The Winners of the WEX Global Awards 2022

Congratulations to the winners of the WEX Global Awards 2022 whose entires have been judged to have made a significant contribution to the water and wastewater sector, with special emphasis on innovative energy reduction and environmental considerations; the sustainable future; financial resilience, and innovation.

We thank all the companies and organisations who entered their projects, we had a large number of entries this year so competition was tough. And a special thank you to our panel of judges who have looked carefully at all the projects.

CirTec for Innovation in Water Circularity

CirTec BV

CellCap is a technology that is able to extract cellulose from sewage without additional pumping. An important and proven effect of CellCap is that the removal of cellulose from sewage water leads to a significant reduction of CO2 emissions both in the water treatment itself and in external processes (eg by reducing virgin cellulose production) .

After building a first proof-of-concept on a representative demo scale demonstrating the technology (and the market for the recovered product), CirTec started the development of CellCap in 2020, a 2-stage sieve. That is also the uniqueness; the two stages. In stage 1, the CellWash, organics not wanted in the cellulose (fats, hair, seeds, etc) are removed from sewage and in stage 2, the IntenSieve® – an improved energy-efficient rotating belt fine sieve, Cellulose is harvested.

By sieving suspended solids from sewage water, sewage treatment plants (STP’s) can reduce their energy consumption, sludge growth and chemical use, increase their capacity and reduce the CO2 footprint, while producing a valuable resource. (https://youtu.be/eWBeZPSP7vE)

After full-scale demonstrating the technology at the STP Geestmerambacht (NL), the results are validated throughout Europe. One of the pilots is started on May 10 at the STP EDAR Pinedo, Valencia (Esp), being the first pilot in Spain.

Isle Utilities for Innovation in Decarbonising

The climate crisis has begun. We must act NOW. The water sector is a major contributor of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is risk-averse, often resulting in slow uptake of mitigation technologies. Innovations undergo trials without implementation due to diverse barriers.

Nevertheless, the sector has unique potential to make vast positive impacts. Our Trial Reservoir is an evergreen pool of money we have given to the sector as loans for running costs to trial technologies that reduce carbon footprints and lower GHG emissions, lowering the cashflow barrier. The loan ONLY has to be repaid if the trial is a success. Access to loans depends on a trial and purchase agreement between the technology vendor and the user that describes the trial’s KPIs and the post-trial purchase IF the trial meets its KPIs. This enables end-user implementation with minimal financial risk, and forces the cultural barriers to implementation to be addressed.

Its objectives are to accelerate the industry towards net zero carbon by supporting 10+ trials/year to implementation, deploy £1m p/y in trials, achieve a success rate of 6/10 trials and 70% by amount invested, to reduce pilot-to-implementation time by 80%, and alleviate 120,000 tonnes (30,000 people’s worth) of carbon p/y.

Barbara IoT for innovation in Digitalised Water Management

Barbara IoT connects and manages, from anywhere in the world, and provide all types of devices (IoT) with a cybersecurity layer that allows water utilities or infrastructures to ensure the invulnerability of their systems and devices.

The Spanish start-up has created a cybersecure operating system that allows to connect and protect industrial equipment with an anti-hacker shield.

Founded in 2016, Barbara IoT is currently consolidating its leadership and expanding into new markets in the critical infrastructure sector. Through its software, the company collects data from sensors and industrial equipment, and runs artificial intelligence algorithms to detect anomalies or automate processes in real time. The system does not require to use the cloud, and significantly reduces the cost of data processing and the risk of cyber-attacks.

Managing the risk of cyber-attacks is key for critical sectors such as water management and critical infrastructure services. Barbara IoT already works with clients such as Iberdrola, Cellnex, Grupo Red Eléctrica, Grupo DIA and Global Omnium, among others.

Miya for Innovation in Financial Partnership

In 2011, New Providence, the main island of the Bahamas faced an existential threat to its future. With no natural water sources water supply was dependent on desalination plants which had reached maximum capacity, 24/7 water supply had stopped and water needed was barged to the island by boat. The main cause of this dire situation was that ~60% of the water treated, barged and purchased was lost before reaching the client.

MIYA developed and implemented a unique holistic project and reduced the losses to 26% within the first 5 years and to 21% by the end of the 7th year. MIYA has reconfigured the distribution system and invested tens of millions of dollars in selective CAPEX programmes. MIYA was able to return the island to 24/7 supply and has overachieved the contract milestones every year. The project results have saved over 87 million USD to the water utility.

Today NRW levels stand at less than 21% (from an initial 60%) and the project has saved more than 41,124 million litres of water. The project managed to increase the billed consumption by almost 50% and reduced the energy consumption required for production, having a huge impact on reducing emissions.

The overall project size reached ~100M$ financed mostly by the Inter-American Development Bank. With approximately 40% performance-based fees this project is the largest ever successful performance-based project to reduce water losses in the region.

It is the first significant project in the industry ́s history that was 100% output based.

Desalytics for Innovation in Water Marketing

The Problem

  • Industrial and municipal customers in sub-Saharan Africa have challenges sourcing water consumables and equipment timely and getting local service and support.
  • International suppliers cannot navigate such a complex and fragmented market to be close to customers (43 countries), so they rely on distributors.
  • Distributors in Africa lack funding, financial discipline, and processes to keep inventory and invest in service capabilities while maintaining profitability to meet customers’ needs.

The Solution

  • Desalytics, in 2021, built a network of seven subsidiaries across 9 African countries through acquisitions or startups, partnering with young African entrepreneurs, and solving the supply chain challenges by creating a pan-African distribution network. Desalytics leveraged scale, domain expertise, global reach, financing, and digital tools to differentiate from local traders and help the young African entrepreneurs become the suppliers of choice, providinglocal knowledge and services to customers.

The Outcomes

  • In just a year, Desalytics created 27 incremental jobs in Africa, focusing on women empowerment and financial freedom (45% gender diversity)
  • We supported 800 industrial and municipal customers to treat and measure the quality of their water, to meet tighter environmental regulations
  • We grew sales at acquired subsidiaries by 3X and became the go-to-market network of choice for global suppliers for reaching emerging sub-Saharan Africa.
  • We received an award for commercial excellence from LG Water Solutions
  • Our leadership team provided mentoring and coaching for young African entrepreneurs
  • We also trained our teams to avoid corrupt practices and conduct business with unyielding integrity

Algaewheel for the Aqualia Award for Innovation