Spinout company aims to tap into water treatment

May 20 2008 by Chris Knox, The Journal

A SMALL university spinout company is hoping to build up a multi-million pound business by helping to improve water treatment services for thousands of organisations.

Newcastle-based Clarizon hopes to use its technology to clean everything from swimming pools to beer pipes after receiving an investment of £200,000 from North East enterprise development agency Entrust and a private investor. The funding will help the firm roll out its products over the coming years, which disinfect and sterilise water through the use of ozone instead of other more harmful chemicals such as chlorine.

Clarizon is the first company to use the more efficient method of applying ozone directly into water rather than producing it as a gas first, which, unlike chlorine, evaporates and turns into oxygen 15 minutes after being applied. The firm is initially targeting household cleaning product manufacturers and drinks companies, with plans to approach hospitals to help combat MRSA and even pubs looking for a way of cleaning their pipes without leaving a chemical taste. The firm, which was spun out of Newcastle University three years ago and remains on the campus, believes it has the potential to secure a significant portion of the £15bn water treatment market and hopes its services could become the industry standard.

Managing director Clive Dyson said: “The applications of ozone are far reaching and we aim to extend our product range to address large-scale municipal water treatment within three to five years. With the public demand for more environmentally friendly and less harmful cleaning products increasing, it is clear that the popularity of our treatments will grow quickly.” Mr Dyson hopes to double his team to around 10 staff by the end of the year and is looking to move out of the university by 2010 as he begins to target larger industries.

Robin Rae, who provided half of the investment and is managing director at Edinburgh-based private equity firm Jaroscope, said: “After looking into it, there were a number of reasons why I had to invest in Clarizon.

“They were close to commercialising the product with would-be customers already interested, but mainly I was attracted by the proven, large and growing global market.”