A water treatment firm which is aiming to clean up rivers and other waterways has received backing from Swedish investors as part of a new funding round worth more than £2 million. I-Phyc has developed a nature-based, wastewater treatment system which uses algae to remove phosphorus, ammonia and other contaminants, while locking away carbon and creating sustainable by-products from the biomass produced.
It has now secured a fresh round of funding worth £2.3 million, backed by Mellby Gård, a Swedish investor targeting promising water technologies, the Midlands Engine Investment Fund and private investors. I-Phyc says its system has the potential to improve water quality in rivers and streams significantly and enable water companies to meet stricter limits on pollutants which is difficult to achieve economically using current methods.
Its technology is already in operation at water treatment plants at Weston-super-Mare in Somerset and Broadwindsor in Dorset, and will be used in a new plant at Croxton Kerrial in Leicestershire. The company, which is headquartered in Birmingham, has seen a major increase in enquiries over the past year and is now in discussions with all the major UK water companies as well as operators in the US and Scandinavia.
