On World Water Day 2025, BKT’s cutting-edge wastewater solutions—Proteus, IUP, and AMX—were featured in Korea Economic Daily, showcasing its role in global water innovation.
Building a Sustainable Future from Wastewater
BKT Leads the Way in Constructing Future-Oriented Wastewater Treatment Plants
BKT, a global leader in water and wastewater solutions, is accelerating the construction of future-ready wastewater treatment plants. The company is leveraging its proprietary technologies to reduce facility footprints and significantly cut energy and sludge treatment costs—enabling the integration of eco-friendly infrastructure such as data centers within urban WWTP sites.
BKT views wastewater treatment plants not merely as pollution control facilities, but as vital resource hubs for sustainable cities. By minimizing their physical footprint, the company creates space for value-added applications like smart farms and green data centers.
A key innovation, Proteus, allows for more than a 60% reduction in facility area, as demonstrated in Seoul’s Jungnang and Seonam Water Reclamation Centers. The freed-up land has been repurposed by the city for public parks and museums—maximizing the value of urban space.
Proteus also offers high-speed filtration that rapidly removes suspended solids and organics from wastewater without using chemicals. It operates 87% faster than conventional gravity sedimentation systems, helping to prevent overload during storm events—one of the major weaknesses of traditional systems.
Unlike many competitors, BKT’s chemical-free approach has earned global recognition. In 2021, the company won the U.S.-based TWC Pilot Contest, and its Proteus technology was listed as one of the top 10 primary treatment innovations worldwide by Global Water Intelligence (GWI).
BKT is currently preparing to build a $13 million demonstration plant at the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) in the U.S., with construction scheduled for 2026. The project is being designed by Black & Veatch, a global engineering firm.
In addition to Proteus, BKT holds proprietary technologies such as:
- AAD (Advanced Anaerobic Digestion) for converting organic matter into biogas
- DRACO, a thermal hydrolysis technology that boosts biogas production and minimizes sludge
- AMX, a low-energy Anammox process that removes nitrogen without the need for external carbon sources
These technologies are combined into an integrated, interference-free process called IUP (Integrated Upstream Process). IUP enables large-scale biogas production from organic waste and significantly reduces treatment costs through economies of scale.
AMX technology plays a pivotal role in enabling energy self-sufficiency and achieving carbon neutrality. According to the city of Busan, after deploying AMX at Noksan WWTP, electricity costs were reduced by 60%, sludge treatment costs by 49%, and total annual operational costs were cut by over KRW 1.5 billion (approximately USD 1.1 million). The reduced facility footprint also led to lower construction costs.
In support of climate action, South Korea’s Ministry of Environment is actively promoting integrated biogas plants. Since the national initiative was launched, BKT has emerged as a frontrunner in this domain.
IUP is now slated to be applied in the modernization of the Daejeon WWTP, the largest project in BKT’s history, with completion targeted for 2028. Globally, a pilot and detailed design using AMX are also in progress at Quantum Organics, a biogas company based in the New England region of the U.S.
A BKT representative stated: “With Proteus and IUP at the core, we will continue to drive innovation to combat climate change and lead the global water treatment market.”
*Source: March 21, 2025| Korea Economic Daily
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