Metal Morph recovers aluminium and iron-based coagulants from water and wastewater treatment residuals, enabling utilities to recycle spent chemicals instead of purchasing virgin materials and paying for disposal. The company's patent-pending, containerised technology uses acid leaching, Donnan dialysis, and nanofiltration to extract and purify coagulants onsite. It is delivered as Infrastructure-as-a-Service with zero capex and five-year operational contracts.
Funding
£700K raised to dateRaised to date based on public sources. This may differ from the amount the company actually raised and is based only on what is publicly available on the internet.
AFCGASVFounders
Product
Problem
Water and wastewater treatment operators rely on aluminium and iron-based chemicals (coagulants) that are purchased, used, and then disposed of as waste. This linear model exposes utilities to volatile metal prices—with trough-to-peak swings of 176% for aluminium ore and 468% for iron ore—while chemicals account for 3-13% of total plant greenhouse gas emissions. Supply chain disruptions from shipping route issues, natural gas prices, and tightening regulations further strain procurement.
Solution
Metal Morph deploys modular, containerised units onsite that recover spent coagulants from treatment residuals, allowing utilities to recycle what they previously disposed of. The patent-pending process uses acid leaching to extract target metals, Donnan dialysis to transport metal ions across a highly selective ion exchange membrane, and nanofiltration to recover process acid for reuse. Recovered coagulant is purified to specification and can be dosed back into the same or adjacent treatment process. The technology is delivered as Infrastructure-as-a-Service, offering a zero-capex option with five-year operational contracts that replace chemical prices tracking volatile metal markets. Independent validation from Cranfield University and confirmed novelty from the European Patent Office support the technology's credibility.
Target Audience
Primary customers are UK water utilities, with agreements already in place covering 56% of the UK water market, as well as industrial wastewater treatment operators in the UK, EU, and US seeking to reduce chemical procurement costs and meet decarbonisation targets.
Features
- Four-stage recovery process: acid leaching, Donnan dialysis, nanofiltration, and optional purification for direct reuse
- Modular, containerised, retrofit-compatible units requiring only four connections: power, residuals in, recovered coagulant out, and de-coagulated residuals out
- Achieves 90% recovery of spent coagulants with 26% opex reduction and 89% reduction in supply chain emissions
- Electrochemical potential gradient drives ion transport across the membrane, eliminating the need for external energy input in separation
- Nanofiltration step recovers process acid for reuse, cutting operating costs
- Results validated across 50+ lab tests at three drinking water treatment plants with varying coagulant ratios, organic content, and water content