Next generation decontamination: fast, effective, cheap and non-toxic

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Hospital acquired infections affect 1 in every 14 patients, a number that goes as high as 1 in every 5 patients when considering intensive care units. Delox has the potential to change that. Decontamination is performed using several different methods and technologies nowadays. The most relevant one is sterilization, which is an expensive procedure, typically only affordable for very large hospital in well developed countries or outsourced to a specialized firm. In the laboratory and health context the use of Formaldehyde is also still frequent – because it is price competitive – but it is toxic and far from perfect. The state-of-the-art technology is VHP (Vaporized Hydrogen Peroxide) which is costly, expensive and energy intensive, as it requires heating Hydrogen Peroxide to 130oC. Our formulation – dryVHP – differs by needing to be heat up to only 60 oC to produce the same effect. It is also significantly cheaper. Delox will be initially brought to market for use in laboratory equipment (<2 m3) and then a more powerful and adjustable version will be launched to address the Hospital, clinics and food sectors. It is the business outcome of more than 6 years of research and it has the potential to disrupt the bio-decontamination and sterilization market, having gathered interest from several large stakeholders, and received awards and recognition. We have also already raised 371.8k€ from VC (300k), awards (10k), public startup vouchers (11k€) and the European Space Agency. Within this Phase 1 we will prepare the next steps of our development (technical and commercial) but also validate our technology by preparing pilots with relevant players to demonstrate in real environment and prepare robust case studies that will boost market acceptance. By bringing to the market a non-toxic bio-decontamination solution that is cheap, effective, rugged and non-toxic Delox will make bio-decontamination affordable and accessible everywhere.