Remediating nutrient contaminated land
Helping UK property developers meet Nutrient Neutrality requirements
Research & Development
Our Foundation:
Research & Academic Collaboration
Our innovative nutrient filtration technology is built on a foundation of scientific research and a long-standing, foundational partnership with The University of Wolverhampton. This collaboration has been essential from day one, providing us with unparalleled access to academic expertise, state-of-the-art lab facilities, and critical technical consultation that have guided the discovery, validation, and refinement of our system.
The Research Journey
Our collaborative journey began in April 2020, initially focusing on understanding the scale of the nutrient (nitrate and phosphate) problem in domestic wastewater outflows. This evolved into a series of dedicated research projects that systematically led to our current solution:
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Initial Analysis: early work involved investigating the levels of nitrates produced by residential housing and developing a bespoke assessment program to accurately calculate the nutrient load from new developments.
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Focus on absorbents: subsequent studies assessed various market solutions before focusing on the unique potential of clay-based materials as a cost-efficient and renewable mechanism for nitrate removal.
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Targeted Experiments: between late 2022 and early 2023, experiments were conducted to determine the most effective physical form synthentically modifed absorbents, proving that particles that were neither too fine nor too coarse offered the highest efficiency. These qualitative findings were later vindicated by quantitative
Ion Chromatography tests in September 2024.
This structured, multi-year research program has produced outstanding results, allowing us to achieve nutrient removal rates as high as 90% in lab and field settings.
Institutional Funding and Support
This extensive R&D has been made possible through significant institutional support and grant funding.
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European Regional Development Fund (ERDF): our work has been supported and partially funded by the ERDF through the Brownfield Research & Innovation Centre (BRIC). Hosted by the School of Architecture & Built Environment at The University of Wolverhampton, this program provided vital early-stage and ongoing research assistance.
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National Brownfield Institute (NBI): As our research progressed, our collaboration was transferred to the National Brownfield Institute. Underpinned by the UK Government's 'Getting Britain Building' initiative,
the NBI provided further specialised assistance to advance our technology.
University of Wolverhampton supported research
and publication
Our research began with the fundamentals: defining the scale of the nutrient pollution problem from new housing and measuring its environmental impact. This foundational work allowed us to create a specialised calculator to accurately model the nutrient footprint of any new development.
With a clear picture of the problem, we reviewed all available removal technologies. This comprehensive search consistently pointed to natural absorbent minerals as the most powerful and sustainable filtration solution. Our most recent efforts have focused on rigorously testing this abosorbent-based approach, using advanced lab methods to gather hard data that confirms its high performance in purifying wastewater.