Milwaukee wastewater treatment startup Rapid Radicals Technology LLC has received nearly $1 million in federal grant funding to continue developing and scaling its technology, the company's founder and CEO Paige Peters said.
Founded in 2016, Rapid Radicals aims to help solve the problem of sewer overflows — particularly for the hundreds of U.S. cities, including Milwaukee, that have combined sewer systems that collect rainwater and sewage in the same pipes.
The Rapid Radicals system is designed to chemically treat wastewater in 30 minutes instead of the eight hours it typically takes, according to the company. It can be installed at wastewater treatment plants, within the watershed at sewer outfall locations or in mobile units for disaster relief situations.
The company has been piloting its technology in a trailer located at the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) at the agency's south shore facility in Oak Creek.
Rapid Radicals plans to use the new funding to expand its Milwaukee pilot to a local sewer outfall, launch a paid pilot program with Great Lakes Water Authority in Detroit, develop a mobile pilot program and expand its team, Peters said.
The company's latest funding is a $983,995 phase two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Peters said. Rapid Radicals received a $224,953 Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) phase one grant in 2019, according to NSF records.
Rapid Radicals also has funding from Marquette University, where Peters is a Ph.D. student, through a research grant from MMSD, Peters said.
Peters said she's seeking someone to take over as the company's CEO, and she would become the company's chief technology officer. The company currently has one other full-time employee, Will Schanen, who serves as the chief operating officer and environmental economist. It also has a few part-time team members, including Marquette students.
Rapid Radicals won the People's Choice Award at the 2021 Wisconsin Innovation Awards, which is led by a steering committee of business, community and entrepreneurial leaders. It has also participated in local accelerator programs including Wisconsin-based gener8tor Management LLC's gBETA program and The Water Council's Business, Research and Entrepreneurship in Water (BREW) accelerator.
