What began in 2013 as a PhD project at the University of Waterloo has turned into a groundbreaking water treatment innovation that is having a notable impact on Alberta’s oil sands.
Kitchener-born H2nanO is developing a sustainable and cost-effective water treatment solution for tailings ponds to ensure more water is available for reuse, according to a statement from Alberta Innovates, which is supporting the Ontario organization with resources.
“We need water for all aspects of our lives—to drink, to produce the food we eat, to make the clothes we wear, and to support the natural ecosystems around us; it powers our lives and our economies,” the organization says. “Our cities, industries, and utilities are going to have to find better ways of managing, using and reusing the water available to us.”
H2nanO’s flagship technology is SolarPass, which doesn’t use up chemicals or power from the grid.
Instead, SolarPass uses tiny floating beads which can be deployed on new or existing storage ponds to treat the water in place.
The small beads are coated with a catalyst that harnesses energy from sunlight to produce powerful oxidants which can break down contaminants.
The catalyst doesn’t get used up in the reaction, making this solar-activated approach a low-energy and nontoxic solution for water treatment.
“Just like a catalytic converter uses heat to break down vehicle emissions, ours uses sunlight to facilitate a chemical reaction,” explains Zac Young, cofounder and Chief Operating Officer of H2nanO.
Since 2018 Alberta Innovates, alongside Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, have helped “grow and refine the technology” that sprung from the research conducted at U of Waterloo.
“We are fortunate to have strong team members, and support from the likes of Alberta Innovates has allowed us to bring some of those staff on and invest in training them up,” Young said.
According to Alberta Innovates, H2nanO stands as a testament to the power of collaboration between innovative minds, academic research, and strategic support from regionally minded organizations.
The upstart has benefited from Alberta Innovates’ Water Innovation Program. Since 2015, the program has invested a total of $40 million and created project value of more than $145M across over 100 projects.
The Water Innovation Program offers grants to “fund great ideas and great technology,” as well as access to an established network of expertise that includes business advice, analytical capacity, and testing facilities.
H2nanO was established in 2015 by Young, Tim Leshuk, Stuart Linley, and Frank Gu, who is Director of the Institute for Water Innovation in Toronto.
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