Orianna Bretschger was on the move during the first day of WEFTEC 2025 at McCormick Place in Chicago.
The Aquacycl founder and CEO was a steady presence at the industrial wastewater treatment company’s booth, with she and her team providing wastewater consultations and walking booth visitors through demonstrations of the company’s BETT and SulfideFix units.
And Bretschger was also a featured panelist during a Monday afternoon technical session as part of the event’s Innovation Pavilion. Overall, it was a busy first day at the water industry’s largest event of the year.
“WEFTEC is a great event, one that we look forward to every year. It’s an opportunity for Aquacycl’s business to connect with engineers, EPCs, partners, vendors and, of course, folks that we’ve been collaborating with in the industry over the years,” Bretschger said. “And it’s a super important meeting, especially on the wastewater side of water, where it’s an opportunity for everyone to talk about what’s new in their product lines, some of the latest case studies, and a great opportunity, too, to learn about new research and all of the different panels and technical discussions. It’s really a wonderful way for the industry to connect and learn what’s new, what’s upcoming and what’s next.”
At Booth 6221, visitors were not only able to meet with the Aquacycl team, but they were able to go in-depth on the company’s BETT system — a modular, onsite industrial wastewater treatment system designed for treating high-strength wastewater at the source.
“Aquacycl’s BETT system is a bioelectric chemical treatment technology,” Bretschger said. “It’s an opportunity for us to show folks this is a very new way of doing treatment where we’re electronically controlling metabolism, and that enables us to take out some massive loads — 3,000 pounds of BOD per day, but it only requires 16 kilowatt hours a day to do it.
“It’s a different way of doing industrial treatment and it’s always great to be able to show and tell.”
Aquacycl’s BETT systems are currently being used in food and beverage, oil and gas, and chemical processing operations.
Also on display was the SulfideFix odor control product, which was launched in September 2024, just ahead of WEFTEC 2024.
“SulfideFix is a way to prevent sulfide emissions in storage tanks. We have this installed also with several of our clients now, ensuring that there is a safe operating environment without the odor nuisance and without the corrosion hassle,” Bretschger said. “And what’s unique about the SulfideFix product is that it retrofits into existing tanks… we can come in, install our units and take that sulfide emission level of hundreds of parts per million down to below one part per million, and we do that with a minimal energy footprint and zero chemicals.”
While most SulfideFix installations have been in the food and beverage space, Bretschger said the product can also be used in pulp and paper, oil and gas, and municipal storage and collection applications.
Away from the booth, Bretschger was one of five panelists during a Monday session as part of the event’s Innovation Pavilion titled Innovating for Today, where she talked about Aquacycl’s journey and product developments over the years. And she is also taking part in a panel discussion on Wednesday titled Beyond the Standalone: Integrating Global Innovation for the Future of Wastewater.
“This will be about global collaboration,” Bretschger said of the Wednesday session. “Aquacycl opened offices in the Netherlands in 2023, so we’re a U.S. company going to Europe to bring our technology and hopefully address some of the challenges there. And there are some companies that are bringing their new water technologies to the United States. So, this panel will really address what are the challenges, what are the drivers, and what are some of the opportunities, as well as who is there to help, like The Water Council and their sister organizations in other geographies.”
To find out more about Aquacycl, visit www.aquacycl.com.