Wase Limited

Company description

Wase develops waste water treatment systems with an aim of facilitating bioenergy production and recycling of nutrients back into the environment.

WASE provides decentralised wastewater treatment and biogas production plant, that are designed to treat wastewater for communities and industry. The system is modular allowing it to easily be scaled and adapt to the growing demand of wastewater treatment as communities and business grow. Our solution reduces the size and cost of wastewater treatment making it accessible to communities that are faced with poor sanitation and energy access, which stifles economic growth. We use a circular economy model to recover the valuable elements within wastewater that can be used locally. Most of our competitors focus on the removal of contaminants, with the recovery of one or two elements. We recover all the valuable elements; energy, nutrients and water. Additionally, our modular technology is designed to suit differing needs depending on the site and the customer. Our circular approach is the most sustainable option for decentralised sanitation that minimizes waste and reduces our customer's costs. The modularity means we can increase the capacity of the system from 10 users to 20,000+. The energy we produce is high quality, and the customer can choose how they utilise it, whether they convert the methane into electricity or use it for cooking, heating or cooling. The water crisis is the largest global threat due to the potential impact it has on society, along with energy price shocks and biodiversity loss. 2.3 billion people do not have adequate sanitation, 1.4 billion people lack access to electricity and 2.7 billion people do not have access to clean cooking facilities. The water-energy-food nexus highlights the links between these challenges and the need for solutions that address all three areas. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) is often seen as a social issue; however, the world bank estimates that $169 billion is lost globally every year due to poor sanitation. Across 18 countries in Africa the World Bank estimates 20 million latrines are required to eliminate open defecation with the current population. Most countries are investing as little as 0.1% of GDP into sanitation services even though economic losses are around 1-2.5%. There are multiple issues surrounding sanitation service, creating bottle necks that are limiting investment into new services. One of the main issues is the cost of installing traditional pit latrines or centralised treatment that requires costly treatment and vast amounts of water. These issues are also present in refugee camps and across other continents such as Asia; India is losing an estimated $53.8 billion from poor sanitation. Think tanks and humanitarian agencies such as Chatham House and The Toilet Board Coalition are asking for private companies to enter the market and develop sustainable and affordable decentralised sanitation systems that treat wastewater adequately (REF). Decentralised treatment is not only an issue in developing communities but also in some areas of the EU, where countries like Scotland have rural communities with no centralised wastewater infrastructure (REF). WASE carried out an initial assessment of sanitation and energy systems in developing communities, assessing the most suitable technologies in 2016. The study revealed an opportunity to recover resources from the waste in a sustainable way according to circular economy principles using Electro-Methanogenic Reactors (EMR). EMRs are an emerging technology that have shown promise for future wastewater treatment. The research has progressed to find multiple technologies within this field, with EMRs being the most commercially viable. The systems have typically been designed for industrialised communities using expensive catalysts and membranes, however, WASE is developing low cost electrode materials and removed the membranes, making the technology economically viable for developing and remote regions.

Project impact

WASE has won 4 awards including UK Energy Innovation Award, Shell Livewire, NACUE Entrepreneurship competition, Santander Universities Entrepreneur (Tech Catagory), and was a finalist in the MIAT prize, What Design Can Do, and Climate Launchpad. WASE is on the leading EU accelerator program Climate KIC, and is also part of the Exeter Velocities Nurture program. WASE has won grants from the UNWFP sprint program and Innovate UK 3 full-time jobs have been created, and 3 tempory positions with another 4 positions starting in June. WASE has built a pilot decentralised system in Ital with the UN and is now deploying the system in Kenya to treat the waste for 100 people in Daadad.