Water & Wastewater Asia March/April 2023

IN CONVERSATION WITH
The new solution of Gradiant RO Infinity system for lithium concentration and recovery enables higher levels
of lithium recovery in a fraction of the time of conventional methods, at reduced carbon, water footprint and
capital costs (Image: Gradiant)
“FURTHERING
THE REVOLUTION
already underway
in water”
Prakash Govindan, co-founder and COO of Gradiant,
shares the revolution against water scarcity: key
pressures, strategy breakthroughs and impact for the
industry to collectively reduce water footprint.
By Amira Yunos
with an innovation-centred business strategy
to make it profitable for businesses to adopt
our standards. Recently, we have scored a
few successes to bring water sustainability
to the mining industry. We are helping mining
and energy leaders improve yields by up to
20% while cutting carbon emissions and
energy usage by 85% and freshwater intake
by 90%. Given the kind of sustainable savings
associated with such numbers, we are setting
new standards for industrial water users.
We have hundreds of patents related to
different water-treatment processes. Those
include patents for reverse osmosis (RO),
membrane filtration, biological wastewater,
carrier gas extraction, selective contaminant
extraction, and advanced oxidation process
(AOP) technologies. These solutions can result
in achieving wastewater recovery rates of up
to 99%.
Beyond that, however, we apply efficiencyboosting
models powered by digital twins
technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to
find new ways our clients can benefit from
our solutions — such as recovering resources
from wastewater. In this way, we upgrade
our clients’ technology, and their ability to
maximise the efficiency of this technology.
What are the key global pressures of
water scarcity?
Govindan: According to the UN, if current
water consumption trends continue, global
demand will exceed supply by 40% by 2030.
Erratic weather patterns linked to climate
change are already leading to intense drought
episodes in different parts of Asia and the
world, some of the worst in over 1,000 years.
The water cycle is the first to feel the impact
of climate change and is projected to absorb
most of its impact. For example, we have seen
early signs of global warming speeding up
the water cycle and intensifying droughts and
floods in different areas.
More than 2.2 billion people worldwide are
living without a steady supply of drinkable
water. To put it mildly, we are facing an
unprecedented water shortage crisis that is
likely to threaten both the physical security of
people by virtue of extreme weather events
and a shortage of clean water fuelling the
food supply.
A separate but related issue is the
contamination of freshwater sources.
Groundwater comprises 99% of all freshwater
today, but contamination can spread far and
wide. It then takes a very long time to clean
up, so prevention is key.
As a water solutions provider, what
are Gradiant’s key technology and
strategy breakthroughs to deal with the
aforementioned pressures?
Govindan: Our strategy is to pair technology
What were the challenges faced and how
did Gradiant overcome it?
Govindan: Once contaminated or depleted,
an aquifer can take decades to fully recover.
This brings us to another challenge: we have
demonstrated that the technology to solve our
twin water contamination and scarcity issues
already exists. But how do we apply that
technology at scale? According to the World
Bank, 80% of the world’s wastewater is being
discharged back into the environment without
treatment, and the problem is especially acute
in developing nations.
Industrial water use accounts for about 45%
of global freshwater consumption, and this
share has been growing steadily over the past
few years. By creating powerful incentives for
businesses to adopt Gradiant’s localised water
24 WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | MARCH/APRIL 2023