A machine to make machines.
NanoNets are a proprietary library of programmable, molecular agents that can intelligently target and sequester particles in water to create flocculants that outperform commodity chemicals.
How it works: NanoNets mix a targeting surfactant with a scaffolding polymer:
- Surfactant: The glue that helps the flocculant attach to particles or impurities in water. It's responsible for ensuring the flocculant can find and stick to the target particles.
- Polymer: This gives the flocculant its shape and stability. Just like the frame of a house provides support and structure, the polymer ensures the flocculant can hold together and effectively do its job.
A bit deeper: Together, and guided by AI, these components behave like a programming platform, capable of outputting an array of products to address any water treatment application.
Why it matters: Water insecurity is changing regulations, permits, and emission limits. Commodity chemicals like polyacrylamide (PAM)—created 70 years ago for a different era of water treatment and rapidly aging out—aren’t up for the task at hand:
- Chemically, PAM has weak bonds that won’t create strong flocs, often forcing wastewater teams to overdose and breach permit levels.
- Technically, crews have to constantly babysit make-down equipment to ensure PAM is properly dosed. When they miscalculate, they gum up bags, belts, presses, or centrifuges and the site or plant has to shut down for flushes or equipment swaps.
- Practically, PAM is dangerous: crews regularly suffer from inhalation burns (dry) and slips and breaks (emulsion slop).
- Legally, PAM heightens profile risk. A site overburdened with PAM will inevitably see seepage, spills, and dosing miscalculations push too much chemical into the environment and breach EC50/LC50 limits.
- Financially, PAM hits the bottom-line several times over, from the initial chemical purchase to CAPEX purchases and maintenance to OPEX inefficiencies.
In contrast: NanoNet chemistry resets the boundaries and can have a big impact on the P&L:
- Chemical spend: CarboNet flocculants alter the throughput of water treatment, reducing cost-to-treat by up to 50%.
- OPEX: CarboNet chemistry requires no make-down and dramatically reduces time spent on dosing calibration and monitoring. And, increasingly, NanoNet sites use automated pumps that send data back to a monitoring dashboard for aggregation and analysis.
- CAPEX: CarboNet flocculants don’t require make-down equipment and often improve the performance of other tools in the pipeline, helping maintain existing CAPEX or avoid new investments entirely.
- Toxicity: NanoNets reduce PAM by up to 90%, helping hit increasingly stringent regulatory targets.
- Emissions: NanoNet chemistry reduces Scope 3 Emissions up to 70%. To date, the commodity chemicals we’ve displaced has cut 300 million tonnes of CO2 production.
- Health & safety: CarboNet products arrive pre-activated and plug-and-play, removing the need for makedown and crew exposure to toxic inhalants, spills, slips, and other machine interactions.
- Regulatory exposure: Broadly, CarboNet chemistry slashes emissions and improves performance KPIs related to zero discharge or permit targets.
Behind-the-scenes: CarboNet scientists and field technicians are focused on products for a new reality: a world with less water and more regulations—but persistent demands of customers and shareholders.
- This has led to the NanoNet platform and new chemistry, one which eliminates chemicals from water treatment entirely, another that isolates valuable particles for extraction.
The bottom line: Water treatment has moved from a line item in the P&L to a key strategic advantage for companies looking to boost profits as they navigate regulatory hazards and the increasing costs of freshwater.
- Smart chemistry can reduce drawdown, recycle wastewater—even reclaim waterborne materials—while cutting costs and improving unit performance.
