From all substances in the world, water is the most magical.

Water is the solvent life. The essence of our being. And it is underutilized!

With Water, we are able to transfrom waste into its Raw components. And use it to repurpose waste in the most innovative way. 

For a better and healthier Life. And completely Eco-Friendly. 

Water can truly become what it actually is: The solvent of life. We just need to play with it.

 

How to transform waste into a universe of useful products just through water

In our modern life, we use chemicals such as methanol or ethanol to extract the essences of plants. It’s a long process, that is neither environmentally friendly, nor healthy.

Surprisingly water changes its physical structure and chemical properties at the right conditions. The nature of water makes it an excellent solvent for polar compounds, but for oils and non-polar compounds under normal conditions (from ambient temperature to below boiling temperature + normal atmospheric pressure) water is a really poor solvent.  

What if we change the game, by heating up the water above its boiling point up to 374°C under high pressure. Through this, water is superheated and remains in a liquid state. Water becomes a whole new solvent, yet green and environmentally friendly.

This reaction enables water to extract the essence of any given material in a short amount of time with no negative impact for the environment.

Lets do some Magic with Orange peels (Use case example)

An orange is like a natural energy booster. When we feel down, a tasty orange helps us to get up again and gives us an amazing energy kick. 

And yet the peel of an orange is more valuable than the fruit itself. You don’t believe us? Lets see… 

The Journey of the Orange Peel

The orange peels start their journey at the factory, where a lot of orange peels are left as a waste. Like a juice company. We put the orange peels into the reactor and fetch the extracts in container. If needed, the extracts can go through a drying process to gain powder. Now the extracts can be used in the desired products. 

The Magic Happens

We put the orange peels into the reactor and let the magic happen. Within a short time we fetch essential oils, pectin (a form of sugar) and cellulose. So what can we do with it?  

Lets Extract Essential Oils

Essential Oils have an amazing wide range of use. They can be used just like that or added for example to perfumes, as a healthy colouring to food, in creams or aroma therapy. The antioxidants we are gaining from it are very powerful for anti-aging or cancer prevention. 

 

Lets extract Pectin...

…and get even more Antioxidants, that we can use in different forms. And make for example healthy thickener for jams or a long-term preservatives for fruits and vegetables out of this sugar called pectin. 

Lets extract Cellulose

…to make paper bags, bioplastics and tackle the environmental problems of this world. And even make clothes out of the fiber that we gain. Yes, you heard right: Clothes made out of orange peels. 

And everything can work within a circular economy

If we are able to produce bioplastics out of orange peels for example, we create a beautiful example for a circular economy, as the bioplastics can just be just as a fertilizer at the end to feed new orange plants in a healthy way. 

Why Egypt?

There is a lot of Agricultural Waste

Agricultural waste contributes to 46 percent of all waste materials in Egypt. Although there are some companies and startups operating in the ecosystem, the big chunk of agricultural waste is still burned.

The pollution created through the smoke becomes a thread to the environment and human-beings. Furthermore, organic waste is often dumped in the streets, which also affects other sectors such as tourism. 

 

Egypts soil is simply the best

 The soil that derives from the fertile mud of the Nile has been the perfect ground to grow healthy fruits and vegetables for centuries. 

 

Egypt is one of the leading agricultural producers in the world.

No other country exports more oranges than Egypt. And it is one of the leading countries in the production of Pomegranate, Dates and Sugarcane, to just name a few. The potential of retransforming this waste into something valuable is huge. 

 

Egypt has a high potential for a vibrant startup culture in the environmental field

Egypt is not known as an environmental front runner…yet. And still many people try to find alternatives to ordinary sectors to contribute to healthier and more enviromental friendly country.

Many people are highly skilled and the door for innovation is widely open. Lets make something out of it.

Our Vision – Our next Steps

Making one step at a time, Aquakemya would be the first commercial running subcritical water company in the Middle East. As we are highly impact driven and don’t want to stop here, we seek to lift up startups in Egypt and around the globe around this beautiful invention. So that we all see a high positive impact on the environment and beautiful new innovations in key sectors around the globe. 

Step 1: Building the Reactor 

To get the whole process going, we need to build the reactor. And as the partnerships are set up, it simply needs an investment of 90,000 Euro (1.9 Million Egyptian Pounds) to get everything started. 

Step 2: Delivering the extracts to existing markets

From essential oils, pectin to cellulosic material: There is already a wide range of products run by certain companies, who use the ingredients already, but need to spend more money and time on acquiring them in comparison to the subcritical water. The pure extracts are also valuable for the export market.  

Step 3: Enabling a vibrant Startup Culture in Egypt 

 

As we can produce low-cost and get a huge variety of extracts, the system acts as a jump starter for new products in Egypt and therefore a wide range of new innovations. From dresses made out of rose pallets to new inventions in the medical sector, that we can not even imagine right now.  

Step 4: Co-Creating a Global Community

We are seeking for a vibrant exchange of knowledge and ideas, to create a mutual and inspirational support system amongst different players around the globe, where the technology scales to. To take a global approach to fight pollution, waste of resources and drive towards a healthier and environmentally friendly world. Lets start!  

Let's Work Together!

Reach out to us and lets make it happen together. For a new way how to view on the environment and for a new seed of innovation in Egypt and the world.

Ahmed Alaa

Ahmed Alaa

Founder and Project Manager

Tel.: +20 155 302 2842
Mail: ahmed@aquakemya.com
Denny Ehrlich

Denny Ehrlich

Project Manager and Advisor

Tel.: +20 1288093811
Mail: denny@aquakemya.com

Reach out

7 + 3 =

Location

An initiative of the Alchemist Hub 

Startuphaus Cairo

37 Talaat Harb, Bab Al Louq, Qasr El Nil, Cairo Governorate

(+20) 128 809 3811

info@alchemist-hub.com