Porsche accelerates start-up’s clean water goals

Filtration systems for clean drinking water

Atera Water was founded in 2021 by Tai Kee and Dr Adrian Yeo, co-developing membrane technologies with the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Its mission statement recognises that 800 million people lack access to safe drinking water, often due to the cost associated with securing adequate technologies; its goal is to provide affordable filtration membranes that align with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6: ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

Their filtration systems will be used in areas where water is scarce or where drinking water is exposed to severe environmental pollution. The first step is to deploy the technology in South East Asia, where water scarcity and pollution demand sustainable solutions.

 

What membrane technology does Atera Water use?

Atera Water manufactures and assembles its hollow-fibre ultrafiltration Clarity membranes in Singapore using a patented nanocomposite material. This material is both non-toxic and non-leaching, offering strong chemical resistance, with low-energy requirements.

They are produced using a manufacturing process that is both water and solvent-free, eliminating the generation of any toxic wastewater that requires treatment and disposal.

 

Driving innovation through social initiatives

Atera Water is the first company to benefit from Porsche’s ‘Start-up Your Dream’ social initiative aimed at founders and innovations, or as the company states, ‘fledgling companies worldwide with outstanding innovations specifically intended to improve living and working conditions in the Global South’.

By targeting innovations in climate change, integration and education, the Start-up Your Dream initiative forms part of the company’s wider sustainability strategy that aims to improve environmental responsibility throughout its value chain, but also in the places where it operates. The company’s latest sustainability report recognises the risk posed by water scarcity, among other environmental concerns, and the impact this might have on sales, while committing the company to reducing its own impact on the natural world.

 

Working together for a deeper understanding

Founders, Tai Kee and Dr Adrian Yeo, visited Porsche’s headquarters in Zuffenhausen, Germany, to present their business model to members of the company’s executive board and for discussions with its sustainability council.

As part of the Start-up Your Dream programme, Atera Water’s founders will participate in a wide range of training modules designed to accelerate the company’s development. They will also receive mentoring and further training opportunities, including a programme for entrepreneurs at the University of Cambridge.

Dr Oliver Blume, chairman of the executive board at Porsche, told media: “We have always taken care to be a responsible partner to society – this includes helping people make their dreams become reality in various ways.”

He added: “With ‘Start-up Your Dream’, we are aiming to increase the market opportunities of newer companies who want to use their innovations to improve people’s lives. We want to strengthen their pioneering spirit and connect them with experts who will support them in building their company in this particularly challenging phase.”

 

Recognising your impact on the natural world

As part of its sustainability reporting, Porsche identifies its impact on water through both consumption and pollution. The company also recognises that it is not only its own actions and at its own sites that need to be accountable, but it also needs to be addressed in both upstream and downstream value chains. A further consideration is made of how future legislation may affect the company and its value chains. 

Compliance with current legislation also factors into the company’s sustainability reporting, with the latest report noting: “In line with the responsible use of water as a resource, the Porsche AG Group focuses not only on the efficient use of water, but also on the avoidance of emissions into water, the reduction of pollution when discharging water and on greater soil and groundwater protection when using potentially water polluting substances.”

It further notes that ‘wastewater is regularly analysed and monitored in accordance with the requirements of the authorities. The existing wastewater limits were not exceeded in the reporting year’.

Among the actions noted against water in the report, there is a drive to reduce water consumption and to minimise both withdrawal and discharge into the environments in which the company operates. According to one of its metrics, since 2014, the volume of water withdrawn per vehicle produced by the company has been reduced by 16 per cent. Water reuse is also promoted.