Organica Technologies

Organica Water provides products and services that enable customers to build and operate space and energy efficient biological wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) that blend harmoniously into urban and residential population centers, ultimately lowering infrastructure costs and facilitating reuse and recycling of treated wastewater.^[1] The company’s goal is to "Act Globally, Treat Locally" - a nod to its presence and continued expansion across the globe, and also its philosophy of "localized" wastewater management. The company currently has over 50 WWTPs operating or under construction worldwide. Founded in 1998, Organica is headquartered in Princeton, NJ (USA), with an engineering and R&D hub in Budapest, Hungary. The company also has satellite offices in China (Shanghai), India (New Delhi), and Indonesia (Jakarta).

History

Established in 1998, Organica began as a traditional wastewater design-build company focused exclusively on the Hungarian market. During the first nine years of its life the company built over 75 municipal, commercial, and industrial wastewater treatment plants, using a variety of different technologies, for clients ranging from large municipalities to multinational companies such as GM, Audi, Alcoa, Shell, Suzuki and GE. At the same time, Organica invested significantly into R&D with a goal of developing its own IFAS-type (Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge) solution for biological wastewater treatment. In 2007 Organica sold its design-build business to focus exclusively on the commercialization of its own biological wastewater treatment solution on a global basis.^[2]

Today, Organica is an international company operating on three different continents, and the world leader in Fixed-Bed Biofilm Activated Sludge (FBAS) technology, with dozens of operating references across the globe.

Company Milestones

Year	Events^[3]
2015	Organica closed its Series C financing round, adding XPV Capital Corporation,^[4] a Toronto-based growth equity fund focused on the water sector, and also Paris-based Idinvest Partners, through its Electranova Fund, as investors.^[5]
2014	Launched Organica Central Station (OCS), a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform Organica appoints Hydroflux as its agent in Australia.^[6]
2013	Organica signs equipment supply contract for the 45,000 m3/d plant in Indonesia, along with its first upgrade contract in China to improve effluent quality and increase capacity of an existing 30,000 m3/d Activated Sludge Facility. Organica closed its Series B financing round, adding the International Finance Corporation (IFC, part of the World Bank Group) and WLR China Energy Infrastructure Fund L.P. (“CEIF”), a private equity fund managed by Invesco WLR Private Equity Investment Management Company Ltd. as investors.^[7] Organica is recognized in the Cleantech Group’s prestigious Cleantech 100 as the #1 Cleantech Company in Europe/Israel for 2013.
2012	Organica signs contract to design 45,000 m3/d plant for a large real estate development company in Indonesia.
2011	Organica signs contract for 80,000 m3/d upgrade in Budapest and 9 additional Organica-powered WWTPs in France.
2010	Organica opens subsidiary offices in Singapore and India; Commissions two Organica-powered WWTPs in China and one in France.
2009	Organica signs first contracts for Organica-powered WWTPs in China and France.
2008	Organica receives private investment from US and European based venture capital funds.
2007	Organica sells its Wastewater Design/Build business to Veolia, and keeps the intellectual property rights to its proprietary IFAS-type solution for biological wastewater treatment.
2001-2006	Organica builds over 75 different municipal, commercial, and industrial wastewater treatment plants and simultaneously invests in R&D.
2001	Organica merges with 6 companies to become Körte-Organica, one of Hungary’s largest environmental solution providers at the time.
1999	Organica receives private investment to help fund the growth of the business.
1998	Organica is founded as a Wastewater Design/Build business focused on the Hungarian market.

Technology

Organica's wastewater treatment processes wastewater with the use of living organisms, specifically a Fixed-Bed Biofilm Activated Sludge (FBAS)^[8] process, a type of Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge (IFAS) system that leverages the use of various natural AND engineered media to provide a habitat for a diverse fixed-film bacterial culture which metabolizes the contaminants in wastewater.

Organica Food Chain Reactor (FCR)

The Organica FCR is a complete wastewater treatment solution including solids removal, biological treatment/nutrient removal, phase separation, and final treatment for reuse quality (if required), all incorporated into a compact, single structure.^[9]

The reactors are arranged in a cascade fashion with pretreatment steps in the beginning and final polishing at the end, depending on influent characteristics and effluent use.

As water flows from one reactor to the other it passes through different ecologies. and in each of these reactors various components of the contaminants are broken down or - to put it another way- utilized as energy (food). Thus the sub-ecosystems provide for enhanced removal efficiency while utilizing less energy and producing less sludge.

The complex biology is managed by proprietary process control software which regulates all engineering components necessary to maintain ideal conditions in the system.

Organica's current designs often do not employ a clarifier; due to the low TSS and unique composition of the sludge coming out of the system, Organica is able to use Disc Filters in most cases, resulting in additional reductions in physical and psychological footprint

While Organica provides the key enabling products and services for the design, construction, and operation of an Organica FCR WWTP, the majority of other components in an Organica FCR WWTP are commercially available “off-the-shelf” and can be provided by any EPC or General Contractor.

Applications

Municipal / Residential
Industrial
Commercial establishments such as office parks, airports, hotels and resorts
Real Estate Developments
Campuses
Reuse
Retrofit

Advantages

Footprint and CAPEX Savings: As a result of the use of both plant roots and Organica’s proprietary bio-fiber media as fixed film carriers, Organica FCR WWTPs typically hold 3 to 4 times more than conventional solutions such as Activated Sludge. As a result, they are typically 50-75% smaller than an Activated Sludge WWTP would be for the same quantity and quality influent. A smaller footprint means land cost savings, but it also means less concrete, less steel, and less general equipment.^[10]
OPEX & Energy Savings: Organica facilities use less energy, produce less sludge, and can be operated by fewer staff; thanks to an entirely attached growth system, small footprint, proximity to wastewater source, and high level of automation. These factors all contribute to low-cost operation with significant savings.^[11]
Resilient & Robust: higher quantity and diversity of biomass drives a more stable and resilient system as a wider spectrum of organics is broken down, including the enhanced removal of other “hot topic” contaminants such as xenobiotics found in common in painkillers.^[12]
Infrastructure Savings: given its unique look and feel, an Organica-powered WWTP can be located virtually anywhere, creating a massive amount of economic value.^[13]

Products and Services

Organica Water offers products and services which include research, planning, designing, engineering, installation, construction, repair, maintenance, transformation and treatment of plants to enable customers all over the world to build and operate space and energy efficient biological wastewater treatment plants.

While the majority of components in an Organica FCR WWTP are commercially available “off-the-shelf” and can be provided by any EPC or General Contractor, Organica provides the key enabling products and services that power the Organica FCR solution, including the following:

A fully standardized and packaged basic WWTP design that can be used by any GC/EPC contractor to construct an Organica-powered WWTP^[14]
Organica Bluehouse, a containerized Organica facility^[15]
Organica Biomodule^[16]
Organica Scallop discfilter units for phase separation^[17]
Process Control Software^[18]
Supervision over equipment installation^[19]
Commissioning Support and Operator Training
Operation and Maintenance manuals for units designed/supplied by Organica

If requested by the client, Organica can also provide additional products and services including general equipment, detailed design, project management, and other specially requested products and services.

Organica also has an industry-first proprietary Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform known as Organica Central Station (OCS),^[20] which allows users to design their own Organica-powered wastewater treatment plant and receive a complete preliminary engineering design package in less than 48 hours.

Awards

Global CleanTech TOP 100 2014, given by CleanTech Group^[21]
Best Overall Innovation Winner 2013, given by CIWEM West Midlands Institute of Water - Innovations Showcase^[22]
Global CleanTech CleanTech “Company of the Year” (Europe & Israel) for 2013, given by CleanTech Group^[23]
Global CleanTech TOP 100 2013, given by CleanTech Group^[24]
Global Water Intelligence Wastewater Project of the Year 2013 - Honorable Mention, South Pest WWTP in Budapest, Hungary
WEX Innovation Award 2013 given by the Water and Energy Exchange, recognizing significant achievement in the field of Water and Wastewater Management^[25]
Nomination for the European Business Awards for the Environment 2010 by the Hungarian Jury for the EU Environmental Awards
The "Environment Award" 2008 given by the Association of Environmental Manufacturers and Service Providers
Silver Merit Cross of the Republic of Hungary 2005 given to Mr. István Kenyeres, co-founder of ORGANICA for his contribution to the development of the environmental industry in Hungary
Frost & Sullivan Innovation Prize 2005 for the ORGANICA Technology wastewater treatment solution
The "Environment Award" 2004 given by the Association of Environmental Manufacturers and Service Providers
Innovation Award 2004 given by the Hungarian Innovation Foundation
Company of the Year 2004 given by the Hungarian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/19/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.