Corporate Member Spotlight – Clean TeQ Water

An environmentally conscious and innovative water technology company, Melbourne’s own Clean TeQ Water is making significant strides solving critical global water and resource challenges.

Clean TeQ Water (ASX:CNQ) is an environmentally conscious and forward-thinking water technology company that applies innovative technologies to support the transition to a circular economy. Revitalising fresh water supplies sits at the core of Clean TeQ’s business, with its suite of technologies designed to close the water cycle by treating contaminated freshwater resources for reuse. Armed with a full suite of conventional and proprietary technologies, it applies ion exchange, membrane, biological or evaporation technologies to provide fresh water in the areas where water is needed the most.

Following flagship Victorian projects like the Mine Water Recycling Plant at Fosterville Gold Mine in 2019, the company’s footprint expansion has been swift, with numerous projects underway in Australia and overseas. The Townsville Water Recycling Facility is currently being installed, where 15 MLD of Class A recycled water will be produced to free up potable water supplies for Townsville’s population, industrial, and hydrogen production growth.

Completing the Laramba Water Treatment Plant is one of the company’s recent highlights, where a customised ion exchange plant was installed for Power and Water Corporation to improve the water quality to the remote Aboriginal community. The plant achieved practical completion in December 2022, and the 8 week validation period showed the naturally occurring uranium was reduced to undetectable levels. At the launch of the plant the community were extremely happy with the water, with one community member stating “It's a spring water taste and it's pretty good, it’s just like what you get from the shops. Everybody's so happy. I think it certainly might give us a bit of a longer life”. More details about the launch event and the launch video can be viewed here.

Clean TeQ Water is committed to walking alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and is proud to have delivered this locally designed and built plant which contributes to important National Closing the Gap Initiatives.

Along with a raft of project activity, the company is also pushing the limits of advanced membrane technologies. NematiQ, a Clean TeQ Water subsidiary, is the first company in the world to produce Graphene Membranes on a commercial scale. These Graphene Membranes reject bacteria, viruses, micropollutants, and organics down to a molecular weight of 800 Daltons without rejecting salt –greatly reducing power consumption, without scaling, and avoiding difficult to handle brines. Following excellent pilot results for surface waters, wastewater effluent, industrial separations, and more, NematiQ’s Graphene Membranes have been made commercially available. Increasing demand for NematiQ’s pilot plants show its reputation is building, and pathways for rapid commercialisation are opening up.

Clean TeQ Water is not only a leader in water technology but also has deep experience in the recovery of critical metals. The company is entering the lithium market through a recently announced technology-for-equity deal with Canadian based asset owner LithiumBank. A demonstration plant to confirm enhanced lithium recovery and improved project economics from the direct lithium extraction technology is expected to arrive on site in the coming months. The company is increasing its activity in the mine tailings management space where its suite of technologies is an excellent fit for remediating legacy sites.

As the company expands its reach globally with technology demonstrations underway in Europe, South America, China, Canada, and more, it continues to play a pivotal role in driving innovation and sustainability in the world’s water and resource recovery sectors.