Site Visit to 374Water's Pilot Plant Highlights the Opportunity for Supercritical Oxidation
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Business
374Water's SCWO solution - branded as AirSCWO - is able to treat a wide range of waste streams, both hazardous and non-hazardous. This includes the PFAS family of chemicals, conventional residuals and biosolids at wastewater treatment plants, animal waste, industrial waste and sludge, food waste, and landfill leachate. In addition to water utilities, the company's target customers include military bases (many of which are contaminated by PFAS), food and beverage operations, oil and gas facilities, and organic chemical or pharmaceutical factories. The addressable market in utility and industrial sludge treatment is estimated at $9 billion by 2026.
As compared to conventional water treatment, this technology has several selling points. First, the process is able to effectively handle many hard-to-treat compounds, such as PFAS and microplastics. Second, the process maximizes energy efficiency and, in fact, recovers energy and minerals. Third, there is no need to inject treatment chemicals, because water and air jointly do the proverbial work. Fourth, there is no methane byproduct, creating a climate-friendly profile.
Taxonomy
- water treatment
- Supercritical water technology