NoviaWater NanoTech
Organisation type:
Other (please specify in the additional information section)
Contact name:
Masoomeh Bazzar
Position/ Role:
Project Lead
email:
Grants interested in applying for:
Paludiculture and Wetter Farming Fund
Region:
Suffolk
Areas of expertise
Scientific research (ecology, soils, modelling, remote sensing, biogeochemistry)
Resources available
Laboratory or analytical capacity, Match funding opportunities, Staff time/ research capacity
Engagement interests
We wish to participate in the Paludiculture & Wetter Farming Fund (PWFF) or related lowland peat grant consortia strictly as a Technology Partner and Scientific Co-Developer. We are looking to connect with Project Leads, research institutions, water companies, and landowners who require advanced soil-water optimization to mitigate the agronomic challenges of wet farming systems.
Core Scientific Contributions & Capabilities
- Root-Zone Oxygenation in Waterlogged Media: Lowland peat restoration and wetter farming (paludiculture) often create hypoxic or anoxic root environments that limit conventional crop biometric performance. We are providing a novel supramolecular colloidal formulation that encapsulates and stabilizes high-density nanobubbles. This increases dissolved oxygen retention directly within saturated, high-water-table soil matrices over extended periods without modifying bulk fluid viscosity or requiring high-energy mechanical aeration.
- Nutrient Efficiency & Crop Performance Data: Saturated soils often suffer from compromised nutrient bioavailability and root-zone thermal stress. Our bio-based matrix optimises mineral and nutrient uptake pathways, targeting up to a 25% reduction in synthetic fertiliser requirements while maintaining or increasing crop biomass. We can actively contribute rigorous, independent biophysical characterisation data to the consortium’s research output.
- Porous Media & Soil Remediative Infiltration: Saturated peatlands are vulnerable to diffuse pollution and anaerobic heavy metal mobilization. We are developing an eco-friendly, plant-derived matrix that stabilises the soil boundary layer, accelerates native microbial degradation of hydrocarbons, and immobilises trace heavy metals to restore long-term ecological integrity to wet agricultural horizons.
Desired Collaborative Actions within the Consortium
- Co-Developing Field Trial Methods: We want to integrate our liquid-phase delivery system into existing or planned commercial irrigation, hydroponic, or controlled-environment trial rigs operated by the consortium lead.
- Supplying Advanced Consumable Materials: We will manufacture and supply our proprietary, 100% water-soluble, biodegradable chemical matrices for use across multi-site field trials. Our chemistry is completely free of microplastics and persistent synthetic polymers, ensuring zero regulatory friction with Defra or Environment Agency guidelines.
- Knowledge Exchange & Industrial Validation: We seek to collaborate on publishing peer-reviewed agronomic datasets, mapping breakthrough percolation curves in clay/peat profiles, and validating commercial supply-chain models for low-carbon, sustainable wetland crop cultivation across England.
Additional information
NoviaWater NanoTech Ltd was incorporated in June 2026 as a deep-tech spinout driven by elite academic expertise in surface, colloid, and interface chemistry. The company’s core intellectual property and molecular architectures are led by its co-founders:
- Dr. Masoomeh (Masi) Bazzar (Co-Founder & Director of Innovation): Holds a PhD in Polymer Chemistry with extensive expertise in polymer synthesis, advanced molecular architecture, and interface design. Dr. Bazzar concurrently serves as a Senior Polymer Chemist within the water technology sector (Aqueris), providing deep, active insights into industrial water quality guidelines and commercial validation protocols.
- Dr. Osama Alsawafy (Co-Founder): Brings specialized PhD expertise in colloid science, boundary layer mechanics, and soil-fluid interface interactions.
Together, the founding team bridges the gap between pure materials chemistry and practical soil-plant-microbe agronomics, providing the consortium with top-tier scientific troubleshooting capabilities.
Current Active Projects & Validation Pipelines
As an agile, pre-seed deep-tech venture, NoviaWater operates via a collaborative research model, leveraging world-class UK academic infrastructure to transition our theoretical formulations into physical baseline data.
- University of Nottingham (nmRC) Collaboration: We are currently in active technical scoping with the Nanoscale and Microscale Research Centre (nmRC) and Dr. Marion Limo (Commercial Biophysical Analyst) to execute our liquid-phase baseline validation. This upcoming project utilizes high-resolution Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Electrophoretic Light Scattering (ELS), and Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) to map bubble size distribution, concentration (particles/mL), and surface charge (Zeta Potential) kinetics.
- Sutton Bonington Campus Pipeline: We are establishing technical links with the UoN School of Biosciences (Sutton Bonington) to map nanobubble percolation breakthrough curves through complex UK soil horizons and loam matrices, leading to controlled greenhouse crop performance trials.
Relevance to Peatland, Wetland, and Regenerative Farming
While our core tech is a proprietary chemical platform, it was engineered specifically to address the physical and biological degradation pathways of waterlogged agricultural horizons:
- Anoxic Mitigation: Saturated peat soils directly restrict root respiration. Our research focus is the prolonged delivery of bioavailable dissolved oxygen to counteract rhizosphere hypoxia, promoting robust root biometrics in high-water-table paludiculture systems.
- Nutrient Retention: Saturated horizons face intense nutrient leaching. Our supramolecular matrix modifies local fluid-pore dynamics to slow down mobile ion leaching while boosting plant nutrient uptake efficiency, targeting a 25% fertiliser input reduction.
- Zero-Footprint Sustainability: Our chemistry replaces legacy agricultural polymers (which risk microplastic or persistent organic loading) with 100% water-soluble, bio-based small molecules (Chitosan oligosaccharides, plant saponins, and microbial glycolipids) that naturally degrade into basic soil carbon within 14 days.
Available Resources & Facilities Offerings
Because we operate as a lean, pre-seed science platform, we do not offer independent physical land or laboratory facilities at this stage. Instead, we contribute highly specialized intellectual and research resources to the consortium:
- Dedicated Staff Capacity: Allocation of PhD-level chemist hours to assist the consortium with experimental design, cross-contamination safety reviews, and advanced data modeling (e.g., correlating biophysical bubble data with plant biomass yield metrics).
- Formulation Manufacturing: Supply of custom-blended, food-grade liquid colloidal matrices to consortium partners who possess active field trial sites or commercial greenhouse operations.
- Method Co-Development: Capacity to co-author rigorous technical grant reports, assist in international patent mapping, and support technical knowledge-exchange outputs.
Field Demonstrations & Workshop Contributions
We are fully equipped to actively participate in and contribute to the consortium's public-facing deliverables:
- Technical Workshops: Our founders can deliver specialized seminars or webinars for farming clusters on the application of colloid science and nanobubble chemistry in regenerative and wet farming.
- On-Site Trial Support: We are available to travel to partner trial sites across England to assist with initial formulation blending, calibration of inline irrigation doping setups, and sample collection for academic validation.
Company Website: https://www.novia-water-nanotech.com/
Primary Scientific Contact: Dr. Masoomeh Bazzar (masi@noviawater.co.uk)