Earth911 Podcast: 374Water CEO Kobe Nagar on Transforming Wastewater Into New Materials

Kobe Nagar, CEO of Durham, North Carolina-based 374Water, explains the company’s compact wastewater processing technology, the Supercritical Water Oxidation (AirSCWO) system. Operating the system generates energy, industrial CO2, nitrogen gases that can be used in manufacturing, distilled water, and minerals extracted from wastewater, making it extremely affordable as a solution for many water treatment uses. The smallest version fits in a shipping container and can clean the wastewater generated by communities of as few as 6,000 people — or the equivalent amount of industrial waste. The AirSCWO system can be scaled up to support 30,000 or 200,000 people and a wide variety of industrial applications, including eliminating PFAS, the “forever chemicals” found throughout the environment, water supplies, and human bodies. And water is just the first step for the company, Kobe shares. The oxidation process can also convert plastics and other solid wastes into reusable raw materials.

Water, along with air and land, is one of our most important resources. We need it to hydrate our bodies, to make much of what we eat and use every day, and we use it to carry away our waste. By treating wastewater, instead of dumping it back into the environment, we preserve this precious resource so we can use it again. You can learn more about 374Water, which is traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol SCWO, at 374water.com