Apr 25, 2023

Wayout The Swedes’ treatment plant fits in a container and can supply up to 10,000 people a day with drinking water. Soon there will be a world premiere for the startup Wayout’s new version – countries by the Indian Ocean are the main market. The original idea was a turnkey microbrewery to produce beer and other beverages using local water, also taken from the sea. However, the early customers in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda have mainly used the systems for the production of drinking water. On May 9, Wayout opens a showroom in Dubai and at the same time presents the company’s new drinking water system. The capacity is now twice as large, and the system can clean up to 20 cubic meters per day. This means that 8–10,000 people can be supplied with drinking water every day. However, that figure drops slightly if it is about desalination of seawater, which also uses a little more energy. Copes with the pollution Purification takes place either with reverse osmosis in four stages, where the water is freed from ions and metal salts, among other things. Alternatively, nanofiltration can be used, depending on how clean the water source is. Read more: The Swedish micro-factory produces 9,000 liters of clean water per day According to Wayout’s chief strategist Martin Renck, the system is able to capture all types of pollution, from PFAS substances to nitrate, arsenic and phosphorus. – There are no problems for us – we take care of them all. There is a belt that runs through North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and India where you have a lot of these deposits in the groundwater, but also other problems with industrial pollution and high pressure on the aging fixed water supply systems. The countries have large populations and are under pressure regarding their drinking water. Our systems are a great fit there, says Martin Renck. A Swedish company in Dubai During the world exhibition in Dubai a few years ago, the Swedes realized that the United Arab Emirates is a perfect springboard to reach out both in the Middle East and in the countries by the Indian Ocean. Wayout has had its commercial base in Dubai for a year, but the company is still Swedish. The majority of the investors and many of the company’s industrial partners and subcontractors are located in Sweden. – It helps us in the financing and in the talks with Swedish institutions regarding exports, and when it comes to business culture, it is a little easier to do business when you know the business climate, he says. The company’s chief strategist Martin Renck in front of the container. Wayout Now the strategy is to initially target larger commercial customers, everything from established water suppliers to industrial companies that themselves need drinking water, schools or the restaurant industry. The customer leases the systems and pays a fee for the water produced. That’s how much the water costs This includes all hardware and software as well as service and maintenance – everything except the electricity needed to run the system. The price per liter paid to Wayout is around 50 öre, and the added cost is the electricity price for just under 3 kWh per cubic meter of purified water, which is an energy consumption on par with large desalination plants. The entire purification process is automated. To be enriched with minerals, the water must pass through crushed rocks, including marble. However, each system is adjusted according to the local taste palette. Have sold systems to Madagascar Wayout already has contracts for the supply of 150 systems to Madagascar, and talks are underway with customers in the United Arab Emirates, the Maldives and the Seychelles. For this, the sights are set on India, where Wayout says they have come quite far in the process. – India has major problems with water, hygiene, mineral content from groundwater and contamination from industry. Then we have the Arab world including North Africa and the entire Mediterranean, basically the old Roman Empire. Ten percent of the world’s population are islanders and for them it is very important to be self-sufficient and produce locally, not least of a basic food such as water. If you then look east, we have the entire island world in Southeast Asia, says Martin Renck.