DuPont Water Solutions wins Sustainable Technology Award
DuPont Water Solutions has won the award for Sustainable Technology at the 2024 Global Sustainability Awards.
Speaking after the event, Philip Martin, Key Account Manager, expressed a feeling of validation. “It’s awesome, but it’s a team game,” he said.
“The commercial success of our innovations are validation that sustainability is delivering value to our customers and the world globally.”
Before he left, Philip also offered a fantastic piece of advice for businesses around the world: “Innovation and sustainability shouldn’t be parallel parked. It’s the intersection of those two points that creates value and makes a global difference.”
What are DuPont’s new technologies?
In 2024, DuPont Water Solutions made huge strides with the introduction of innovative nanofiltration (NF) membrane systems. This low-energy purification technology is addressing critical global challenges, from providing safe drinking water to enabling industrial wastewater reuse.
In China, DuPont's NF technology has brought potable water to over a million people by purifying polluted sources with nanofiltration technology. The company's FilmTec™ NF270 membranes offer impressively low energy consumption for municipal water treatment, while the Fortilife™ NF1000 membranes can tackle challenging wastewater issues, helping to prevent pollution and reuse water.
It’s important to note that the versatility of DuPont's NF technology extends beyond water treatment too. In the push for greener energy, their FilmTec™ LiNE-XD membranes are revolutionising lithium mining. Lithium is a scarce, but incredibly important resource in the modern world, used in batteries, mobile phones and all kinds of digital devices.
DuPont’s new technologies help improve the efficiency of lithium extraction, boasting up to 12% less lithium loss, 30% energy savings, and significantly longer operational lifespans. In short, this advancement is a breakthrough that the global economy will hugely benefit from
Circular solutions
DuPont is also at the forefront of circular economy initiatives. Their SWBR products are transforming seawater desalination brine—traditionally considered waste—into valuable minerals worth 20 times more than the water produced. This process consumes less energy and generates less waste than conventional mining methods, truly turning the dial for the industry at large.
The impact of these innovations is tangible. For instance, CN Energy Ningxia Coal Group now produces 24.09 million cubic metres of clean water annually for its coal chemical production system, significantly reducing freshwater consumption. The facility also recovers substantial quantities of valuable by-products, including 39,900 tonnes of sodium chloride per year.
As climate change intensifies water scarcity and quality issues globally, DuPont's NF technology is poised to play a crucial role in sustainable water management, wastewater treatment, and the transition to cleaner energy sources. The company's continuous innovation in this field promises to support multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals, from water access to food security and cleaner energy production.
Steven Downes, Editor-in-Chief, Sustainability Magazine, said: “DuPont is pushing the boundaries of sustainable technology in its sector, showing that innovation and sustainability are perfect partners. Its impressive work deservedly earns this award.”
The awards
Launched in 2024, The Global Sustainability & ESG Awards 2024 debuted at Sustainability LIVE London on 10, September.
The comprehensive programme acknowledges companies, professionals and projects that have demonstrated exceptional performance, innovation and strategic thinking in a multitude of categories.
The awards celebrate the best companies, professionals and projects in sustainability and ESG, and offer free entry for charities and NGOs.
“It was an honour to spotlight such a wide range of incredible companies at the inaugural Global Sustainability and ESG awards,” said Glen White, CEO of BizClik and Sustainability Magazine.
“At a time where it is crucial that companies are getting their sustainability strategy right, it is more important than ever to uplift and celebrate the frontrunners, the innovators and the pioneers who are developing innovative initiatives, projects and strategies that will have a positive impact on the planet for years to come.
“To host the awards during Sustainability LIVE London, where we’ve brought together thousands of the world’s brightest minds in sustainability, is an incredible moment for the sector to celebrate, we encourage many more companies to enter our Awards for 2025.
“Thanks to every company that entered - I say ‘just keep going on your journey’ and a big Congratulations to every company who was shortlisted, highly commended and of course to our 15 winners – we appreciate your input more than you know.”
The Sustainable Technology Award
Sustainable technology is a hugely important and exciting area right now, with so many companies making advancements that will benefit the wider world. As such, the shortlist for this award contains some remarkably innovative organisations:
- Edged Energy
- HeiQ AeoniQ™
- Kosmode Health Singapore
- UKL
These companies have delivered technology with huge potential for future applications.
Highly Commended: Kosmode Health Singapore & Edged Energy
Two companies that are making particularly noteworthy strides ahead in the field of sustainable technology are Kosmode Health and Edged Energy. The latter organisation, in collaboration with its sister company ThermalWorks, has been working on developing an ultra-efficient waterless cooling system for data centres that promises to revolutionise the industry's approach to sustainability.
Data centres (facilities that store supercomputers and huge banks of data) require air conditioning and cooling systems to keep things functioning. The Edged system cuts energy overheads by 74% compared to the industry average for cooling systems.
So far, this technology has been deployed across eight facilities, expected to save more than seven billion litres of water annually. With AI and high performance computing in ever increasing demand, data centres have never required more space and climate maintenance. Edged’s new systems can accommodate the demands of a modern data landscape.
Launched in water-scarce regions of Spain and North America, Edged's technology demonstrates how hot and dry climates can responsibly support an expanding digital economy. The first three sites in Spain alone are projected to save over two billion litres of water each year at full build-out.
Meanwhile, Kosmode Health Singapore has developed a novel approach to repurposing food processing waste. Their extraction technology transforms spent barley grains, a by-product of beer and malt production, into a functional food ingredient. This innovation has led to the creation of W0W®noodle, clinically validated to have zero glycaemic response, addressing the growing concern of diabetes in Asia.
The company's pilot-scale factory demonstrates the feasibility of this technology, with projections suggesting that repurposing the global 38 million tonnes of spent barley grains could provide over 588,000 people with two meals of W0W®noodle per day. This approach not only addresses food security issues but also contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from landfills.
Both companies exemplify how sustainable technology can tackle multiple global challenges simultaneously, from water scarcity and energy efficiency to food waste and health concerns, paving the way for a more sustainable future.
The Global Sustainability & ESG Awards 2024
Thanks to our esteemed panel of industry leaders who judged the awards:
- Adam Elman, Google EMEA
- Angela Hultberg, Kearney
- Steve Smith, Schneider Electric
- Sophie Graham, IFS
- Courtney Holm, The Holm Edit
- Professor Paolo Taticchi. OMRI, UCL School of Management
- Márcia Balisciano, RELX
- Jane Goodland, LSEG
- Rahul Sareen, AWS
- Kevin Dunckley, HH Global
- Alice Spencer, CISL
The full list of awards categories and winners for 2024 is:
- Sustainability Strategy Award – Geopost
- ESG Programme Award – Liverpool FC
- Sustainable Finance Award – Scala Data Centers
- Diversity Award – Mitie
- Net Zero Award – Klarna
- Sustainable Supply Chain Award – UKL
- Sustainable Technology Award – DuPont Water Solutions
- Sustainable Consultancy Award – Forest Carbon
- Future Leader Award – Anastasia Le
- Executive of the Year Award – Preeti Srivastav
- Project of the Year Award – Amazon: The Amazon Global Refugee Challenge
- Lifetime of Achievement Award – Noel Anderson, Chief Sustainability Officer at American Red Cross
- AI in Sustainability Award – Ndustrial
- Social Enterprise Award – UKL
- Start-Up Award – EasyCep
Essential diary dates for 2024 and 2025…
Sustainability LIVE continues to expand its events with more to come in 2024 and 2025, discover our essential diary dates below.
2024 diary dates:
- Sustainability LIVE London | 10-11 September 2024
- Sustainability & ESG Awards | 10 September 2024
- Sustainability LIVE: Climate Week NYC | 24 September 2024
- Sustainability LIVE Malta | 17 October 2024
- Sustainability LIVE: Diversity & Inclusion | 12 November 2024
- NEW | The CSO Network
- NEW | ClimateTech Digital
- NEW | Scope3 Magazine
2025 diary dates:
- Sustainability LIVE: Net Zero | 5-6 March 2025
- Sustainability LIVE Singapore | 18 March 2025
- Sustainability LIVE Dubai | 22 April 2025
- Sustainability LIVE Chicago | 4-5 June 2025
- Sustainability LIVE London | 9-10 September 2025
- Sustainability & ESG Awards | 10 September 2025
- Sustainability LIVE: DE&I | 11 November 2025
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