On
the 16th & 17th October 2012 the second Clean Technology business and
investment matchmaking conference for the African continent is to be held at
the Killarney Country Club in Lower Houghton, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Called “Viridis Africa”, the event is dedicated to entrepreneurs and corporates
who are seeking funding to introduce clean technology solutions and services.
Principals
who present their business opportunities at this event would have the audience
of numerous local and foreign investors, stratified according to their interest
and investment criteria. Investors would include venture capital, private
equity, project and corporate finance outfits and others dedicated to the clean
tech sector. They would also include funding agencies, major industrial
conglomerates, technology specific investment funds and major companies who
seek strategic alliance and acquisitions.
The company Optima Agrik will be presenting a business case for
investment at the event. Optima Agrik has developed processes that will
desalinate water cost-effectively, at a high yield, and without generating any
liquid waste. The processes are designed for the treatment of brackish water
and are especially applicable in areas where water is scarce and where it is
not possible to dump liquid waste.
Optima Agrik’s
unique processes – some of which are patented – are based on ion exchange
technology that not only has a low energy requirement but also enables it to
generate recoverable by-products that may be sold to recover most if not all of
the cost of the process.
According to
Optima managing director, Ockie van Niekerk, “the company is now
commercializing the process it has first developed for the agricultural sector
and is issuing shares to raise the necessary funds to develop another process
that has potential application in industry, for the treatment of domestic waste
and agriculture.”
Says van
Niekerk, “Modern human activity, combined with the factor of population growth,
is having a dramatic impact on the available water resources that we as humans
and all the other living organisms on planet earth need for survival.
“Although the
pollution caused by industry and mining gets the most press coverage, the
impact of domestic waste and agriculture can no longer be ignored. The impact
of these is more widespread and just as severe, but because it is not so
dramatic it is often regarded as less newsworthy.
“Nowadays,
most water desalination is done at coastal areas where sea water is
desalinated, while inland a special type of desalination is done for specific
industrial uses, namely demineralization. These projects are driven purely by
economic forces. For instance, the desalination of sea water is normally done
at places where the population of the town or city has grown to a point where
the fresh water supplies have become inadequate.”
According to
van Niekerk, two potential markets for desalination are opening up: agriculture
and treatment of waste water.
“In
agriculture, more and more farmers are forced to use water of which the salt
content is so high that it compromises the yield and quality of crops – and
increases the risk of salination of the soil. Farmers are also under increased
pressure to reduce the amount of unused fertilizer that runs off from their
operations into the environment,” says van Niekerk.
Waste water is
normally treated to remove only the physical and organic contaminants in order
to get it to the minimum standard where it can be released into the
environment.
However, these
processes do not remove the dissolved inorganic salts (referred to as Total
Dissolved Solids or TDS) in the water. Water that is released into the
environment has often other users downstream.
This impact
has grown to such an extent that many inland users are now considering
desalination.
Optima Agrik
has two pilot plants running on processes specifically developed for the irrigation
industry and will soon install a full-scale plant that will treat the water of
a citrus farm north of Polokwane.
Optima Agrik
has been granted patent rights in South Africa, the USA and Australia for the
technology it has developed.
Viridis Africa invites clean tech company
owners to submit a business plan or executive summary for evaluation, and to be
included in the line-up of the event.
The
following are some of the clean tech sub-sectors in which principals may
consider their company, initiative being presented:
·
Wind,
solar, hydro, biofuels, geothermal, clean coal technologies
·
Fuel
cells, advanced batteries, hybrid systems
·
Building
efficiency, smart grids, waste heat recovery
·
Water
treatment, water conservation, waste water treatment, desalination
·
Recycling,
waste treatment, organic matter, plastics.
Presenters will have
the opportunity to introduce their investment case to interested parties
throughout the lifecycle of their business, i.e. from conceptual, early stage /
start-up through to established business.
