Continuous real-time monitoring of water toxicity

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - ToxMate (Continuous real-time monitoring of water toxicity)

Okres sprawozdawczy: 2022-01-01 do 2022-06-30

Urban centres, industries and agriculture produce large volumes of wastewater; in addition, the current population growth, accelerated urbanization and economic development are increasing the quantity and pollution of wastewater globally. Being a by-product of human activities, wastewater contains chemical, biological and physical pollutants, so it must be treated to remove all contaminants before it is released in the environment. Releasing untreated or inadequately treated wastewater is dangerous and has harmful effects on human health, the environment, and economic activities.
Water quality after wastewater purification varies over time, even and especially during one single day, but managers do not have the necessary tools to monitor these variations. Currently available methods based on bioassays or physical and chemical parameters require sampling, conservation and transport, and are based on spot-sampling (1-2 times/year). These methods are not able to provide information on temporal variability and have low efficiency, durability, and specificity; they are also slow in providing results (at least 72 hours) and can’t allow real time monitoring. To overcome these limitations, ViewPoint has developed ToxMate: a tool for the automated real-time, onsite and on-line monitoring of wastewater toxicity. It is based on the simultaneous analysis of the locomotor behaviour of 3 different species of aquatic invertebrates and it uses infrared light and powerful and precise cameras to record continuously the activity of the animals. The system is composed of 3 panels, each containing 16 animals, so 48 animals can be analysed at the same time.

ToxMate is able to pump constantly a part of the water to monitor, having 24/7 cameras looking at the abnormal behaviours of the macro-invertebrates and generating an alert within minutes. All maintenance operations are performed by ViewPoint’s qualified technicians without need of users’ staff. ToxMate is fast so it can provide a result on water toxicity in 10 minutes. This rapid detection allows public authorities and water managers to measure the variations in wastewater and identify abnormal episodes, enabling quick interventions to optimize water purification and control treatment plants more efficiently. All data are available online and can be connected to the plant supervision.

ToxMate can be deployed on different types of wastewater plants. The application on urban wastewater before releasing the processes water to the environment is a way to control the efficiency of the process.
This can be useful to understand the dynamic of the presence of micropollutants and define the size of an advanced treatment. When advanced treatment is in place, it can be used to control it. ToxMate is also used for industrial wastewater to detect abnormal release of micropollutants and make it possible to better manage the industrial production processes.

Various types of waters can be monitored, as main issues can be seen at input and output of industrial and urban wastes water treatment plants and also in potable waters. These fields have been the first ones to be addressed.
Scientific work has been conducted with well recognized actors in the field of ecotoxicology and some tests have provenToxmate efficiency. One of the key success factor while bringing disruptive technology to the market is the ability to show user cases that are connected as closely as possible to targeted markets. That is why one of the main tasks of the project was to find some references in the chemical industry, potable water and urban waste water treatment plants. As some applications are sensitive to seasonal effects, we have chosen to have our ToxMate system up and running for 14 months on each site.

Several tasks have been realised in parallel from the beginning of the project:
- improvements of the system (in both hardware and software) to better analyse the behaviour of the macro-invertebrates so as to add new endpoints for a more accurate evaluation of micropollutants in the water,
- select partners in key target markets to be used as references and demonstrator sites to prove efficiency of the ToxMate in several situations. Install 4 references sites and start collecting data continuously,
- prepare the company for in-house medium size production, including defining the procedures, future needs and bringing ERP for better efficiency,
- starting commercialization in France with contacts with major servicing companies, biggest municipalities and first industrial sectors such as chemistry, pharma, textile... thus establishing our network in the field of water.

To adapt to the market, where potential levels of chemical contamination of water are much lower, the sensitivity of the tool has been increased and verified by laboratory and on-site tests. The tool thus offers sensitivity to chemical and emerging compounds and very fine detection capacities (less than 5 µg for PAHs and pesticides, for example), made reliable over the long term by the monthly renewal of biological organisms.

We have now a system that is able to detect micropollutants in real time on various types of water matrix. We have validated the following applications on demonstration sites:
On urban waste water treatment plants:
- after secondary treatment
- before and after tertiary (advanced) treatment
On industrial waste water treatment plants (chemical and textile industry):
- after biological treatment
- before and after tertiary (advanced) treatment
For potable water:
- on the raw water after screening
- at the different steps of the process but before chlorination

The ToxMate project has allowed us to complete final enhancements of the product, evaluate best potential markets, prepare the company to manage growth with higher production and launch commercialization starting in Europe and then on North America and Asian market reducing the time to market of the system.

We are now able to prove that ToxMate is worthy to better understand when and how the micro-pollutants are present at different steps of the water cycle. Return on experience from demonstrator sites eases the market penetration.

ToxMate is the first and only system based on multi species to address in minutes the detection of micro pollutants in the water and help to better process the water before discharge. This unique technology will help to protect the environment and human health and data collected will be use to enhance capabilities of the system.

Installed in drinking water treatment plants, ToxMate allows the control of the water resource upstream (raw water) and the monitoring of water quality throughout the treatment process. In addition to wastewater monitoring, surface waters (rivers, lakes,...) are also closely monitored both to verify their good ecological status and to monitor the impact of human activities or to preserve drinking water catchments.

ToxMate installed on chemical plant at Solvay Tavaux

Toxmate installed in a drinking water station in France

ToxMate for potable water in Ferel with Saur

ToxMate in Paris on large WWTP

Toxmate installed in a Urban Waste Water Plant

Toxmate can also be used for potable water

3 ToxMate to monitor advanced treatments in Altenrhein Switzerland

CFD simulation flows

Toxmate installed at Siaap in Paris

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - ToxMate (Continuous real-time monitoring of water toxicity)

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