Transforming the Water Industry

I joined Sensmet in September last year. I was looking for new challenges after making an exit from my previous company. My intention was to find an early phase start-up or a growth company who can and will be a game-changer in its own business area. I knew Sensmet as a company and their technology from previous discussions with the founders. Anyway, I did background checks and found Sensmet’s bold vision to “transform the water industry”. It is not unusual that start-up companies are willing to be disruptive or bring revolutionary technology to the market.  So, I was curious to hear more but also slightly sceptic before we started to discuss further.

Water Analysis – Unconquerable Mountain

I have to admit that water monitoring was a pretty new application area to me although I have been involved in many measurement technology and application projects in my 25+ year career. The combination of plasma, high-impact water applications and optical spectroscopy was new and interesting for me. I quickly understood that the technology was not only about the unique plasma source and a spectrometer, but the whole new water analyser system with pumps, valves, sample interfaces, electronics, certified reference chemicals and cleaning agents running through automated measurement, quality control, cleaning and calibration sequences. I got convinced that this unique piece of technology can really be the game-changer for the water industry. I also understood that very sensitive water analysis is not easy. Sensmet team has done a great job in developing a 100% continuous and quantitative water analyser which works even in extreme industrial applications such as mining and metals production.

Unique Value Proposition – Big Water Data

I soon got really impressed about the building blocks Sensmet have in their hands. The sensitivity and repeatability of Sensmet analyser is great. The analyser can reach sub-part-per-million detection limit and 1 % long-term repeatability in real-time metals analysis, for example. We need to remember that water samples can be tricky, that is, they can routinely comprise tens of different elements and hundreds of chemicals. The Sensmet metals library already contains nearly 30 metals which is a good starting point for comprehensive monitoring of various industrial water processes. And the µDOES® technology is robust as has been proven in harsh industrial processes in mining and steel.

Although the measurement technology itself is unique, I also saw the potential of a measurement system offering real big water data. Connectivity is an essential feature for digitalisation of process industries. Sensmet analysers typically deliver 7 000 measured data points per month. Each data point consists of 30-50 different water parameters. Amazing. This creates unbelievable opportunities to create big water data and apply modern artificial intelligence algorithms to the data. This opens totally new era for the process monitoring and control in water applications.

Massive and Attractive Market Opportunity

After getting the first impression about the team and technology, I started to dig more into the market opportunities. I knew that the whole water business market is hundreds of billions which forms a good starting point to evaluate the most promising accessible market for Sensmet. It was clear that technology will offer many benefits, but the question was still who would need the real-time water quality data.

After discussing with the Sensmet management I got a good overview where Sensmet had identified the biggest market opportunities. Mining industry is a good example of a sector where water plays a key role. The need to monitor water quality is acute in mining as the scarcity of freshwater forces more and more recycling of precious water. Exhaust gas scrubbers form another example. Scrubbers are routinely used to clean industrial and marine exhaust gases from fine particles and harmful gas-phase chemicals. Real-time water quality monitoring for metals, for example, opens completely new avenues for process optimisation in terms of use of chemicals and energy. Big water quality data is also valuable in limiting water pollution and securing the compliance with operating permits – every minute 24/7. Sensmet will keep going through such applications and many others in the future blogs to come.

Transforming the Water Industry

The last three months at Sensmet have been a steep learning curve for me as I have learnt so much about water analysis, existing technologies and high-impact applications. I’m sure that Sensmet becomes a game-changer in water process monitoring by improving the efficiency, creating significant savings and preventing water pollution in many water applications. We can do all that, by combining the unique µDOES® water analysis technology, connectivity to cloud and advanced data analytics of the resulting Big Water Quality Data.

I’m happy to invite you to transform water industry. Together with Sensmet. Don’t hesitate to contact us. Let’s discuss how we can add the value of your water process or business by generating Big Water Quality Data for you.

– Janne Suhonen, Sensmet CCO –