A world without wastewater

Recovered Potential builds compact, electrochemical systems that recover nutrients and remove pollution - turning waste into value for industries and cities worldwide.

Learn more

Every day, over 50 tons of nitrogen enter the San Francisco Bay — just one glimpse of a much larger global challenge

Today’s wastewater treatment systems are expensive, energy-intensive, and land-demanding - costing billions of dollars each year while releasing greenhouse gases and wasting recoverable resources.

Aerial close-up view of a body of water, colored by mud and algae, with several seagulls flying low over the water, some with wings spread, and some partially submerged in the water.

Nutrient-laden wastewater is a $100B+ global challenge spanning food, fertilizer, and municipal sectors

The problem isn’t just pollution — it’s a massive untapped opportunity.

Bird's eye view of a group of people walking on a narrow bridge over a wastewater treatment pond, with their shadows cast on the ground. The pond has brownish water with foam on the surface.

Recovered Potential transforms wastewater into a renewable resource

Recovered Potential logo: an "R" with the counter line looping back behind the vertical stroke on the "R" and reconnecting to itself in an arrow-point, forming a circularity symbol and backwards "P". The counter is filled with blue (r) and green (l).

We deliver scalable, circular systems that recover nitrogen, reduce emissions, and future-proof critical infrastructure — turning waste into value for every community.

Smaller. Faster. Better.

Recovered Potential’s Electrochemical Advantage

Our electrochemical stripping (ECS) system recovers nitrogen from wastewater using charge and volatility — not biology. Compact, modular, and built for speed, our technology delivers unmatched efficiency at every scale.

100-2500x

SMALLER

Aerial view of a wastewater treatment plant with annotations indicating the size and nutrient capacity of the site. 18 acres of existing treatment handle 12.2 tons N/day, while a 40-foot shipping container with ECS technology handles 14.4 tons N/day.

Compared to traditional treatment systems - compact, modular units that fit where others can’t.

50x

FASTER

Construction workers pouring concrete on a large circular foundation at a wastewater clarifier construction site, with rebar and scaffolding visible.

Rapid deployment with minimal setup, reducing construction and permitting time.

100%

N₂O Free

A diagram showing the calculation of nitrous oxide emissions, represented as N₂O, which equals 280 CO₂e, with a visual cloud of brown color and chemical symbols.

Eliminates direct greenhouse gas emissions while producing valuable, reusable fertilizer.

Diagram of electrochemical stripping, taking in wastewater and releasing treated water while ammonia moves from chamber 1 (ammonium, positive charge) to chamber 2 (ammonia, neutral) to chamber 3 (ammonium, positive) before recovery as fertilizer.

How ECS Works

Recovered Potential’s Electrochemical Stripping (ECS) system uses electricity, not biology, to recover nitrogen from wastewater, producing treated water and a reusable ammonium fertilizer.

Proven Technology

Rooted in over a decade of Stanford and UC Berkeley research, our technology has achieved:

Aerial view of a wastewater treatment plant with large circular settling tanks and sloped-roof structures in the background.

>95%

>95% ammonia removal in real municipal and industrial wastewater

Laboratory workstation with scientific instruments, computer, and equipment, including bottles, wires, and containers, in a research facility. Two electrochemical stripping reactors, each about 10 cm cubes, are highlighted.

600+ hrs

600+ hours of fully continuous operation with real urine

A clear glass bottle held by a purple gloved hand and filled with a white, milky liquid, marked with measurement lines indicating 1000 mL and the brand PYREX.

 50-7000+ ppm N 

Efficient treatment of wastewater containing 50-7000+ ppm N. ECS thrives with high strength wastes.

Physically Embedded Solutions

Our technology fits into existing waste and energy infrastructure.

Our solution is designed for real-world integration — physically connecting to existing processing lines to treat and recover high-value nutrients from waste streams. By working with, not against, the systems already in place, we make adoption simple, scalable, and cost-efficient.

The examples below show how Recovered Potential’s technology can integrate within two types of facilities to enhance recovery and reduce emissions. These are just two examples of how our system can adapt across multiple industries and infrastructure types.

Rendering waste train

Flowchart showing a cow icon with label "Rendering Condensate", followed by an arrow pointing to the RP logo, then another arrow leading to a wastewater treatment icon, with label 'Biological Treatment'.

Anaerobic digestate train

Diagram showing wastewater treatment process: wastewater flows to a treatment facility, resulting in treated water, with removed solids processed to produce biogas, and and RP logo on the recycled solids stream indicating sidestream nutrient removal.

To explore how Recovered Potential could fit into your operations, get in touch.

Orange triangular play button pointing to the right on a transparent background.

Our Team

A world-class team of Stanford and MIT PhDs turning breakthrough science into scalable solutions.

A smiling woman with short curly hair in safety glasses and a bright yellow safety vest stands on a water treatment facility platform with water and pipes behind her, mountains in the distance, and a partly cloudy sky overhead.

Kindle Williams, PhD
Co-Founder & CEO

Kindle has been building Recovered Potential since 2022, when she joined the Tarpeh lab at Stanford as a postdoc. As CEO, Kindle coordinates the team and its partners, advancing RP’s vision of a world without wastewater. She brings deep expertise in electrochemistry from her PhD in the Manthiram lab at MIT. Kindle was an Emerson Consequential Postdoc Scholar and received entrepreneurial training through Stanford Climate Ventures, MIT Climate & Energy Ventures, and the Stanford HIT Fund. She is originally from White House, TN. She enjoys gardening, sports of all varieties, and public transit.

A young woman with long dark hair smiling in a white sleeveless dress in an outdoor corridor with columns and archways.

Jinyu Guo, PhD
Co-Founder & CTO

As CTO, Jinyu leads research and development to tailor RP’s technology to customers’ needs, be it a new wastewater, a new scale, or a new treatment goal. She conducted her PhD research in the Tarpeh lab at Stanford on electrocatalysis and reaction engineering from 2019 to 2025 and engaged in industrial research at Google X. She is originally from Luoyang - capital of peonies and seat of the only female emperor in ancient China. She lives two Caltrain stations away from Kindle and enjoys nature, art, matcha, and detective shows.

A smiling man in a brown suit and white shirt standing outdoors with trees, buildings, and a clock tower in the background on a clear day.

Prof. William Tarpeh, PhD
Founding Scientific Advisor

Will is an Assistant Professor at Stanford Chemical Engineering, where his research focuses on resource recovery from various wastewaters. His lab incubated RP in its earliest days, and he now advises the company. Will is the inventor of the electrochemical stripping (ECS) process, from his PhD at UC Berkeley, along with 4 other patented wastewater treatment technologies. He has been recognized with a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, NSF CAREER Award, Paul L. Busch Award, and listings on AIChE 35 Under 35, Forbes 30 Under 30 Science, NBCBLK's 28 Under 28 AfricanAmerican Innovators, and C&EN Talented Twelve.

Supported By

Recovered Potential’s work is strengthened by partnerships and programs that accelerate sustainable innovation. We’re proud to have received support from organizations including:

Logo of the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy with a stylized flower and bold text.
U.S. Department of Energy logo in black and white with shield emblem and text
The logo of CCAST, a separations lab at UConn, featuring stylized text with a membrane manufacturing icon.
The stylized-script Stanford Climate Ventures logo
The Stanford HIT Fund logo, featuring a blocky graphic including the letters H, I, T, and the text 'High Impact Technology Fund'.
Logo of Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability in black, white, and gray
Gray emblem with stylized mountains and the words "BUREAU OF RECLAMATION" in white capital letters.

What’s new

Pilot time! Supported by the Stanford TomKat Center Innovation Transfer Program.

Orange triangular play button pointing to the right on a transparent background.

We were selected for ARPA-E’s RECOVER program! In collaboration with the Tarpeh lab at Stanford University and the Guest lab at UIUC, we will recover ammonium, phosphorus, and magnesium from anaerobic digestate.

Orange triangular play button pointing to the right on a transparent background.