Member - Typhon Treatment Systems Limited

In 2013 Typhons founders, Peter McNulty and Matt Simpson were consultants, working on a community water project in Nigeria. They were looking for a simple to use, efficient and chemical free water treatment process and started to explore the concept of UV LED. UV disinfection has been a mainstay in water treatment plants for over 20 years, used to protect the public from harmful pathogens such as cryptosporidium. Over that same timescale the world has seen a revolution in the white lighting industry with energy saving LEDs now the predominant light source everywhere from our homes and workplaces to our cars and bicycles. However, by 2013 the only UV water treatment systems available which could treat largescale flowrates of water used mercury UV lamps which are power hungry, difficult to maintain, and contains toxic material. Though it had been discussed widely as a concept by UV System manufacturers, in 2013 Matt and Peter could not find a company with the capability to develop a UV LED System to meet their needs. So, in 2014 Typhon Treatment Systems was founded to create one. In the early years, the fledgling company battled with the development of a UV system which needed to be quite different to traditional mercury lamp systems. Until 2016 when the LED technology had developed to a point where it was feasible to build a full-scale reactor. The BIO-310 was born and, with the aid of the United Utilities Innovation Lab, the first field trial were carried out in 2017. By this time, the interest in what Typhon were doing was growing – from both water companies and competitors – but there was an important step required before Typhon could truly claim to have a product to sell. 3rd Party Validation is required as proof of a UV Systems performance capabilities before it can be sold to a water utility. Typhon completed the world’s first validation of a UV LED system – to the USEPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) protocol – in July 2018. UV LED, for high flow rate, 24/7 operation applications had arrived. Soon after the validation was complete Typhon was awarded a 10-year innovation framework by United Utilities and is currently in the process of installing a first commercial project and the world’s first Municipal UV LED installation at United Utilities Cumwhinton Water Treatment Works in Cumbria which, after some considerable COVID related delays will be completed in early 2021.