Water Technology Company of the Year
Acuriant Technologies
What is it?
A Boston-based provider of polymeric and ceramic membranes.
What has it done?
The 2025 merger of Solecta and Nanostone Water to form Acuriant Technologies created an unrivalled membrane platform spanning ceramic ultrafiltration and polymeric MF, NF and RO technologies. Acuriant expertly expanded its portfolio to three ceramic modules, including a high-capacity product to challenge polymerics, bringing ceramics from specialist deployments into mainstream evaluation.
What makes it special?
- Acuriant’s new CUF | Flow product increases ceramic membrane surface area by 40%, cutting system footprints and significantly improving project economics. The combination of economic feasibility and membrane durability is making ceramic ultrafiltration an increasingly compelling choice. An order book promising 50% revenue growth in 2026 is testament to Acuriant’s efforts to take ceramics to new heights.
- Few companies are as well equipped to optimise a full membrane treatment train, delivering robust system performance to ensure uptime in a world of increasing raw water variability. Acuriant’s system at the Putatan water treatment plant in Metro Manila delivers consistent filtrate turbidity during extreme algal bloom events.
- Semiconductor expansion is accelerating demand for space-efficient, high-recovery water reuse systems with incredibly challenging feed streams. Ceramic ultrafiltration is the ideal pretreatment solution for the job, with Acuriant’s reference base now exceeding 50 installations globally.
Haskoning
What is it?
A Netherlands-based international engineering consultant with an innovative water technology and software development arm.
What has it done?
Haskoning moved the needle in wastewater treatment beyond its Nereda solution, as 2025 saw it secure new references for its Ephyra sludge technology, while also achieving its first full-scale Aurea installation for micropollutant removal. Nereda continued to conquer new markets by outcompeting membrane bioreactors, while Haskoning’s Aquasuite digital solution is driving impact at some of the world’s leading utilities.
What makes it special?
- Ephyra is shaking up the anaerobic sludge digestion market, offering a compelling retrofit option for ageing digesters as disposal costs rise. The reference base surged past 20 projects in 2025, with maiden contracts signed in North America and Italy, amid growing interest from Brazil and the Middle East.
- Haskoning continues to push the well-established Nereda technology, pairing it with ultrafiltration to compete successfully in tenders that heavily favour MBRs. Wins in Brazil, Australia, and the Middle East demonstrate that Nereda continues to unlock new opportunities.
- Haskoning’s co-creation model with its partner network is unparalleled, effectively combining technology development with an expansive route to market for new product launches. This foundation is already enabling faster adoption for solutions like Ephyra.
Kurita Water Industries
What is it?
A Tokyo-listed Japanese water technology, chemicals, and services giant.
What has it done?
In 2025, Kurita brought its decades of water expertise to bear in new markets, accelerating solutions for lithium recovery and PFAS removal, while striking agreements to develop water treatment solutions for space missions. It accomplished this while effortlessly maintaining its focus on core markets by introducing off-the-line ultrapure water systems to cut EPC lead times.
What makes it special?
- Few companies understand the needs of ultrapure water customers better than Kurita. By leveraging digital solutions for design automation and operational optimisation, it has made systems more accessible with its off-the-line e-WT UPW system. By connecting pipes and electricity between modular units, its software enables ultrapure water production to ramp up in double-quick time.
- In 2025, Kurita backed multiple innovative third-party technologies to tackle the PFAS challenge. It will accelerate the adoption of FREDsense’s rapid PFAS testing kit, and apply its engineering capability to support Cyclopure’s adsorbent media, reducing treatment costs and improving compliance.
- While delivering value on today’s challenges, Kurita remains primed for tomorrow’s opportunities. A landmark deal will see it deploy membrane-based direct lithium extraction with Evove for the UK’s first commercial-scale DLE plant – placing it at the cutting edge of the clean energy transition.
Transcend
What is it?
A generative design company based in Princeton, New Jersey, which offers software for creating critical infrastructure.
What has it done?
Transcend’s game-changing asset design and engineering solution for transforming the delivery of water projects was everywhere in 2025. Whether driving an ambitious infrastructure build-out for Brazil’s largest utility or working with technology providers on major pollutant challenges, Transcend has made its software indispensable for meeting the global water sector’s needs.
What makes it special?
- To meet its 2029 universalisation targets, Sabesp is expanding wastewater infrastructure at breakneck speed, made possible by cutting budgeting and design timelines by months thanks to Transcend’s software solution. Rapidly evaluating multiple treatment options helps optimise and lock in project economics on day one.
- Utilities and industrial end-users must rapidly assess solutions as they respond to tightening contaminant regulations. By automating repetitive design tasks and workflows, Transcend enables providers like Xylem and AqueoUS Vets to focus value elsewhere, giving customers more choice at the optimal cost point.
- Transcend has further elevated its design generator offering with additional insight, compressing the design-phase iteration loop by 90% while maintaining full transparency on the underlying calculations. It is no wonder Transcend has quickly gained the trust of leading industry players across the globe.
WaterSurplus
What is it?
An Illinois-based water treatment equipment and systems provider with innovative RO expertise.
What has it done?
In 2025, WaterSurplus took high-recovery reverse osmosis (RO) to new heights as it impressively capitalised on three breakthrough RO technologies. It deployed its ImpactRO solution at the world’s largest beverage plant, and installed its NanoStack membranes at Orange County Water District’s Groundwater Replenishment System, the largest reuse project in the world.
What makes it special?
- Sales of ImpactRO – which balances flux across various stages to reduce the membrane fouling load – rocketed in 2025, shaking up the high-recovery RO landscape. Across more than 30 field installations, from small municipal PFAS and nitrate treatment systems to 7,000m3/d+ beverage plant references, ImpactRO has demonstrated up to a 2.5× reduction in clean-in-place frequency, while achieving recoveries of up to 95%.
- The company’s NanoStack biomimetic hydrophilic polymer coating is another leap forward in RO technology, enabling membranes to recover up to 100% of their flux after clean-in-place. Based on a successful pilot, OCWD will now install 1,050 NanoStack-coated membranes to treat 18,900m3/d for indirect potable reuse.
- WaterSurplus’ intelligent RO platform signals the onset of fouling, paired with novel prevention methods that promote membrane healing, delivering a more resilient, adaptive and sustainable RO process than ever before.