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Arvia Technology
Parkwalk are pleased to announce that we have made a follow-on investment into Arvia Technology from the Parkwalk Technology EIS Funds. This round has been led by a new Investor and secures the company’s current funding requirements for around 30 months. This is the third investment round in which Parkwalk has participated.
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Dear ,
Arvia Technology is an entrepreneurial business which is exploiting a disruptive new technology for the treatment of organic and microbial wastes in water. Invented and spun-out in 2007 from the University of Manchester, Arvia has received a plethora of major sustainability and technology innovation awards over the last five years. The company has 21 full-time employees at its laboratories in Daresbury. Arvia is now gaining the attention of a number of the global water technology players and momentum with customer site trials in the nuclear sector. The unique part of Arvia’s technology is it combines two traditional treatment methods for water, adsorption and electrochemical treatment while using a highly conductive media, which can be regenerated within the process. Turning the adsorbed pollutants into trivial quantities of vented gases, whereas where as traditional treatment methods, require the media to be replaced, or the amount of energy required makes the process cost prohibitive. This gives rise to the following generic benefits of Arvia’s technology that apply across all application areas:
- Complete on-site treatment, in a robust low maintenance system
- No or minimal added process chemicals
- Upon decommissioning leaves a secondary solid waste which has an authorised well established disposal route
- Low energy, especially for low levels of difficult to treat organics
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At the heart of Arvia’s technology is the patented adsorbent media Nyex, based on dense graphite, which has a high electrical conductivity.
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By passing an electric current, organic molecules that are adsorbed onto the surface of Nyex are electrochemically oxidised into water and very low amounts of simple mineral gases: CO2, CO, Cl2 etc. The level of gaseous emissions has been verified by a series of emission trials conducted by Envirocare (a leading independent stack-monitoring consultant) which has confirmed that further gaseous treatment and discharge consents should not be required for the Arvia process. The use of this low capacity, fast adsorbing adsorbent, that is capable of regeneration in situ, and the simple process for executing the adsorption and regeneration, without any internal moving parts, are the key inventive steps of Arvia’s technology.
Although the instantaneous adsorptive capacity of Nyex is very small compared with other forms of media, its total adsorptive capacity over a period of time is many times that of the others. It is key to recognise that Nyex is not a consumable in the process, as with traditional adsorptive media, but instead should be considered as part of the capital establishment of the units.
There is also a fundamental difference to the energy consumption of the Arvia technology compared with membranes, UV or ozone treatments. To a first approximation, the OPEX of treating water by each of these competing systems scales with the volume of water treated, whereas the OPEX of Arvia’s technology scales with the quantity of pollutant destroyed. This means that Arvia is particularly competitive in treating low levels of toxic organics, where the OPEX can be an order of magnitude reduced.
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The waste water treatment market spans a broad range of industries, for example pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals and agriculture. Arvia’s longer-term entry into the water market is tied closely to a number of technical development projects currently underway; and key to this is the scale up of the continuous flow system.
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The immediate focus is to understand the strengths of the technology when coupled with the challenges of each industry and from this select the most promising segments for market entry. In parallel to gaining more clarity from the projects outlined below an exercise to gather waste stream volumes, values and Arvia’s potential share in those markets will be progressed in the appropriate areas of the water market.
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Arvia’s technology has proved to be effective at destroying the radioactive organics whilst separating and transferring the radioactivity to the water used within the process.
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The radioactive water is then easily disposed of via existing active drain systems. The key to the success of the Arvia process for radioactive organics destruction is that it delivers:
- On-site destruction of the organic/oil adjacent to where it is stored
- Removes the need for complex and highly regulated off-site transportation
- Leaves active water which can then be treated and discharged through the sites’ existing water treatment plants
- Upon decommissioning leaves a secondary solid waste which has an authorised well established disposal route
Anywhere there is a nuclear infrastructure, issues with regards to organic waste streams will exist. With the intrinsic conservative nature associated with the nuclear industry the most likely near term opportunities to establish the Arvia technology lies in countries with well-established nuclear programmes where there is a pressing need to resolve long standing orphan waste issues.
Arvia has now run or is running a proof of technology programs in 4 top nuclear markets globally.
- UK - Sellafield and Magnox
- US - Department of Energy
- France - Areva
- Japan - multiple opportunities
MANAGEMENT
Mike Lodge, Chief Executive Officer, has over 20 years of international business experience having worked in a range of technology, commercial and M&A roles. In his most recent roll prior to Arvia Mike managed the commercial integration and development of 3 newly acquired technology companies to Mettler-Toledo, a global scientific instrumentation company. Mike focussed on globalising the small technology companies by implementing structure to their product portfolios, developing value added service offerings, and setting up marketing and sales programmes. Mike also holds a degree in Physics and an MBA from the Manchester Business School.
Andrew Dixey, Chairman, has over 30 years of experience in managing global organisations in the materials and service sectors: Managing Director, London & Scandinavian Metallurgical Co Limited; President, COO and a Director of the Titanium Metals Corporation (NYC – TIE); Director of the Special Metals Company (NASDAQ – SMC); and Chairman of PFW UK Holdings Limited.
Dr Nigel Brown, Inventor and Founder, is the principal inventor of the Arvia process and works full time for Arvia on the technical development of the process and its applications. Nigel has over 20 years’ experience of process development within the global wastewater industry. He worked for Foseco and Simon-Hartley, then becoming an independent Environmental Consultant, working on projects around the world before carrying out his own research project at the University of Manchester, where he invented the Arvia Process.
Dr Mikael Khan, Director of Technology, joined Arvia in 2013. He holds a PhD. in Electroceramics, a MSc. with distinction in Nanotechnology, and a BSc. in Materials Science & Engineering, giving him expertise across a spectrum of technologies. He has over 13 years of experience working in industry and academia, with leadership roles in project management, new product development, R&D, and heavy manufacturing in the aerospace and renewable energy sectors. He has led a number of business development initiatives through effective networking, relation building and has authored 18 scientific papers.
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INVESTMENT CASE
Arvia have proved their technology solves problems in the Nuclear Industry that no other processes can.
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However, the nature of the Industry (Global, bureaucratic and dominated by Government funding) has meant it has proven difficult for Arvia to conclude a significant contract. However several projects remain under discussion with potential clients whose value, if discussions are concluded satisfactorily, will be worth millions of dollars in revenue to Arvia.
This investment round will allow the company to continue to pursue these opportunities in the Nuclear Industry but also step-up their commercial engagement in the Water Industry. Arvia’s technology potentially uniquely solves some of the waste issues surrounding water while conferring considerable cost savings on current methodologies Capex. Already Arvia have been contacted by some of the larger global players in the space.
Arvia’s technology is ground breaking and already proven in the field. While it is always difficult for a small company to successfully engage with Government departments and large global MNCs, the potential size of the commercial opportunity within Arvia’s grasp is staggering and if successful should lead to a substantial uplift in valuation of the company.
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Parkwalk EIS Funds
Parkwalk VI and our Opportunities EIS Fund are currently open. If you would like more information on the Parkwalk UK Tech EIS Funds please reply to this email or call the funds team on 020 7759 2285.
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Important Information
This financial promotion is issued by Parkwalk Advisors Limited (Parkwalk), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Investments referred to in this newsletter are not suitable for all investors. Interested parties are strongly recommended to seek specialist financial and tax advice before investing in any Parkwalk product. Capital is at risk and investors may not get back the full amount invested. Tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each investor and may be subject to change. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results, and the value of investments may go down as well as up. Projections and forecasts are also not a reliable indicator of future performance. Investments in small and unquoted companies carry a higher risk than many other forms of investment. Any investment in a Parkwalk product must only be made on the basis of the terms of the full Information Memorandum. Parkwalk is not able to provide advice as to the suitability of investing in a Parkwalk product.
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