Seeking Innovative Technologies for Water & Wastewater Treatment, Resource Recovery, and Plant Optimisation

The world is facing a water crisis. By 2030, two-thirds of the world's population will be living in water-stressed areas. Water and wastewater treatment is a critical part of the solution to this crisis and it can help to reduce water pollution, recover valuable resources, and provide potable water as a basic human right.

However, traditional water and wastewater treatment processes may be energy-intensive and require a significant amount of resources. There is an urgent need to revolutionise water and wastewater treatment processes to make them more sustainable and resource-efficient.

Ace Water, a Singapore-based water and wastewater treatment solutions provider and licensed toxic industrial waste collector is seeking innovative technologies that can address the critical aspects of wastewater treatment, resource recovery, and plant optimisation. The company is particularly interested in technologies that can reduce energy and chemical consumption. recover valuable resources and can be easily integrated into existing treatment plants.

Ace Water is open to co-development partnerships, R&D collaborations, and IP licensing with technology providers. The company will also provide a test-bedding "sandbox" for selected technology providers and technical expertise for system integration.

Problem Statement 1: Industrial Water & Wastewater Treatment 

Industrial wastewater can contain a variety of pollutants, including heavy metals, petrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals. Moreover, there is also an interest in the production of industrial water and the reuse of water generated during the industrial process. Innovative technologies of interest may include the following:

1. Production of high-grade demineralised water and ultrapure industrial water 
2. Treatment of high-strength/recalcitrant wastewater 
3. Treatment of oily and greasy wastewater 
4. Enhancements to existing membrane filtration and biological treatment processes

Problem Statement 2: Resource Recovery 

Wastewater can be a valuable source of resources, including renewable energy, nutrients, and raw materials. Innovative technologies of interest may include the following:

1. Sludge recycling from wastewater treatment plants to other valuable applications
2. Precious metal recovery from electroplating and electronics manufacturing industries
3. Biogas recovery from wastewater 
4. Phosphorus and nitrogen recovery

Problem Statement 3: Digital Technologies 

Optimal operation and maintenance of water and wastewater treatment plants require considerable skill level, process knowledge, and experience. The use of digital technologies to collect and analyse real-time operating data, generate task lists for predictive maintenance, recommend operational settings as well as spares/consumables inventory to improve plant safety and reliability, reduce operating costs and protect the environment.

Innovative technologies of interest may include the following:

1. IoT sensors to monitor wastewater treatment systems in real time. This data can be used to optimize treatment processes to predict and prevent problems.
2. Data analytics to analyze wastewater treatment data to identify trends and patterns whereby information can be used to improve treatment processes and optimize operations.
3. Video analytics to monitor water and wastewater quality and identify problems such as overflowing tanks, foaming, health of biomass in bioreactors and malfunctioning equipment in the treatment facility.
4. Generative Artificial intelligence (GAI) that is capable of generating new data such as task list generation and recommended operating settings from existing data to improve plant efficiency, safety, and reliability.

Other than the 3 main problem statements, the tech seeker also invites the submission of technologies related to process treatment systems that can utilise DC from solar power source instead of AC from conventional power source.

1. Ace Water is open to receive proposals from technology providers from start-ups, universities, and research institutions.
2. Proposals should clearly highlight the uniqueness and specificity of the technology (e.g. what makes it different and better than incumbent technologies in the market)
3. They are also keen to explore proposals for solutions/technologies that were not originally designed but could be potentially adapted for water and wastewater treatment. Applications from other domains can be adapted accordingly.
4. Selected technologies will be able to testbed technology within Ace Water's wastewater treatment facilities. Wastewater from the required industry will be made available by Ace Water.

1. Preferably, the submitted technology should be in the range of Technological Readiness Level (TRL) 4 to 6.
2. Ace Water will be keen to co-develop the technology with the technology provider to raise the TRL closer to commercialisation. Ace Water is keen to explore game-changing technologies regardless of their origin and current application.

Funding may be available for local startups through Enterprise Development Grant (EDG) with the following criteria:

• Be a business entity that is registered and physically present in Singapore.
• Have ≥ 30% local equity held directly or indirectly by Singaporean(s) / Singapore PR(s), determined by the ultimate individual ownership.
• Be financially able to see a project through to completion.