ABOUT

2014

In the beginning THERE WAS LIGHT (BUT ONLY JUST)

In 2013 Typhon’s founders, Matt Simpson and Peter McNulty were working together on an off-grid, community scale water treatment water treatment project in Nigeria. They needed a sustainable, continuous operation, environmentally friendly and cost-effective disinfection solution and were inspired to investigate the use of UV LED which, by 2013, was starting to emerge as a point-of-use application. However, no system existed on the scale that they were looking to deliver, and none of the existing UV system suppliers had the capabilities to build one.

So, in 2014, Typhon Treatment Systems was formed to create it.

2015

Prototype Development and first Fundraising

The ambition of the new company was to deliver a UV LED solution on a Municipal Scale – so disinfecting continuous, 24/7, high flowrates of water. However, the available UVC-LED technology at the time was less than 1/100^th of the UV output power that the founders calculated would be required to make such a solution commercially viable. Undaunted, and inspired by the Haitz Law forecast - suggesting a 20x increase in LED power and 10x decrease in LED costs every 10 years - the company set out to rapidly close the viability gap by developing a highly efficient UV LED Reactor which could then benefit from future generations of LEDs.

It took 2 years to develop a workable prototype – work supported by the Innovus Technology Investment Fund – which led to the first round of equity financing that included, among other, Nikkiso Co. from Japan – the worlds leading manufacturer of UV LEDs.

2016

United Utilities innovation Lab

Soon after, Typhon were selected as one of the first 7 partners in the United Utilities Innovation Lab process which was a global trawl for new, innovative, technologies which could meet a set of improvement goals set by United Utilities. The Innovation Lab process offered a 10-week programme allowing the 7 partners the opportunity to tap into the expertise and knowledge within the United Utilities organisation and to test their solutions in a live environment, while gaining access to, and building relationships with, senior United Utilities executives. What followed was 2 years of extensive field trials, testing the Typhon UV LED reactor in both an Advanced Oxidation Process – investigating the reduction of Geosmin and 2MIB - and Disinfection applications.

2018

USEPA UVDGM Validation

That work culminated in a Worlds First – the first USEPA UVDGM validation of a UV LED Reactor in July 2018 with 3^rd Party oversight by the renowned Jim Bolton of Bolton Photosciences inc. Added to that another Worlds First as the first USEPA validation carried out on a United Utilities treatment plant! On the back of that work Typhon were awarded a 10-year innovation framework which cemented the relationship with United Utilities and opened the door for future collaboration.

The next round of investment brought in SAEV (Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures which put the business on a stable footing financially as it started the process of commercialization and production process development.

2021

Worlds First (Again)

United Utilities were also instrumental in supporting Typhon in taking the first step on the commercial ladder with the award of the Worlds First Municipal Scale UV LED Disinfection System. The project was finally installed, after some delays due to COVID, in 2021. The installed system incorporates 6 of Typhons BIO-310 UV LED Reactors, each mounted on the outlet of 6 RGFs and treating nearly 30,000m³/day (5,072 USGPM) of Cumbria’s drinking water, protecting the population from Cryptosporidium contamination.

The Future

Typhon continues to operate at the forefront of UV LED Water Treatment and press forward with a packed product development pipeline which will see the company expand their portfolio into Water Reuse, Advanced Oxidation Processes, Wastewater and other unique applications as UVC-LED technology continues to grow in power and efficiency.