Wastewater treatment using algae. Artificial intelligence in CCTV pipeline inspection. Desalination without pretreatment, membranes or evaporation. Portable and foldable concrete tanks. Technology that makes chemicals using only air, water and renewable electricity.
These are just some of the advances displayed in the Innovation Showcase on the show floor at September’s international wastewater and water conference in Chicago. The showcase has been a fixture at the conference for more than a decade. Presented by the Water Environment Federation, BlueTech Research and Imagine H20, it enables visitors to learn about and meet some of the water sector’s most forward-thinking people. Here are some highlights of the Innovation Showcase for 2025:
AlgaFilm Technologies. This startup company offers Algae Forest process, designed to bring cost-effective, carbon-neutral nutrient removal systems to small and medium-sized wastewater treatment systems with flows up to 5 mgd. It has uses in secondary and tertiary municipal wastewater, anaerobic digester sidestreams, and industrial wastewaters. The greenhouse-based process reduces nutrient-removal costs by 50-90% versus conventional treatment, according to the company. With no moving parts, it has minimal maintenance and operating requirements. algafilm.com
Weaver Labs. This business offers Fluor-Mop technology for removal of short- and long-chain PFAS to non-detect levels. The process is regenerable, reducing the need for media replacement and waste handling, lowering life-cycle costs, and enabling ease of operation. The company says its media is designed to target PFAS specifically and outperforms conventional methods by up to eight times. The silica-based adsorbent material is designed to form multiple strong interactions with PFAS compounds, while being unaffected by co-contaminants. weaver-labs.com
Active Membranes. The company provides electrically conducting membranes that actively inhibit scaling and fouling in reverse osmosis desalination processes. The membranes require minimal pretreatment and use minimal chemicals and consumables. They operate at high recovery rates and simplify operation. The spiral-bound modules can retrofit any system to transform any passive membrane into an active one. The company claims 50% footprint reduction, 40% lower operating costs, twice the membrane life, and 25-45% greater recovery than conventional methods. activemembrane.com
Solidec. The company’s technologies extract molecular building blocks from the environment and then upgrade them into pure chemicals and fuels without fossil emissions. The processes are designed to capture carbon and manufacture chemicals using only air, water, and renewable electricity, providing a pathway to reducing the capital and energy needed to meet net-zero goals. solidec.com
Delta Bravo Artificial Intelligence. The business looks to accelerate the United States’ reindustrialization by solving the critical bottlenecks of industrial optimization, water treatment, and permitting processes. Offerings including Aquaspec, Permit Pro and Data Mentor support plant development and enable a smarter industrial performance, according to the company. On the water and wastewater treatment side, the AI-powered Aquaspec solution aims to transform water from a constraint into a catalyst for stronger, healthier industries. Benefits include reduced pollution, faster permitting, reliable water supply, and more profitable, more flexible, safer operations. deltabravo.ai
Chromafora. This start-up focuses on innovative water treatment and metal extraction solutions. Its SELPAXT and SELMEXT chemical technologies are designed to remove contaminants while reducing waste through selectivity. SELPAXT eliminates short- and long-chain PFAS from water streams, while SELMEXT targets heavy metals. The SELMEXT method also reduces the need for virgin extraction of several critical raw materials, as gold and other valuable metals can be extracted from waste streams and made available for reuse. chromafora.com
ManholeMetrics. The business offers ManholeMonitor low-cost, long-life water level sensors deployed in manholes to monitor events such as backups and combined and storm sewer overflows. The devices send email and text alerts for real-time and predicted events. The manufacturer says the lifetime cost if its technology is one-tenth that of others because of low costs for equipment, software, installation, maintenance and integration. Units are top-mounted and can be installed in 5-10 minutes without confined-space entry. Battery and antenna are fully integrated; battery life is more than 10 years. The devices integrate with the company’s web-based Porthole platform and provide real-time alerts for both level and rate of change settings, as well as predictive alerts for sanitary, stormwater and combined systems. manholemetrics.com
VAPAR. This startup’s technology uses software with AI-powered and automated coding algorithms for CCTV pipe inspection and condition assessment. An intelligent cloud-based platform provides objective, standardized and automated condition assessments so that utilities can obtain high-quality asset data in minutes. Users can standardize condition and defect data and calibrate condition ratings to the organization’s asset management policies. Footage can be uploaded and reviewed from anywhere with full data security. The technology integrates with GIS, cloud storage and enterprise resource planning. vapar.co/water-utilities
Current Software. This company’s utility billing software is designed as a simple, effective, and holistic platform that is intuitive to use and that helps team members work efficiently. It is a modern, cloud-native customer management system that streamlines operations. The company says the software is built for the 94% of utilities that have fewer than 10,000 service connections. Features include an online payment portal and multi-channel communication for customers, native charts and reports that make information easy to access, automated billing, and a delinquency system that lets users configure delinquency policy, notices, and fees and generate late lists automatically. currentsoftware.app
Cetos Water. This business offers low-cost, scalable desalination for difficult brines. Its membrane-less, non-evaporative solvent extraction technology selectively absorbs freshwater from contaminated brines. The result is a scalable, sustainable, energy-efficient, and cost-effective process that can handle brines across the salinity spectrum, with customizable water recovery up to zero liquid discharge, according to the manufacturer. A special solvent selectively absorbs freshwater molecules, leaving salts, contaminants, and minerals behind. The process uses no pretreatment, membranes or evaporation. A gentle temperature change causes the solvent to release freshwater; the solvent can be regenerated and reused. The concentrated brine is rich in valuable minerals for recovery. Minimal energy requirement and automated operations offer low operating expense. cetoswater.com/technology
Deploy Tech. This business developed the first foldable concrete container, the 14R rapid Water Tank with 14,000-liter (3,700-gallon) capacity. Tanks arrive flat-packed on a standard pallet and can be air-deployed for setup in minutes. Once in its final shape, hydration quickly hardens the material, making it ready to use within 24 hours. The company says the tanks combine the durability of concrete with the flexibility of fabric. Each tank is housed in a wooden crate designed to fit perfectly into a standard container. Up to 36 units can be packed in a 40-foot container or 18 units in a 20-foot container to minimize shipping cost. A removable lid allows full interior access for maintenance. An easy-clean geomembrane further facilitates cleaning. deploytechltd.com
