TREATECH SA

Their core work

TREATECH SA is a Swiss technology SME that develops and commercializes systems for treating liquid waste and sewage sludge — transforming what is typically a costly disposal problem into recoverable resources. Their core technology converts sewage sludge into usable outputs including biogas for energy generation, phosphorus for agricultural use, salt minerals, and clean water. They progressed through the EU SME Instrument from a Phase 1 feasibility study (KATEDRAL, 2018) to a full Phase 2 development project (WAS2VAL, 2020–2024), indicating they have a validated proprietary process ready for scale-up. Their market proposition is economic: municipalities and industrial operators face growing regulatory and cost pressure around wastewater — TREATECH offers a route to turn that liability into a revenue stream.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

TREATECH's H2020 trajectory is a textbook SME Instrument progression: KATEDRAL (2018) was a Phase 1 feasibility project scoped narrowly around eco-friendly sewage sludge valorization — essentially a proof-of-concept exercise with no deep keyword footprint. By WAS2VAL (2020–2024), the scope had expanded significantly into a multi-output system targeting biogas, phosphorus, salt minerals, and clean water simultaneously, under the broader framing of "reinventing liquid waste disposal." The shift signals a move from single-output sludge processing to an integrated resource-recovery platform, likely informed by market feedback gathered during Phase 1.

TREATECH is scaling toward a full-stack liquid waste platform that recovers energy, nutrients, and clean water in one process — a direction well-aligned with tightening EU regulations on sludge disposal and phosphorus recycling mandates.

How they like to work

TREATECH has acted as coordinator on both of its H2020 projects, which is consistent with a company commercializing its own proprietary technology rather than contributing specialist capacity to someone else's consortium. No consortium partners are recorded, reflecting the solo-applicant structure typical of SME Instrument Phase 1 and Phase 2 grants — these schemes are designed for single companies advancing their own innovation. Anyone considering collaboration should expect to work with an organization that is founder-driven, technology-owner, and accustomed to leading rather than following.

No consortium partners are recorded in the H2020 data, as both projects were SME Instrument grants designed for solo applicants. TREATECH's broader research and industrial network — including potential subcontractors, pilot site operators, or academic collaborators engaged during WAS2VAL — is not visible in this dataset.

What sets them apart

TREATECH is one of the few Swiss SMEs to have completed the full EU SME Instrument journey from Phase 1 concept to Phase 2 development, giving them a rare combination of validated technology and EU funding credibility. Their specific focus on converting sewage sludge into multiple simultaneous outputs — energy, phosphorus, minerals, clean water — differentiates them from companies that target only one recovery stream. For municipalities or industrial operators facing the EU Sewage Sludge Directive revision and the Critical Raw Materials Act's phosphorus provisions, TREATECH's technology addresses several regulatory pressures at once.

Highlights from their portfolio

• WAS2VAL
  A €2.4M SME Phase 2 grant — the largest available to a single company under Horizon 2020 — demonstrating that TREATECH's liquid waste valorization technology passed the EU's competitive review for scale-up funding.
• KATEDRAL
  The Phase 1 feasibility project that validated the core sludge valorization concept and directly enabled the follow-on WAS2VAL award, making it the seed of TREATECH's entire EU innovation trajectory.