Come and meet Australian water innovators at WEFTEC

Bilexys (Brisbane, Australia), a 2012 Imagine H20 competition winner, will be exhibiting in the Innovation Pavilion at the Water Environment Federation Technical Exhibition and Conference (WEFTEC) in Chicago from October 5-9 2013.  Dr Tony Keating, Director – Commercial Engagement, Engineering and ICT for UniQuest Pty Limited will represent Bilexys in Chicago, as well as a suite of additional Australian water innovations.

Bilexys has developed an alternative manufacturing platform for the production of chemicals and plastics and the company’s process technologies involve bioelectrochemistry and the use of wastewater as the source of its raw materials.  A pilot plant installed at a major Australian pulp and paper company successfully produced food grade sodium hydroxide from wastewater.

Reversing the traditional view where wastewater treatment is considered an operating expense, Bilexys approaches wastewater treatment as an opportunity to biologically convert the organics within wastewater into high-value chemical products (including sodium hydroxide and hydrogen peroxide).  Chemicals produced utilising Bilexys’ methodology reduces the need for companies to source and obtain chemicals, providing significant environmental and economic benefits to customers, with potential payback within two years.

Bilexys is a spin-off from The University of Queensland’s Advanced Water Management Centre and was formed and incubated by UniQuest – one of Australia’s leading technology commercialisation companies.

UniQuest also recently formed Cloevis, a company developing low cost chemical dosing for the prevention of sewer corrosion and odour caused by hydrogen sulphide. Cloevis uses a combination of a highly effective patent-pending chemical mix and a software modelling tool to significantly lower operating costs for municipalities and water utilities.

Both Bilexys and Cloevis are products of The University of Queensland’s Advanced Water Management Centre – an internationally recognised Centre of Excellence in innovative water technology and management.  An award-winning multidisciplinary team and research portfolio covers the breadth of the urban industrial water cycle, achieving sustainable outcomes for the global water industry.

Contact Dr Tony Keating beforehand to schedule a meeting or visit the Bilexys booth 775j in the Innovation Pavilion.

About UniQuest Pty Limited

UniQuest is the main commercialisation company of The University of Queensland (UQ), specialising in the commercialisation of intellectual property, research outcomes and expertise.  UniQuest delivers commercialisation outcomes which are valuable for UQ and profound for business, the environment, global communities and society as a whole.

UniQuest’s two business offerings – IP Commercialisation and Expertise Commercialisation – are designed to support UQ’s global strategy, industry engagement and reputation for excellence.

UniQuest benchmarks in the top 10 percent globally for university-based technology transfer. UniQuest-licensed UQ innovations are now generating annual sales of $3 billion.  UQ technology, through licensing arrangements, is used in two-thirds of the world’s MRIs and more than 79 million doses of the life-saving Gardasil® cervical cancer vaccine, patented by UniQuest in 1991, have been distributed throughout 121 countries, including 72 developing countries.

For more information about UniQuest, please visit www.uniquest.com.au.

About The University of Queensland (UQ)

The University of Queensland, Australia, is one of the world’s premier teaching and research institutions. It is consistently ranked in the top 100 in the four leading independent global rankings. With more than 45,000 students and 7500 staff, UQ’s teaching is informed by research, and spans six faculties and eight research institutes.