A filtration technology can perform well in the laboratory. The more important question is whether it can operate reliably inside a real industrial process.
From late 2025 through April 2026, Klar2O and Ensinger Mineral-Heilquellen conducted a six-month pilot project integrating Klar2O filtration media into the process-water stream used for bottle cleaning at an Ensinger bottling facility.
The project marked an important step for both companies: for Ensinger, it represented the integration of an emerging filtration technology into an established beverage-production environment. For Klar2O, it was the transition from technology development and smaller-scale applications into continuous industrial water treatment.
Today, approximately 80 kilograms of Klar2O filtration medium are installed at the bottling facility, treating the complete process-water stream for the respective bottle-cleaning application.
A regional pilot has become an industrial application.
Why Bottle-Cleaning Water Matters
Water is required throughout beverage production, and bottle cleaning is one of the processes in which water quality and process stability directly matter.
Ensinger describes its bottle-cleaning process as a multi-stage operation in which returned bottles are cleaned with hot water and alkaline solution before being rinsed again with clear drinking water. The company has invested extensively in modern cleaning technology designed to reduce the use of water, energy and chemicals.
Introducing an additional filtration technology into such an established process therefore requires more than demonstrating removal performance in a laboratory.
The technology must work with the existing water flow, infrastructure and operational requirements of a production facility.
That was the purpose of the pilot.
Six Months Under Real Production Conditions
The Klar2O-Ensinger project began in late October/November 2025 and continued through April 2026.
Instead of testing a small laboratory cartridge, Klar2O integrated its filtration medium into the process-water infrastructure of an operating bottling facility.
Over the six-month period, the project provided an opportunity to evaluate the technology under conditions that laboratory testing alone cannot reproduce: continuous water demand, changing production cycles and integration into an existing industrial process.
For Klar2O, this represented a critical scale-up step.
The company had already conducted several pilot studies during the development of its technology. Its Smart Surface Technology uses biochemically coated silica-based media designed to adsorb micro- and nanoscale plastic particles through surface interactions rather than relying solely on mechanical pore size. Klar2O describes the technology as pressure-efficient, regenerative and suitable for integration into different filtration systems.
The Ensinger project moved that concept into an industrial beverage-production environment.
80 Kilograms of Smart Surface Media in the Process Line
Following the pilot phase, approximately 80 kilograms of Klar2O filter medium are installed at the Ensinger bottling facility.
The medium is positioned within the water-treatment process serving the bottle-cleaning application and treats the corresponding process-water flow before it is used in production.
Unlike conventional filtration approaches that depend primarily on progressively smaller pores, Klar2O’s patented Smart Surface Technology is based on adsorption. The company’s coated filter media provide surfaces to which targeted particles can bind as water flows past them. Klar2O’s underlying technology is protected by patents covering the removal of micro- and nanoscale plastic particles from water.
This has an important consequence for industrial implementation:
The filtration principle does not have to be limited to a small point-of-use cartridge.
The filter medium can be incorporated into larger water-treatment configurations.
A Different Scale for Klar2O
Klar2O originally developed its technology around one central problem: how to capture increasingly small plastic particles in water without creating another disposable filtration system.
Its approach combines adsorption with a regenerative media concept intended to allow the filter material to be reused after captured particles are removed. The company positions this circular approach as an alternative to single-use filtration media.
Moving into an industrial bottling environment changes the scale of that ambition.
Instead of treating the drinking water of an individual household, one installation can operate on a process-water stream serving an industrial production line.
For a young filtration company, that transition matters.
Industrial adoption requires technology to move beyond proof of concept and become compatible with the infrastructure, volumes and operating realities of established manufacturers.
A Regional Partnership with Industrial Impact
The partnership also demonstrates the value of regional industrial cooperation.
Ensinger Mineral-Heilquellen is a long-established family-owned mineral-water producer based in Vaihingen/Enz-Ensingen, Baden-Württemberg. Around 180 employees fill more than 120 million litres of beverages annually.
The company has also invested significantly in resource-efficient bottling infrastructure. Its sustainability programme includes energy-efficiency measures, renewable energy and modern bottle-cleaning technology designed to reduce resource consumption.
That made Ensinger a particularly relevant partner for Klar2O’s first major step into industrial filtration.
For Ensinger, the pilot created an opportunity to test an emerging filtration technology directly within production.
For Klar2O, it provided something equally important:
A real industrial environment in which the technology could prove that it can move beyond the laboratory.
Innovation Does Not Stop at the Product
In the beverage industry, innovation is often visible to consumers through new bottles, packaging formats or products.
Process innovation is less visible.
But changes inside water treatment, cleaning and production infrastructure can ultimately operate across far larger volumes than an individual consumer filtration system.
The Ensinger pilot shows how an emerging water technology can be integrated at precisely this level.
It is not about adding another treatment step simply for the sake of complexity.
It is about asking whether modern contaminants can be addressed earlier and at greater scale within existing water processes.
From Consumer Filtration to Industrial Water Treatment
For Klar2O, the project represents a strategic milestone.
The technology was developed with the ambition of reducing plastic particles in water while keeping filtration media regenerative and reusable. Its integration at Ensinger demonstrates that the same underlying platform can also be considered for industrial process-water applications.
The six-month pilot was therefore more than a single installation.
It marked Klar2O’s entry into industrial water treatment.
And it did so together with a regional partner already operating at significant production scale.
The next challenge is to take what has been learned from this implementation and transfer it to additional industrial processes where large water volumes can be treated centrally.
Because reducing plastic pollution will not be achieved through one filter alone.
It requires solutions that can move from litres to industrial volumes, from prototypes to infrastructure, and from removing plastic particles once to keeping them out of water systems at scale.
Sources
- Ensinger Mineral-Heilquellen GmbH, About Us: Ensinger reports more than 120 million litres of beverages filled annually and approximately 180 employees.
- Ensinger Mineral-Heilquellen GmbH, FAQ – Bottle Cleaning: Description of the company’s multi-stage bottle-cleaning and rinsing process.
- Ensinger Mineral-Heilquellen GmbH, Sustainability and Climate Protection: Information on resource-efficient production and investment in bottle-cleaning technology.
- Klar2O GmbH, Smart Surface Technology: Technical overview of the patented, regenerative adsorption-based filtration platform.
- Klar2O GmbH, About Us: Background on the development, pilot studies and Smart Surface filtration technology.
- Klar2O GmbH, Patent LU101579B1, Filter and device for removing contamination from a liquid, in particular for removing micro- and nanoscale plastic particles from water.
Pilot duration, installed media quantity and the specific integration at the Ensinger facility are based on project information provided by Klar2O.