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A cost- energy-efficient treatment technology to remove pharmaceutical pollutants from water

Objective

Widely used pharmaceuticals (synthetic or natural chemicals found in prescription medicines, over-the-counter therapeutic drugs & veterinary drugs) are finding their way into the drinking water supply via wastewater treatment facilities, posing serious threats to public health globally. The problem is that modern wastewater treatment facilities are not designed for effective removal of pharmaceuticals or similar organic compounds. Upcoming EU legislation will make such removal mandatory.
Pharem Biotech brings to market PFS—the first patented enzyme-carrying filtration system capable of removing a large range of organic pollutants (pharmaceuticals and other biological active compounds such as bisphenol A, antibiotics, hormone disruptors, etc.). PFS is a filtration solution that can be easily installed at most of wastewater treatment facilities. Its compact size makes it particularly useful for urban wastewater treatment plants.
PFS is based on modified enzymes which are 200 times more effective than native enzymes, resistant to low temperature, resistant to low pH and with high levels of stability and activity. Compared to alternative purification methods, PFS is very cost-efficient, and requires no energy to run.
As the total EU yearly investments in its wastewater treatment facilities and related infrastructure are expected to reach €25bn per year in 2015-2020, Pharem Biotech is addressing the market of 70,000 facilities in EU processing 100bn litres of water per day in total.
During a successful Phase 1 project, Pharem Biotech validated the market and commercial feasibility of PFS, and selected the trial cases to validate the technology as well as key target markets to approach.
In this Phase 2 project Pharem Biotech will industrialize PFS, validate it in trial cases and prepare for commercial roll out with the objective is to deploy 50 PFS systems before 2020 and reach revenue of €34m.
The requested EC contribution is €2.07m.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-SMEInst-2016-2017

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Coordinator

PHAREM BIOTECH AB
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 2 073 750,00
Address
LEVERTINSGATAN 30-1202
754 30 UPPSALA
Sweden

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Östra Sverige Östra Mellansverige Uppsala län
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 2 962 500,00
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