Israeli water purification gets boost

Israel-based BioPetroClean said today it has received a $5 million round of financing from 21 Ventures, which will be put to work for sales development and funding several projects.

The company specializes in the biological purification of water from oil sludge and other organic pollutants. Recently, a variety of cleantech investments have been made in Israel technology startups (see Cleantech cash piles up in Israel).

The company has developed a unique process called Active Chemostate Treatment (ACT), which is used to treat contaminated water in oil refineries, oil storage farms, drilling sites, marine ports and contaminated reservoirs.

BioPetroClean said its ACT technology operates as a continuous flow reactor and does not require the use activated sludge. That means the bioreactor can be applied on site, using existing infrastructure.

BioPetroClean's process uses ACT and a bacterial cocktail specific to each type of polluted water. The purification process is run with special attention to maintaining a balance between bacterial growth and organic compound degradation (see Water and the consumer contract).