13 minute read
Biz News
FEATURE
The Rapid Radicals team, from left: Dylan Waldhuetter, CEO; Paige Peters, founder and chief technology officer; and Will Schanen, COO and environmental economist.
WITHIN A 40-FOOT baby blue shipping container tucked along the sprawling campus of Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewer District’s South Shore Water Reclamation Facility in Oak Creek, Paige Peters leads a small team looking to revolutionize the way municipalities around the country handle wastewater treatment.
Peters is the founder and chief technology officer of Milwaukee-based Rapid Radicals, a startup working on perfecting a decentralized wastewater treatment system that can treat water in less than 30 minutes – 16 times faster than conventional treatment.
Rapid Radicals has been gaining national attention, winning the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest in June and earning a federal Small Business Innovation Research grant in the same month. Since its inception in 2016, the company has received $1.5 million in grant funding. MMSD has continued to submit letters in support of Rapid Radicals as the company has scaled.
“Technology is the easiest part of solving a problem,” Peters said. “This is a really, really wickedly complex problem and engineers can sit around all day and come up with solutions and none of it matters if it doesn’t fit the needs of the communities.”
When wastewater enters Rapid Radicals’ treatment system, it is sent into a clarifier for chemically enhanced primary treatment to remove solids, organic materials and nutrients. The clarified water then passes into a chemical oxidation contact chamber to disinfect pathogens, remove soluble organic materials and oxidize micropollutants. Any residual oxidant is then removed, and clean water can be released back into the ecosystem.
The name Rapid Radicals comes from how quickly the technology produces hydroxyl radicals, which are the strongest oxidants known to science. The compound non-selectively breaks down contaminants.
The benefits of Rapid Radicals’ technology are its speed, scaleddown size when compared to a full water treatment plant, and the fact that the system can be placed directly at sewer overflow sites to quickly address backups. Experts in the field of water technology say this technology is contributing to the company’s success.
Rapid Radicals’ proven technology coupled with a built-in customer base in water utilities and industrial users is a winning combination, said Dean Amhaus, president and chief executive officer of The Water Council.
“As far as Rapid Radicals, it’s always going to come down to if it’s a good technology,” Amhaus said. “If it doesn’t measure up to that, it doesn’t matter what your business plan is. No matter who
by Ashley Smart, staff writer
you are, you have to have a good technology.”
THE ORIGIN OF RAPID RADICALS
The idea behind the technology was inspired by Peters’ co-inventor, Daniel Zitomer, a civil and environmental engineering professor at Marquette University and director of the school’s Water Quality Center. Zitomer is the lead technical advisor to Peters and the Rapid Radicals team. He was also an undergraduate advisor to Peters.
In 2010 and 2011, the summer seasons were plagued by severe storms. Zitomer’s home in Shorewood suffered a basement backup in 2010. Around this same time, MMSD had announced the goal of having zero sewer overflows and zero basement backups by 2035. The idea of a technology that can be placed at a sewer overflow site to treat water, to MMSD standards, was born. Zitomer proposed a high-rate water treatment system that works 20 times faster than at a full-sized water treatment plant.
“We’ve been solving 2050 problems with 1980s solutions since 1980,” Peters said. “There needs to be a new approach.”
She’s added a handful of team members who’ve helped her launch Rapid Radicals into a full-on business, including Dylan Waldhuetter as chief executive officer and Will Schanen as chief operating officer and environmental economist. The trio shares a passion for water sustainability and met through their shared work.
“I started by doing customer discovery and just looking at the market – stakeholders, anyone involved in it – and (learning) what are the pains and how can this tech meet (them)? That’s where I really learned about the wastewater industry,” Schanen said. “It was really a feet-to-the-fire moment.”
Waldhuetter, who describes himself as a product of Milwaukee’s water startup scene, said he was drawn to joining the Rapid Radicals team because of Peters’ unique ability to not only build a complex technology, but also to explain it to the average person.
Paige Peters, founder and chief technology officer of Rapid Radicals, takes a water sample from one of the oxidation chambers used in her wastewater treatment system. The Rapid Radicals decentralized wastewater treatment system.
“I think one of the coolest things that Paige is doing is that it’s kind of (born) out of that cultural identity, and it can really be an example of how the different stakeholders in this region foster technology development to solve world water problems,” Waldhuetter said.
THE CURRENT PILOT SYSTEM
Right now, the Oak Creek pilot system has a flow rate of 5 gallons per minute. A sewer overflow event is measured in millions of gallons per day. The next pilot system Peters will build, by the end of this year, will be up to 100 gallons per minute. So far, about $300,000 has been spent on building out the next pilot.
“The next pilot will be the fourth scale at which I’ve tested the technology,” said Peters. “At that point we can pretty confidently say, ‘OK, I can do this at 100 gallons per minute. We need 100 million gallons per day? I can do that.’ I know what my scaling factors are at that point.”
The biggest challenge Peters has faced as she scales up is finding equipment in the right size. Any pipe related to wastewater has to have a 2-inch opening because wastewater contains solids. This means pumps must also be able to accommodate that 2-inch size, which makes it difficult to find parts that accommodate the size of the pilot system equipment. The team has had to rely on their engineering skills and creativity to make their own parts.
“It’s hard to do pilot stuff with wastewater because you have to be able to deal with the stuff found in wastewater. You have to be able to pump it, but you have to be able to do that at a smaller scale,” Peters said. “I’m doing it scrappy and I’m doing it myself.”
The next pilot system will be located near Hawthorn Glen Park in Milwaukee. There’s a nearby lift station with the capacity to pump 135 million gallons of water per day. The site has also been targeted by MMSD as a future site for high-rate water treatment.
“Our plan is to leverage these pilot systems to go to other municipalities with similar problems and demonstrate the success of the technology to sort of de-risk fullscale implementations with those pilots as a path to full-scale implementation,” Waldhuetter said.
The current pilot system in Oak Creek will stay put and be used by the Army Corps of Engineers for a project focused on potable water reuse.
As Peters forges ahead on her effort to commercialize her technology, she’s also leaving another lasting impact within the world of water technology.
“We’re also pleased to see more women pursuing careers in the water industry,” Amhaus said. “We, still, as an industry have very, very little diversity. People don’t think about this as a career path. And then there’s somebody like Paige who has the technology, has been able to demonstrate her expertise and is confident enough to say, ‘Hey, listen. I’m going to go and start a company.’ I think people are quite positive about Rapid Radicals and where they’re headed.” n
Fostering growth by building relationships. It’s not business.
For us, it’s personal.
Theresa Nemetz
Founder and owner Milwaukee Food & City Tours; Great Lakes Shore Excursions milwaukeefoodtours.com greatlakesshoreexcursions.com
JAKE HILL PHOTOGRAPHY
the Interview
SINCE 2008, Milwaukee Food & City Tours has ridden a wave of momentum within the local tourism industry. With founder Theresa Nemetz at the helm, the company hit its stride amid the COVID-19 pandemic, growing into a multi-million-dollar family of brands. Her latest venture launched in spring with the return of Great Lakes cruises. Great Lakes Shore Excursions is behind the array of activities and tours available to cruise passengers during port calls in Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin. This season, Great Lakes Shore Excursions will service about 35,000 people across six cruise lines, including international giant Viking. BizTimes associate editor Maredithe Meyer recently spoke with Nemetz about scaling up and seizing opportunities.
What are your early takeaways from the launch of Great Lakes Shore Excursions?
“It’s been incredible, and it’s far exceeded our expectations, in terms of both opportunity as well as how much hard work it is to really be a pioneer in this area. What we’ve really found is that we’re not only servicing the Viking passengers, but we’re working with other cruise ships on the Great Lakes – there’s American Queen, the Pearl Mist, the Ponant – and we see how many people are signing up for the cruises, and we know that this is just going to lead to even more cruise ships coming on to the Great Lakes in the future.”
What’s been the biggest challenge to establish a presence in other port cities?
“To be able to scale to what we needed to do, not only did we need to grow in Milwaukee but we needed to grow in other port cities along the Great Lakes where ships were visiting. In many of these cities – they’re very small cities – the infrastructure has not existed to be able to serve those cruise ships. For example, there’s no tour guides in those communities, there are no individuals that work with cruise ships, and there’s not even transportation. Some of the towns that we’re visiting have 500 to 600 people that live there full time, and the cruise ship is coming in and virtually doubling their population in that day. So, in Milwaukee, we’ve had to hire about 75-100 part-time staff to help us on cruise days. That includes things like luggage handling, greeting people at airports, driving people, and then in the other port cities, we’ve hired collectively about 75-100 individuals as well.
“It’s been challenging to find the right locals to tap into their expertise and then to really be able to create experiences around them, but we are really creating a very premier product for the cruise ship passengers and creating once in a lifetime opportunities. For example, in Alpena, Michigan, we bring in a renown paleontologist who goes fossil hunting with people. … We go hiking in Duluth, Minnesota, with geologists. … It’s taken a lot of time, it’s taken a lot of talking to locals and community members and finding the right connections, but it’s been incredible to see it come together and see the passengers really loving it.”
What are Great Lakes cruise ship passengers looking to get out of their travel experience?
“Broadly, we are seeing expedition ships are in high demand. They’re selling out, and this is because the individuals have been well traveled, they’ve traveled the world, they’ve done cruises elsewhere and now they want to see the natural beauty of America.
“The thing we’re hearing from passengers time and time again is how stunning and beautiful the nature is that we are showing them. For example, we’re going sea kayaking in the Apostle Islands. We’re going birding at Schlitz Audubon Nature Center. These are things that people would otherwise not have an opportunity to do if they hadn’t gone on
that cruise that’s taking them to these locations. We’re definitely seeing a really strong interest in nature-based and expert-led excursions.”
What are some other local gems you’ve shown off?
“Specific to Milwaukee, we’ve been doing the Urban Ecology Center, going hiking with their hiking experts. At Schlitz Audubon, we’ve actually been doing seaglassing as well as bird watching. We’ve been working with Milwaukee Kayak Company and going kayaking with naturalists on the Milwaukee River, so that’s been really fantastic as well. Other things are more sightseeing-based so, for example, we’re doing a churches and chocolates tour and showing off some amazing churches in Milwaukee. We’re doing a Milwaukee’s greatest hits tour, where we’re showing off the Harley-Davidson Museum, the Pabst Mansion, the North Point Lighthouse and the Milwaukee Art Museum. We have something for everyone in each of the cities that we’re creating these experiences for.”
How has the growth of your shore excursion business impacted the Milwaukee Food & City Tours brand?
“We’re seeing, as people come off the ship, they’re extending their stay. They’re coming into Milwaukee a couple days early before their cruise … and staying a couple more days after their cruise ends. And they’re exploring Milwaukee, and they’re not using just Milwaukee Food & City Tours. We’re making sure they know about all the other tour operators in town and all the other attractions that they can go to. … I think that’s the beauty of what we’ve been able to do with Great Lakes Shore Excursions. It’s not just about our tour company – we are using literally hundreds of other vendors and tour operators on the Great Lakes and being able to infuse income into their companies as well. … To be able to spend money locally in each of the communities was really important to me, and it’s been amazing to see that personal impact.
“As we’ve researched and looked at how to grow, we’ve had a chance to research all these other companies that service the cruise industry for shore excursions. We went to Alaska, for example, and we looked at a company that took 40 years to build what it has done for all the cruise lines (that visit). I have six months to do that and I’m in the middle of that six months. … It’s moving at such a fast pace because the growth is coming on to the market. By 2024, there’s going to be such increased demand for (Great Lakes) cruises.”
What’s ahead for you as local tourism continues to make a comeback?
“As we’re looking ahead, we’re looking at the impact of the 2024 Republican National Convention on capacities of not only Milwaukee, but also Chicago. Right now, I’m making all my reservations for 2024 for hotel room blocks and for buses because I need to make sure that all my clients and our cruise ships are able to still be able to come to Milwaukee and Chicago at that time when inventory is going to be really tight and expensive.
“As we continue to grow larger, I think larger opportunities continue to come our way and so we just continue to react to those opportunities and talk to people and look at how to be able to fill those needs. No opportunity that comes our way is too crazy.” n
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JILL S.
Wealth Advisor
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