity. Water and wastewater systems are energy intensive, accounting for approximately 3–4% of energy use in the United States, resulting in the emissions of more than 45 million tons of GHGs annually F&B producers consume large amounts of water during the process and cleaning equipment, and the wastewater generated is very energy-intensive to treat due to high organic material.

This wastewater is 300 times more concentrated in organic material than normal sewer wastewater and is very difficult for municipalities to treat. If a F&B producer discharges directly to the sewer, their waste streams create toxicity events, throwing the municipal system out of balance. Today, the only options to manage high-strength wastewater are to hold-and-haul or discharge to sewers. Both of these options have environmental impacts and are expensive, costing up to $2M per year, per facility.

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Onsite, distributed treatment can be prohibitively expensive; and conventional treatment technologies are capital intensive and failure-prone. Aquacycl has developed a modular, onsite plug-n-play, BioElectrochemical Treatment Technology (BETTâ„¢) system that can reduce wastewater manage-ment costs by up to 90%. BETT systems treat wastewater up to ten times stronger than traditional treatment systems can handle, eliminate up to 80% of primary sludge, recover energy as direct electricity to self-power, and produce irrigation quality water (to WHO standards).

The BETT reactors are the first commercially viable Microbial Fuel Cell with zero methane generated. The BETT systems select and control natural bacteria for the purpose of accelerating wastewater treatment rates, eliminating primary sludge, minimizing secondary sludge, producing electricity and making new molecular water. The treatment process occurs inside bio-reactors that are stacked like Legos inside a 20-foot shipping container.

Locally sourced bacteria are placed inside the reactor, where they form a biofilm on its interior surfaces. As the bacteria break down the carbon-based organic matter in the wastewater, they grab electrons that they use in the process of respiration. As the microbes respire, they release electrons, which are captured as direct current. The energy captured is used to power the equipment, making it energy neutral. By increasing the rate that electrons are taken away, treatment rate can be sped up, taking hours instead of traditional anaerobic systems that would take days or weeks.

 

Aquacycl’s technology is provided as a service, meaning companies have zero capital expenditures, and it is operated on a multi-year lease agreement with mutually-agreed performance objectives. The service includes all the monitoring and control and sludge management, so F&B producers never have to worry about the system operations.

The BETT systems have the opportunity to truly change the way wastewater is treated. By treating the most difficult part of the process, Aquacycl can reduce costs and energy consumption. Successful pilots have been operating for multiple years in applications ranging from confined animal production, military, residential, confectioneries and breweries.

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