Green methods of water management and wastewater treatment are vital to solving one of the earth’s biggest environmental issues. The New Economy speaks to Fernando Delgado, CEO of Vert Energy Solutions, about how the wastewater treatment industry is developing.

The New Economy: Well Fernando, let’s start with environmental protection, which is of course central to your business. How has the definition of this changed over the last decade, and what impact has that had on water and the wastewater industry?
Fernando Delgado: Globally, we’ve seen kind of a paradox in terms of where the industry needs to go, and where the industry is going, from an innovation standpoint.

On one side, global regulation is getting tougher. Countries and water utilities all over the world expect more in terms of the percentage of sewage that’s being treated. But on the other side, from a technology standpoint, we haven’t seen innovation that will drive the solutions that will get there as fast as we need.

Sludge has become a worldwide problem

The New Economy: Well in terms of wastewater treatment, what are the biggest challenges faced globally?
Fernando Delgado: Both public and private utilities, no matter where you go in the world, are facing the challenge of reducing their carbon footprint to begin with. And this has many flavours to it.

On one side, in some countries electrical energy usage is definitely being a challenge. But also their greenhouse gas emissions, along with the sludge production, is definitely making a huge difference in terms of how they approach productivity, and how they see the efficiency of the process.

Sludge has become a worldwide problem, because as you solve the wastewater issues, you create another problem that many countries are struggling with: what do you do with all this solid waste that comes in the form of sludge?

The New Economy: What’s the current cutting-edge in green technology, and how quickly is it developing?
Fernando Delgado: The best example we’ve seen out there in terms of disruptive innovation in wastewater solutions comes from an Israeli company called Applied CleanTech. They developed this technology they referred to as ‘sewage mining,’ which is all about finding productive means, and a valuable commodity, in sewage. Which has historically been seen as something that has absolutely no value.

On one hand it reduces sludge production by up to 50 percent by capturing all the suspended solids that are present in municipal wastewater. Now, the good thing about these solids is that not only are they captured and prevented from going into the treatment phase, but these solids are recycled into a valuable commodity that has named Recyllose – from ‘recycled cellulose.’

Recyllose is very useful, as it can be used both as biofuel, but also as a raw material for the production of paper, cardboard, some plastics, and researchers all over the world are finding new applications for Recyllose everywhere.

The New Economy: What’s the operating cost-benefit that sewage mining delivers to the end user?
Fernando Delgado: Cost reductions of up to 30 percent; significant difference in terms of the financials, especially with the kind of pressure that they’re seeing worldwide now. Just in Mexico now we have up to 2,600 wastewater treatment plants, of which more than half have been abandoned during the last six years.

This comes primarily from the high operating costs. Driving 30 percent operating cost reduction can pretty much be the difference for these plants between staying open or being closed down after just a few months.

The New Economy: What government initiatives are in place to adopt this technology, and which countries are more receptive to these types of projects?
Fernando Delgado: We’ve seen a very good reception all over the world; success stories for sewage mining technology in countries such as Israel and the Netherlands.

In Mexico in particular, I think that we have seen a very good response. Mexico has always been seen as a global example setter when it comes to environmental policy. The National Water Commission in Mexico has put together different types of programmes to fund innovative technologies that will boost efficiency and productivity.

This type of programme actually helped us launch a very successful project in the city of Queretaro, which is the fastest growing city in Mexico.

This project was put together by a private water utility called Operadora Querétaro Moderno (OQM). OQM had the vision to invest in sewage mining technology, even though they were operating a rather new plant which was running pretty efficiently.

Still, they decided to go for that extra nudge, and take it up a level. This has allowed their plant not only to reduce their operating costs – probably at a rate of 25 percent – but also to increase their plant capacity by up to 30 percent.

One of the things that we see as the future of investing in wastewater is that private investors can now walk in

It talks not only about environmental efficiency, but also about financial efficiency. And that’s why I was referring to OQM as a visionaire in terms of implementing the first sewage-mining project in the Americas.

The New Economy: Well finally, in terms of investment, where are the opportunities in the wastewater industry?
Fernando Delgado: We’re seeing two driving forces in developed countries and in developing countries.

Developed countries have a pretty big install base, because they’re years ahead in terms of wastewater policy. All these plants in developed countries are looking for solutions that will increase productivity and that will boost efficiency.

Developing countries, on the other hand, are just getting all this awareness of what needs to be done, and probably not following the best practices out there. So, developing countries need to grow this install base, and they need to do it at a very quick pace.

Both of these forces are requiring significant investment. One of the things that we see as the future of investing in wastewater is that private investors can now walk in, both into developed countries and developing countries and their respective projects, and find a good opportunity to invest. Because their return on this investment is guaranteed by the savings that a technology such as sewage mining can drive.

The New Economy: Fernando, thank you.
Fernando Delgado: Thank you very much.