Do crabs and Coke have something together? Yes they do, both are fully en
joying the results of Waterix water technology. Finnish Waterix sells AIRIT aerators, MIXIT mixers and COOLIT process water coolers for municipal and industrial sewage treatment and process water cooling. In addition, Waterix is Finland’s largest manufacturer supplying aerators for natural bodies of water and market leader in waste stations’ leachate water treatment.
Over 10 billion euros global aerator and cooler market has enjoyed even 10 per cent annual growth due to stricter environmental permits. The demand for COOLIT coolers increase, while it is not allowed to direct hot process water into the river flowing nearby. Waterix AIRIT aerators in turn, treat water by adding oxygen to water. The added oxygen starts the natural, biological cleaning process and bacteria split organic material into less harmful substances when bad odor or algae disappear in days.
The company was founded in 2003 and sells now around 70 per cent of annual turnover (outside of Finland) to EU countries. “Our competitiveness is based on lower energy consumption, maintenance and easy installation.” says Heikki Tallgren, managing director for Waterix. “The price range of our products varies from 1 000 and 40 000 euros while we can offer payback time less than two years in some cases.”
Waterix patented technology is scalable for different customers. The larger models are sold industrial and municipal waste water treatment for companies like UPM-Kymmene, Coca-Cola and International Paper. Interestingly, the same technology as a smaller model is used for fish and crab farms: Waterix aerators produce more oxygen and fish are growing faster!
“We see clear competitive edge and high growth potential on industrial waster water treatment which is used for surface aerator technologies for a long time. On municipal waste water treatment, surface aerator technologies surface aerator technologies are not that much used, so the investment barrier is higher” explains Heikki, who previously worked 13 years for Ponsse AS as managing director as well as couple of years as the board member for listed Ponsse Oyj.
Waterix, approved for Tekes Young Innovative Companies -program, is owned by management, private investors and Sitra the Finnish Innovation Fund. The companys is now closing the next round to boost global growth and further product development. In time, Waterix with several patents portfolio and great customer references is worth-while exploring for global wastewater companies like Siemens, Veolia and Kemira, which have been purchased actively water treatment technologies during past years.
