nir-vana innovation network

For safety, operational and environmental requirements railway ballast and train tracks must be largely free of vegetation and organic leftovers. In addition to this, the railway ballast should be clean from organic leftovers. The common market solution to prevent and treat vegetation on railway tracks is the use of soil herbicides and leaf herbicides. However, this solution is expensive, complicate, polluting for soil and groundwater and provides a solution only for weed control. Therefore, additional treatment of ballast, soil and groundwater is required.

The Swiss startup company offers a solution that is based on the in situ synthetic generation of highly concentrated superoxide radicals with surfactants and phase transfer catalysts.

This approach allows non-glyphosate vegetation control and in situ efficient washing of railway ballast stones and decontaminates soil and groundwater layers. With this holistic solution, it is possible to treat railway ballast without excavation and at the same time provide weed control and treat soil and groundwater from hydrocarbon and herbicide leftovers. This is the only solution that can deal with all these problems at the same time and without the removal and replacement of the stones.

This environmentally friendly process is efficient for a wide range of weeds including glyphosate-resistant plants and can be applied for contaminants up to 10% at a fraction of the cost with a conversion rate of up to 99%.

The technologies have been developed in collaboration with well-known experts and specialists and with the support of an Israeli institute of Applied Chemistry which is one of the leading centers on research in the field of applied chemistry and related industries.

The processes are patented (granted on national phase) and the technological stability, efficiency and environmental impacts were independently attested by laboratory tests carried out by TÜV Süd, Germany.

The technology can be applied in the market of vegetation control, railway maintenance and soil and groundwater treatment.

The company is looking for partners/representatives active in railway maintenance, weed control, soil treatment, groundwater treatment as well as environmental engineering offices for license, joint venture, commercial or technical cooperation agreement.

Advantages & innovations

The offered technology is an integrated solution for weed control, treating of railway ballast, soil and groundwater. The main advantages of the patented process are: - effective non-glyphosate based weed control solution - effective for glyphosate-resistant plants - solution adapted to the existing equipment for railway maintenance and vegetation control - rapid in situ process - achieves higher conversion rates than all other existing solutions - robust and has the ability to operate over a range of environmental conditions - forgiving and manifests little sensitivity to operating conditions - treatment of three problems of the railway maintenance market at the same time: stones, weed control and soil and groundwater decontamination - economically and environmentally superior compared to existing solutions and features a lower CO2 footprint than other competing technologies - mobile - efficient where other approaches are almost useless The innovation represents a key enabling technology that will help Europe achieve the Green Deal’s strategic environmental objectives.

Stage of development

Available for demonstration

Partner sought

The specific area of activity of the partner: The Swiss company is looking for companies active in railway maintenance, weed control, soil treatment, groundwater treatment as well as environmental engineering offices. The tasks to be performed by the partner sought: The Swiss company provides the technology (patents, design of machines and know-how) to the partner, who is responsible for marketing, sales and project execution, local permitting and administration. The partner is provided with trainings and support from the Swiss engineers if required. The key component of the technology remains the property of the Swiss company. The partnership can take many forms notably a license, joint venture or commercial agreement. Further collaborations such as technical cooperation agreements could also be envisaged later. - License and joint venture agreements: the Swiss company is a knowledge company and is not executing the projects. Therefore they are looking for companies that have an execution ability and manpower. License and joint venture agreements allow the Swiss company to operate in different countries on high capacity projects without developing their own capacity for project execution in each country. For a long term any of their licensees will still need the supervision and support of the Swiss company in the design of the project. - Commercial agreement with technical assistance: as a knowledge company that sees in their competitors also potential customers a commercial agreement with technical support allows the Swiss company to develop new units based on their oxidation processes to existing facilities. This kind of cooperation can give them access to a new market (“retrofit”). It will allow them to work abroad based on the existing facilities of the partners. - Technological cooperation agreement: this will allow the Swiss company to develop and upgrade their technologies based on the added value knowledge of the sought partner and will save them time and money during market penetration. At the end of the process and with a generation of joint know-how they can sign a joint venture agreement and implement their processes in the global market.