Transform through flow.
We built Vorta, a vortex cavitation platform now running in bioenergy and wastewater at industrial scale. Vivarta takes that proven technology into crystallisation and nanobubbles for mineral processing, where fouling, slow kinetics and transport limits still cost plants money.
Founder: Ranjeet Utikar Curtin University Perth, Western Australia
Taming Cavitation
Cavitation, the violent collapse of vapour bubbles, is usually the enemy of process plants. It pits propellers and chews through pumps. What if we could tame it and make it work for us? The answer to this question was deceptively simple. Control the cavitation by controlling the flow. The key insight was that by shaping the flow into a vortex, we could steer the cavitation towards the bulk, away from the walls, and turn the energy into useful process input.
We turned that insight into a commercial business, Vorta , in bioenergy and wastewater. Now we are applying the same insight to generate nanobubbles and intensify crystallisation, where transport limits chemistry more often than the other way around.
Crystallisation is still the bottleneck
Fouling on crystallisers, slow leach kinetics and transport limits on gas-liquid reactions all eat margin. Reshoring targets and WA’s minerals push make the cost of leaving that alone harder to ignore.
Reshoring & continuous manufacturing
Plants are moving to smaller, continuous operations. Crystallisation still limits throughput, and every hour of cycle time costs money.
Decarbonisation pressure
Energy and water targets are tightening. Intensifying the process you already run beats building new capacity.
WA critical minerals
WA processes much of the world’s lithium and nickel. A few points of recovery or uptime on those circuits shows up on the P&L.
The platform is already in commercial service
As Vorta ({SITE.legalEntity}), the same founders built a platform with paying installs in bioenergy and wastewater.
More biogas from waste biomass
Pre-treats lignocellulosic feedstock to open cellulose and lift methane yield, up to ~24% more biomethane on bagasse, with installs on spent wash and press mud.
See it on vorta.comChemical-free effluent treatment
42–54% COD reduction across chemical, pharma and FMCG effluents, plus up to 80% reagent-free disinfection, validated lab to plant, partnered with Thermax.
See it on vorta.com- Industrial
- Commercial installs at plant throughput
- ~24%
- More biomethane (bioenergy)
- 42-54%
- COD reduction (wastewater)
- 2
- US patents licensed from CSIR-NCL
Vortex-cavitation IP licensed from CSIR-NCL (patents US 9,422,952 & US 9,725,338), validated in peer-reviewed research · commercial offerings live at vorta.com.
Nanobubbles and crystallisation at lab scale
The commercial platform is the foundation. At lab scale we are now building nanobubble generation and crystallisation intensification, plus the IP we are writing for minerals.
Nanobubble generation
Stable nanobubbles that multiply gas-liquid contact area. Gas-driven reactions, leaching and flotation stop stalling at the transport limit.
Crystallisation & mineral processing
Control nucleation in the bulk, keep crystalliser surfaces clean, cut induction time. Lab work shows >50% higher crystalliser productivity on WA-relevant chemistries.
Bulk-flow cavitation, already commercial
Ultrasound treats a thin layer at the wall. Orifice devices erode and clog. A vortex reactor cavitates the whole stream, with no transducers to replace. Vorta has already proved that in commercial installs.
Cavitates the whole stream
Power ultrasound only reaches a thin layer at the wall. A vortex reactor cavitates the entire bulk flow as it passes through.
Nothing to wear out
No rotors, stators or transducers. Collapse happens in the bulk, away from surfaces, so wear and contamination stay low.
Scales with flow
A clog-free wide bore passes slurries. Size the reactor to the flow; the same geometry has already run in commercial service.
Commercial platform, TRL-3 frontier
Vorta is proven and selling. Nanobubbles and crystallisation are at TRL 3. The next step is a customer-validated pilot in mineral processing.
Commercial · today
Vorta: proven in bioenergy & wastewater
Vortex cavitation in paying industrial installs, on IP licensed from CSIR-NCL. Vivarta starts from hardware that is already on site.
TRL 3 · now
New IP: nanobubbles & crystallisation
Nanobubbles and crystallisation intensification at lab scale. New IP we own, aimed at mineral processing streams.
TRL 5 · the ask
Customer-validated pilot
Move from lab results to a customer-validated pilot in a real mineral stream. That is the step we are raising for now.
The ask
We are looking for partners and programs to fund a pilot-scale, customer-validated install in mineral processing.
The founders who built and proved the platform
The same two founders who took vortex cavitation from a CSIR-NCL patent to commercial installs at Vorta now lead Vivarta, and the next wave of IP in minerals.
Ranjeet Utikar
Co-founder · Associate Professor · SMILE Lab, Curtin University
Leads the SMILE Lab at Curtin’s West Australian School of Mines. Multiphase flow, cavitation, scale-up and process intensification. Co-founded Tridiagonal Solutions and Vivira Process Technologies (Vorta). 100+ peer-reviewed papers; earlier roles at CSIR-NCL, University of Twente and DSM Netherlands. Curtin Commercial Innovation Awards (2017, 2019); overall winner, AkzoNobel Imagine Chemistry (2018).
Vivek Ranade
Co-founder · Bernal Institute, University of Limerick
Bernal Chair of Process Engineering at the University of Limerick and Professor at Queen’s University Belfast. Former Deputy Director of CSIR-NCL Pune. CFD, reactor engineering and process intensification; co-developed the vortex-diode platform licensed through Vivira. Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (2004); fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, INSA and INAE. Co-founded Tridiagonal Solutions and Vivira Process Technologies.
Ready to test it on your stream?
We are looking for pilot partners in mineral processing and programs that can help take TRL-3 work to a customer-validated install. Tell us about your process.