A New Zealand start-up that takes wastewater and makes it useable will start rolling out its pilot programme in the coming months.
Aquafortus is set to take over the billion dollar wastewater market, having won a multi-million dollar contract in Texas.
It all started with a "happy accident" in a small garage on Auckland's North Shore.
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"When we started we had a vial of oil that made snowflakes out of salt," says Daryl Briggs, Aquafortus CEO.
What Mr Briggs and his colleagues had discovered was a new way to separate water from its pollutants.
"The eureka moment was a little unbelievable," Mr Briggs said.
The implications are huge for the environment and for major industries like textiles, coal plants and chemical refineries. They are all looking to remove salts from their waste water.
But turning the test tubes into a product required financial backing and Callaghan Innovation stepped in to help.
"It's fantastic to see a Kiwi business competing on the world stage, with technology that's better for the environment," says Elena Higgison, start-up manager of Callaghan Innovation.
Ms Higgison says it's a big contract for Aquafortus and what's most exciting is the "huge potential" across a range of industries which globally produce about 900 million tonnes of wastewater every day.
Now that Aquafortus has won a multi-million dollar contract in Texas, the garage model will be scaled up 16,000 times which will provide a valuable environmental tool for the oil industry.
The company has developed a product that instantly separates salts out of water. The salts crystallise out leaving clean water.
This clean and clear image is "improving the image of the oil and gas companies" says Mr Briggs. That means ticking a green box for companies that have a dirty public image.
"We are a step change over and above the current technology," says Mr Biggs, adding that he hopes Aquafortus will become the new normal.
The invention brings water to a level where it can be used for agriculture. But it could even be used to solve water issues in small island nations like Kiribati and Tuvalu.
Mr Briggs has a message for other big dreamers: "These big market opportunities are out there and you just have to go for them".
Newshub.
