Fast-growing Birmingham start-up NovNat moves water harvesting technology to pilot stage

Fast-growing Birmingham start-up NovNat Tech is on the move to larger premises, where they will scale their material production and further develop their novel Atmospheric Water Generation (AWG) system in preparation for pilot trials at a data centre and geothermal power plant in 2025/26.

The company will leave Birmingham Research Park, where it incubated first in the award-winning Unit 9 incubator, and then in new laboratory space after securing grant funding from Innovate UK.

During their residency, founders Abdulbari Belouafi, Kamal Diab and Ibrahim Albaik developed a prototype which is producing 15 litres of water daily. They also secured over £1m funding from Innovate UK and are currently in the process of raising the first round of investment.

Mr Belouafi says Unit 9 has been critical to the group’s growth: “We couldn’t have gotten a better place than Unit 9 at the time. It was ideal for us. We built our demonstrator there and developed our unique water-capturing materials which are all patent-pending.” He also credits the Research Park and the B-Enterprising team with helping the team navigate a steep learning curve as they entered the business and startup world.

Located on the University campus, Birmingham Research Park includes fully equipped and serviced incubation space, short-term incubation, and secure, high-quality office and laboratory space for more mature companies. The dynamic tenant community includes young enterprises, spin-outs and innovative companies such as NovNat, whose technology has been described as transformative.

NovNat’s proprietary technology is a metal organic framework (MOF) material, a sponge-like material that is tuned to absorb humidity from the air and turn it into pure water. For now, the company is targeting geothermal power plants and data centres which need a lot of water for cooling. Data centre power demand is expected to rise by 160% by 2030 due to the growing demands of AI. The alternative to water cooling is air cooling which causes a significant drop in efficiency during the summer months.

NovNat is moving to the Brierley Hill Enterprise trading estate, where it will take a larger space to scale its production and further develop its prototype in preparation for the 2025 pilot.

Angie Reynolds, COO of University of Birmingham Enterprise said: “It’s great to see a success story like NovNat. The company entered Unit 9 after receiving funding from the Climate Innovation Platform and taking part in the Elevate at the Exchange programme run by B Enterprising and made full use of the business support programmes, before moving into larger space at Birmingham Research Park. We’re wishing them all the best for their future success.

Companies interested in taking space at Unit 9, or Birmingham Research Park, should contact Angie Reynolds.