2021-06-18 06:43Blog post

10 Stockholm-based companies at the cutting edge of water innovation

Summer in Stockholm by Fond & FondSummer in Stockholm by Fond & Fond

By 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will be living in regions affected by absolute water scarcity. As the world’s population continues to swell, demand for this vital resource will only continue to grow. 

Since the 1930s, when Sweden introduced its first sewage treatment plants, the country has remained a forerunner in the race to produce sustainable water supplies. Today, Stockholm is awash with innovative companies developing solutions that will contribute to solving the world’s water and wastewater management problems.

Presenting ten of Stockholm’s cleantech companies that are leading the way in water innovation.

Altered

Swedish innovation company Altered develops simple, sustainable solutions that help people to save water, energy and CO2. Founded in 2016, Altered’s flagship product Nozzle, a water saving device that fits into your existing tap and turns water flow into a mist, saves up to 98 percent of water compared to regular flow taps. This award-winning technology paved the way for the company to continue developing new solutions that make water consumption more sustainable for people around the world.

Drupps

Water industry disrupter Drupps ‘taps the atmosphere’ to help food and beverage producers reduce their water footprint and increase water sustainability. Using patented absorption technology to process and purify the moisture found in air, which does not contain common water pollutants like heavy metals, bacteria, or pesticides, Drupp’s long-term mission is to make atmospheric water affordable enough for everyone to use it.

Wallenius Water

Swedish environmental engineering company Wallenius Water develops solutions to the world’s most significant water challenges. Founded in 1996, the company has interests in many applications in the water industry; however, its most notable solution is PureBallast, the water purification system it developed in collaboration with Alfa Laval. Based on UV technology, PureBallast cleans marine ballast water which can cause ecological disturbances when released at the destination port. 

Solvatten

Founded in the early 1990s by Swedish inventor Petra Wadström, Solvatten’s mission is to provide people living in developing countries with clean water. The combined portable water treatment and water heating system is designed for off-grid household use, giving affordable access to clean, hot water to people living in poverty. Using UV rays produced by sunlight, Solvatten heats and purifies the water, eliminating pathogenic material in just 2-6 hours. Today, there are 400,000 users of Solvatten products in 40 countries across the world.

SurfCleaner

Immense amounts of pollution and waste are generated every day, often ending up in nature and our oceans. Reversing the effects of this water pollution is very difficult, and natural processes that cleanse the water of contaminants can take many years. SurfCleaner technology uses an energy efficient separation process to separate and eliminate all pollution, such as oil, sludge, plastics, and other materials, from water surfaces. Applying the principles of how the human heart performs its pumping and auto-regulating functions, SurfCleaner products allow up to 100 percent separation of the top layer substance, and a separation capacity of 8,000 litres per hour.

Chromafora

Innovation company Chromafora’s technology selectively extracts heavy metals from wastewater streams, such as those within mining, industrial wastewater, and landfill leachates. Using revolutionary SELMEXT™ technology, resources are purified and recycled, minimising the amount of secondary waste normally generated when purifying a stream. 

Aquatron

Flushing the toilet is responsible for about 30 percent of the total water used in a home. The Aquatron is an ecological toilet system which utilises the kinetic fluid’s moving energy, centrifugal force, and gravity to separate the solid waste from flushing water and urine. The flushing water swirls on the system's surface, with 98 percent recovered without any solids. A specially designed UV unit complements the system and makes sure the separated liquid is made 100 percent free of bacterial contamination.

Aqua-Q

Swedish cleantech company Aqua-Q was founded by two water industry professionals with the mission to provide safety and security to water utilities. Its innovative products are designed to remove pharmaceutical residues, personal care products, bacteria, parasites, and residual organics from wastewater. The company has won numerous global awards for its innovations, which include real-time modular based monitoring and sampling for immediate detection of contamination in water and AQS, a hygienic automatic water sampler.

Polonite Nordic

Polonite Nordic uses unique technology to remove and recover nutrients from wastewater. The cleantech company develops reactive filter media, a filtering system with a high ability to capture phosphorus from sewage water and, for example, runoff water from farmlands. The filter media, which is based on a natural mineral called Opoka that is heated, crushed, sieved, and transformed to Polonite, also recycles the phosphorus to productive farmlands. 

Josab Water Solutions

Swedish company Josab produces and sells ecological water purification solutions. Motivated by the need to develop a simple, scalable technology to meet the escalating demand for water purification across the globe, the company created Aqualite™, a filter material that purifies large volumes of water ecologically and at a low cost. Today, Aqualite is used throughout Josab’s catalogue of products which include standard water purification units and custom products designed to meet the client’s individual needs.

Discover more of Stockholm’s most innovative cleantech companies on Invest Stockholm’s Cleantech Hotlist. The curated list is a useful tool for investors seeking an up-to-date overview of Stockholm’s cleantech sector.

 



About Invest Stockholm

Invest Stockholm is the official investment promotion agency of Stockholm. We work with the marketing and development of the Stockholm region as a business destination under the brand Stockholm – The Capital of Scandinavia. Invest Stockholm is a subsidiary of Stockholm Business Region, owned by the city of Stockholm.


Contacts

Hans Aspgren
Stabschef, Stockholm Business Region
Hans Aspgren