The UK water sector is facing increasingly demanding nutrient reduction targets. In the UK, legally binding targets require phosphorus loadings from treated wastewater to fall by 80% by 2038, against a 2020 baseline, with an interim target of 55% by 2030. The current investment period (AMP8, 2025–2030) includes phosphorus reduction schemes at more than 800 treatment works, and larger works in designated sensitive catchments must meet a total phosphorus limit of 0.25 mg/L by April 2030. Nitrate remains a persistent challenge for drinking water sources, with elevated concentrations requiring utilities to manage or treat affected supplies to maintain compliance with drinking water standards.

As permits tighten, conventional treatment approaches come under strain. At these limits, chemical dosing is pushed to its operational edge, reaching very low phosphorus concentrations reliably means higher metal salt doses, additional filtration and more sludge, with less margin against permitted discharge levels. Metal-dosed sludge also locks phosphorus into a form that is difficult to recover. This is increasing the focus on technologies that can achieve tighter limits at a lower whole-life cost.

PHOSPHIX® and BIONEX® are both built on Clean TeQ Water’s Moving Bed Ion Exchange (MBIX) platform. MBIX continuously circulates ion exchange resin between adsorption and regeneration, enabling more efficient resin utilisation and selective capture of the target nutrient. Because adsorption and regeneration are decoupled, the regeneration stage can be designed around what happens to the captured contaminant, not just around regenerating the resin. This extends the range of ion exchange chemistries that can be used in practice and allows treatment to be coupled directly with by-product recovery. In PHOSPHIX®, captured phosphorus becomes hydroxyapatite. In BIONEX®, captured nitrate is converted to nitrogen gas so the brine can be reused. In both cases, what would otherwise be a waste stream becomes part of a circular process.

PHOSPHIX® removes phosphate to very low levels and recovers it as hydroxyapatite, a compact, solid phosphorus product with potential for reuse. This replaces the large sludge volumes produced by conventional chemical dosing. The process operates at very high water recovery (typically above 99%), with a small site footprint and typically 50% lower operating costs than chemical dosing with tertiary filtration at equivalent limits. At Clean TeQ Water’s first PHOSPHIX® plant in Europe, an industrial installation which completed performance testing in 2026, treated water consistently achieved phosphorus concentrations below 0.1 mg/L.

Phosphorus is a finite resource, and the UK relies on imported phosphate. At the same time, the rules for returning sewage sludge to land are under review. PHOSPHIX® addresses both pressures in a single step: it delivers compliance and produces a concentrated, recoverable phosphorus product rather than a metal-bound sludge. For utilities, this turns a compliance cost into a contribution to circular resource targets.

Conventional ion exchange removes nitrate from drinking water effectively, but each regeneration produces a concentrated salt brine that must be disposed of. For many inland treatment sites this brine is a significant operating cost and an environmental liability in its own right. BIONEX® addresses the problem at its source. It combines MBIX with Clean TeQ Water’s BIOCLENS® encapsulated bacteria, which convert the nitrate captured in the regeneration brine into harmless nitrogen gas. The brine is then reused rather than discharged, significantly reducing waste brine volumes and salt consumption. The biological treatment loop is fully isolated from the potable water stream. BIONEX® is already proven at scale, including a 12 megalitre-per-day plant removing nitrate from wastewater prior to discharge in China.

For water utilities, adopting a new technology depends as much on delivery confidence as on process performance. Enpure has decades of experience delivering water and wastewater projects for UK water companies across the full project lifecycle, from feasibility and early contractor involvement through design, construction, commissioning and operation. It brings a deep understanding of UK regulatory requirements and utility procurement, backed by the wider SKion Water group.

By combining Clean TeQ Water’s technology and process expertise with Enpure’s UK delivery capability and utility relationships, the collaboration offers water companies a single, trusted route to deploying PHOSPHIX® and BIONEX® at their sites. Clean TeQ Water will provide process design, technology supply and performance support, while Enpure will lead project delivery, integration and customer engagement for UK water companies.