MECHELEN - Waste company Indaver is taking over Mechelen-based scale-up InOpSys. The environmental technology company, which has an R&D lab at Antwerp incubator BlueChem, develops innovative solutions for the treatment of complex and toxic wastewaters generated during pharmaceutical and chemical production processes. With this takeover, Indaver aims to accelerate its transition to the circular economy and strengthen its leading role in sustainable waste management. Indaver also welcomes the 24-strong InOpSys team, thus drawing in specific expertise to further expand its service portfolio.
Sustainable solution for industrial wastewaters
Through the Design-Built-Finance-Operate- Maintain (DBFOM) principle, InOpSys NV develops, builds and manages innovative on-site solutions for processing non-recyclable water, solvent and waste streams from the pharmaceutical, chemical and fine chemical industries. These side or by-product streams often contain contaminants such as toxic organics, PFAS, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) on the one hand, and valuable materials such as precious metals and solvents on the other. InOpSys' technology purifies the water and/or solvents and recovers the valuable components. As a result, the customer avoids transportation to a final processing plant.
Investment in innovation and circular economy
Thanks to InOpSys' mobile units, industrial wastewater is purified on site at the customer's premises for reuse and valuable components such as the precious metal palladium, zinc, vanadium, ... and solvents/solvents are recovered. This is a practical example of the circular economy. With its decentralised model, InOpSys provides WAAS (Water As A Service) and CAAS (Circular Economy As A Service) to the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. InOpSys' solution drastically reduces CO2 emissions and closes valuable resource cycles.
Expansion of Indaver's service portfolio
Thanks to the takeover, Indaver is further expanding its range of circular and sustainable processing alternatives. InOpSys is an excellent addition to Indaver's current service portfolio. On the one hand, Indaver recycles valuable metals from large volumes of liquids on an industrial scale with its Inda-MP facility in Antwerp. Thanks to the InOpSys integration, this service is now also offered on-site at the customer's site. On the other hand, Indaver will be able to rely on the specific expertise of InOpSys employees in the field of purification techniques for industrial complex wastewaters.
Proven approach and technology in a growth market
InOpsys, which started as a spin-off from KU Leuven in 2015, now has 24 employees, most of whom are engineers. The start-up grew into a scale-up with some initial concepts already operational at industrial customers in Flanders such as Janssen Pharmaceutica in Geel. R&D takes place at BlueChem Antwerp, while InOpSys further developed its pilot testing and engineering at its Mechelen location. The company also has a subsidiary in Basel from where it serves the DACH region. The combined and downstream technologies in modular and mobile units offer customers efficient solutions for which they pay an OPEX-based tariff, the so-called "pay-per-use". The investment cost and hence the risk therefore lies with InOpSys and not the customer. The entire concept is a growth story with international potential that Indaver intends to develop further. Indaver is acquiring 100% of the shares that were divided between Gemma Frisus Fund, Aliad, Innovation Fund, PMV and Stellar Impact and a few other private shareholders (Luc Varigas, KU Leuven professors, etc.).
Takeover strengthens Indaver's social role
The takeover consolidates Indaver's social relevance. Global water scarcity, industrial discharge of micro-pollutants and the resulting increasingly stringent regulatory discharge limits make the reuse of treated water and recovery of valuable materials urgent. Thus, side streams are no longer considered waste, but a product that deserves a new life. Both Indaver and InOpSys are members of KIS, the Flemish Knowledge Centre for Innovative Sanitation Techniques, which develops, tests, elaborates and scales up techniques within the disciplines of water, air and soil. Both companies hereby deploy their technology to safely remove Substances of Very High Concern such as PFAS from the chain.
Quotes
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Paul De Bruycker, CEO Indaver: "With the acquisition of InOpSys, we broaden our sustainable solutions for the industry. We make our industry more independent in their search for high-quality materials, we save on CO2 emissions by reducing transport and offer a safe, high-tech alternative for their waste waters. With this investment we demonstrate that sustainable waste management and innovation are essential links for the circular economy of today and the future.”
Steven De Laet, CEO InOpSys: “To realize the further growth of InOpSys, there is a need for a strong industrial partner with knowledge of the market and future challenges and able to provide commercial support. By joining forces with Indaver, InOpSys can now further focus on the development of innovative and sustainable solutions for the industry side stream challenges. Supported by the Indaver organization InOpSys wil be able to expand rapidly its activities in Europe."
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ABOUT INOPSYS
InOpSys NV is a scale-up from KULeuven University. Founded in 2015 with capital from Gemma Frisius and the Innovation Fund. Currently based in Mechelen and BlueChem, Antwerp. At the end of 2021, InOpSys GmbH was founded to also support activities in the DACH region. Using the Design-BuiltFinance-Operate- Maintain (DBFOM) principle, InOpSys designs, builds and operates innovative and sustainable on-site solutions for processing non-recyclable water, solvent and waste streams from pharmaceuticals, chemicals and fine chemicals. These side or by-product streams often contain contaminants such as toxic organics, PFAS, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) on the one hand, and valuable materials such as precious metals and solvents on the other. InOpSys' technology purifies the water and/or solvents and recovers the valuable components. As a result, the customer avoids transport to a final processing plant and a circular economy can be created.
The company has 24 employees, most of whom are chemical engineers. Press contact: Steven De Laet, CEO InOpSys, M. +32 468 12 40 94
Steven.delaet(at)inopsys.eu
More information at www.inopsys.eu
ABOUT INDAVER
Indaver is a European waste management company with facilities and operations in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Indaver manages and processes industrial and municipal waste in specialised facilities for the industrial sector, waste collectors and public authorities. Valuable raw materials and energy are recovered from the processed waste streams. Indaver creates value from waste and helps close the materials cycle in a safe, low-CO2 and energy-efficient way. It makes Indaver the ideal partner in the pursuit of a sustainable circular economy. The Indaver Group employs 2000 people.
Press contact: Inge Baertsoen, communications manager M. +32 497 970 570
Inge.baertsoen(at)indaver.com
More information at www.indaver.co