Econse Water Purification Systems Inc. is proud to announce that their technology was chosen to advance to the semi-final round in the George Barley Water Prize.
As the only Canadian company to advance, they will now compete with 9 other academic institutions and companies from around the world in a global effort to help reduce the effect of phosphorus pollution on our precious waterways.
The George Barley Water Prize is a crowdsourcing innovation challenge looking to find the best solutions for removing phosphorus from bodies of water. Private companies and academic institutions develop and demonstrate how their next generation technology can help drive change.
Phosphorus in water can accelerate weed growth and algal blooms, a problem “becoming more and more frequent,” says Sabrina Ternier, with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change’s Environmental Innovation Branch. “This is a global issue and it’s going to take global innovation to solve.”
Econse is an Ontario based company that develops water and wastewater solutions for niche problems facing SMEs and local businesses across Canada. After working with Craft Brewers to provide on-site treatment BrüClean System, Econse began exploring ways that their technology could be adapted to help other larger environmental issues.
“We were contacted by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture (OMAFRA) and the Ministry of the Environment (MOECC) to see if we could help and support the Holland Marsh Growers Association as they worked to find a better way to reduce nutrients entering Lake Simcoe from local farms.” Says Derek Davy, co-founder and head of business development for ECONSE. “We brought our equipment in to demonstrate how washwater could be easily treated and re-used in a safe, and chemical free way” Shortly after the results were published Econse was asked to join the George Barley Water Prize.
In 2017, Georgian College in Barrie was recruited to assist the ECONSE team in testing and analysis. “With financial assistance from OCE, a Provincial Grant, Georgian College students were able to operate and evaluate the Econse technology and support the project by providing valuable feedback and reporting.” Says Dr. Mira Ray, Director for the Centre for Applied Research and Innovation at Georgian College.
Upon the completion of the George Barley Water Prize, Econse hopes to continue research to help farms, businesses and conservation authorities in the Lake Erie region through the use of their technology in support of achieving targets set out in the Great Lakes Conservation Agreement.
Econse graciously acknowledges the Holland Marsh Growers Association, WaterTAP, Haltech, Bioindustrial Innovation Canada, Innovation Guelph, BLOOM, MaRS, Runway Financial, and Gilberts LLP in supporting our efforts as we develop the next generation of chemical free water treatment.
For more information please contact:
[email protected]
http://www.barleyprize.com
https://binational.net
ECONSE AND VINELAND RESEARCHMarch 27, 2025 - 12:18 pm
ECONSE advances in George Barley Water Prize The fight against Phosphorus Pollution
BlogEconse Water Purification Systems Inc. is proud to announce that their technology was chosen to advance to the semi-final round in the George Barley Water Prize.
As the only Canadian company to advance, they will now compete with 9 other academic institutions and companies from around the world in a global effort to help reduce the effect of phosphorus pollution on our precious waterways.
The George Barley Water Prize is a crowdsourcing innovation challenge looking to find the best solutions for removing phosphorus from bodies of water. Private companies and academic institutions develop and demonstrate how their next generation technology can help drive change.
Phosphorus in water can accelerate weed growth and algal blooms, a problem “becoming more and more frequent,” says Sabrina Ternier, with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change’s Environmental Innovation Branch. “This is a global issue and it’s going to take global innovation to solve.”
Econse is an Ontario based company that develops water and wastewater solutions for niche problems facing SMEs and local businesses across Canada. After working with Craft Brewers to provide on-site treatment BrüClean System, Econse began exploring ways that their technology could be adapted to help other larger environmental issues.
“We were contacted by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture (OMAFRA) and the Ministry of the Environment (MOECC) to see if we could help and support the Holland Marsh Growers Association as they worked to find a better way to reduce nutrients entering Lake Simcoe from local farms.” Says Derek Davy, co-founder and head of business development for ECONSE. “We brought our equipment in to demonstrate how washwater could be easily treated and re-used in a safe, and chemical free way” Shortly after the results were published Econse was asked to join the George Barley Water Prize.
In 2017, Georgian College in Barrie was recruited to assist the ECONSE team in testing and analysis. “With financial assistance from OCE, a Provincial Grant, Georgian College students were able to operate and evaluate the Econse technology and support the project by providing valuable feedback and reporting.” Says Dr. Mira Ray, Director for the Centre for Applied Research and Innovation at Georgian College.
Upon the completion of the George Barley Water Prize, Econse hopes to continue research to help farms, businesses and conservation authorities in the Lake Erie region through the use of their technology in support of achieving targets set out in the Great Lakes Conservation Agreement.
Econse graciously acknowledges the Holland Marsh Growers Association, WaterTAP, Haltech, Bioindustrial Innovation Canada, Innovation Guelph, BLOOM, MaRS, Runway Financial, and Gilberts LLP in supporting our efforts as we develop the next generation of chemical free water treatment.
For more information please contact:
[email protected]
http://www.barleyprize.com
https://binational.net
INDUSTRIAL WATER REUSE – GLASS FABRICATION INDUSTRY
Case StudiesThe Challenge:
Craft Beer is a growing market in North America, however, many Craft Breweries are at risk of receiving large environmental penalties due to their high strength wastewater.
Traditional treatment options have been limited to “scaled down” versions of municipal type systems, and as such, they have higher capital & operating costs, and often require skilled technicians and a reliance on chemical treatments.
These solutions don’t always meet the needs of the small to medium sized Craft Brewers.
Econse Solution:
Starting in October 2015 until March 2016, Econse worked closely with several craft breweries in Ontario to develop a solution to specifically meet the needs of the industry
The project results were successful and showed that we were able to meet all discharge requirements with the BRÜ CLEAN SYSTEM.
The Results:
Small to Large Craft Breweries and Brew Pubs will now be able to eliminate environmental penalties, and dramatically reduce their water usage in an affordable way and become environmental leaders in their Communities.
For more info please visit www.brucleansystem.com
PCB & POP Destruction Unit
Case StudiesThe Challenge:
The removal and decontamination of PCBs and POPs from water is a very difficult and expensive process, which creates additional pollution & waste due to the use of Incineration, Chemical Mineralization, and Reverse Osmosis technologies.
ECONSE was asked by a Canadian Government Agency to propose a solution and demonstrate our capability to destroy PCBs in highly contaminated water.
Additional goals of the project included:
The water was contaminated with 120 (+/-) ug/l of PCBs & other contaminations.The “Safe for Discharge” requirement (non-drinking water) is 1 ppb (1μg/l).
Our challenge was to destroy PCBs below “Non-Detectability Level”.
The Solution:
The Econse 250R PCB & POP Destruction Unit uses an advanced chemical free process to destroy PCBs and POPs to below detectability “On-Site” without the need for any incineration or use of chemicals.
The ECONSE-250R produces a water quality that meets and exceeds the Safe Industrial Discharge requirements of the Ontario Ministry Of Environment MOECC at a fraction of the cost of other traditional treatment technologies.
The Results:
ECONSE preformed a demonstration of our technology at our facility in Toronto, Canada. All PCB and other hazardous contaminations were destroyed to below Non Detectability (0.02 ug/l), and water was made safe for discharge.Test results were verified by an independent certified 3rd party laboratory.
THM & HAA REMOVAL TEST
Case StudiesThe Challenge:
Public Water Systems add disinfectants such as chlorine or chloramines to protect drinking water from disease-causing organisms. These disinfectants also react with natural organic matters (NOMs) in the water and form chlorination disinfection by-products (CDBs).
Drinking water containing THMs and HAAs in excess of Health Canada Maximum Acceptable Concentration (MAC) or EPA (MCL) level, could over many years cause problems with liver, kidney, or central nervous system, birth defect, early-term miscarriages, reproduction system disease and have an increased risk of cancer.
The Solution:
Elimination of the precursors that cause THMs & HAAs is the best way to reduce the overall THMs & HAAs levels to below requirement. The ECONSE Advanced Water Purification Units such as our WATERHORSE are designed to remove THMs and HAAs precursors before primary chlorination.
However for this test we looked at an inline secondary treatment as another way to provide solutions for communities with localized problems such as water towers and stand pipes.
We performed a small-scale test to examine the effect of treatment on Total THM (TTHM) and Total HAA (THAA) as well as the effect on nine specific compounds that are regulated by the Health Authorities in Canada and The USA. Test Water was spiked to over 200 ppb of TTHMs and 200ppb of THAAs which represents more than 2 times the maximum regulated levels.
The Results:
Test Results were verified by a 3rd party certified laboratory.
Total THM were eliminated to more than 99% removal using our test equipment.
Total HAA were reduced by 20% removal using our test equipment.
In full scale applications our process would show over 25% reduction in THAAs.
CRAFT BREWERY WASTEWATER PILOT
Case StudiesThe Challenge:
Craft Beer is a growing market in North America, however, many Craft Breweries are at risk of receiving large environmental penalties due to their high strength wastewater.
Traditional treatment options have been limited to “scaled down” versions of municipal type systems, and as such, they have higher capital & operating costs, and often require skilled technicians and a reliance on chemical treatments.
These solutions don’t always meet the needs of the small to medium sized Craft Brewers.
Econse Solution:
Starting in October 2015 until March 2016, Econse worked closely with several craft breweries in Ontario to develop a solution to specifically meet the needs of the industry
The project results were successful and showed that we were able to meet all discharge requirements with the BRÜ CLEAN SYSTEM.
The Results:
Small to Large Craft Breweries and Brew Pubs will now be able to eliminate environmental penalties, and dramatically reduce their water usage in an affordable way and become environmental leaders in their Communities.
For more info please visit www.brucleansystem.com