Arun, a social venture supported by SK Innovation, has laid the foundation for its entrance into global market by making the first shipment of demo equipment of Non-Clogging Filtering System (NCFS), which is a micro filtering equipment for water treatment, to the U.S. and Canada. This is an inspiring achievement as Arun was credited for its high-level technology and possibility of creating environmental values.

The waste water reprocessing technology developed by Arun can solve the problems of wastewater filtration technology, which is essential in fields where industrial waste water is discharged in large volume such as semiconductors, oil refineries, petrochemicals, and steel.

The core of the technology is the filtering technology that uses the flow rate of water to bring up particles, and the manufacture of filter membranes that combine polymers and graphene*. High concentrated and fine particles existing in waste water can be filtered through NCFS, which is not clogged by using lift force and gravity.

(*) Graphene: a recently discovered material made from honeycomb sheets of carbon just one atom thick. It has likely been unknowingly produced in small quantities for centuries, through the use of pencils and other similar applications of graphite. (Source: explainthatstuff.com, Wikipedia)

 ▲ (Left) The Non-Clogging Filtering System (NCFS) developed by eco-friendly social venture ‘Arun’ / (right) An industrial site where Arun’s NCFS is being tested.

Arun’s NCFS is drawing attention from not only in Korea but also other countries such as the U.S. and Canada. Due to the large business scale of related fields, there is a need for technical skills that can minimize operation management (including maintenance and durability of filtering efficiency) through clog prevention. North America’s interest in ESG management and sustainable operation is one of the reasons why the eco-friendly social venture is receiving attention.

Arun’s NCFS can resolve existing issues as it: ▲innovatively improves the process of removing high-concentration (over 500ppm) and micro particles (0.5μm) and filtering turbid wastewater, ▲ provides continuous filtering with no clogging, ▲ does not need additional cleaning and reduces up to 85% of maintenance expenses and up to 88% of greenhouse gases compared to original means by using low power units, and ▲ reduces up to 12 times of footprints needed by preexisting wastewater disposal plants.

Arun has signed exclusive contracts with Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and New Mexico through SLD Marketing of the U.S. and plans to ship the NCFS to a private enterprise in Texas for a pilot installation. After three months of pilot operation, the system will be used more widely in the company.

Arun also made a joint development contract with Canada’s microorganism treatment system developer Osorno Enterprise, and plans to create a packaged system after a pilot installation of NCFS.

 ▲ (Left) Arun was the first Korean start-up ever selected as the Asia track of Imagine H20 (Source: https://www.imagineh2o.org/) / (Right) The microorganism water treatment system of Osorno

Besides, Arun became the first Korean company to be selected as the Asia track of Imagine H20 last year. Imagine H20 is an accelerator specialized in the water industry which has attracted investments of around 5 billion US dollars for start-ups. Being selected as the Asia track is of great significance as Arun was recognized by reputable organizations such as SUE, a global water processing company, among 115 start-ups from 29 countries.

Arun was among the winners of the Environmental Social Business Discovery Contest selected by SK Innovation last year. It received a 100 million Korean won and will supported by SK Innovation in various fields to grow as an ESG partner that can expand bot in and outside Korea.

 ▲ (Left) Cho Hee-chul, Vice president of Arun received the grant of SK Innovation’s Environmental Social Business Discovery Contest 2020 from Lim Su-kil, Head of SK Innovation’s Value Creation Center / (Right) The NCFS equipment of Arun