What?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

In 2021 we will be launching TAPP X – The world’s first Sensor-Based water filter to purify and analyse tap water.\u00a0 This page provides a high level overview of the project and product. Please contact us for more information as most details are kept confidential until launch.<\/span><\/p>\n

This project has been supported by the EU H2020 SME Phase 2 program 2018-2020.<\/p>\n

Problem?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Clean drinking water is essential for life on earth. We used to be able to take it for granted but the agriculture and industrial revolutions polluted much of the fresh water sources around the planet. In Europe and North America most governments have taken action to prevent further pollution from happening and clean up contaminated water sources. However, in the United States alone $500 billion are required to upgrade the water infrastructure over the next two decades. Due to lack of investments the problems are likely to get worse.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Asia, Africa and Latin America the problem is considerably worse with most major cities lacking safe drinking water. Fresh water sources in China, India and Indonesia are currently deteriorating further so this is not likely to improve any time soon. <\/span><\/p>\n

And not all drinking water issues can be tackled by governments. Many also relate to pipes, leakage and contamination in private buildings and houses. Pipes get replaced over time but e.g. houses built in the 1970s won\u2019t have their pipes replaced until the 2040-2070s based on standard replacement cycles. This means that lead and other contaminants continue to be a serious risk for many homes and families for the foreseeable future. <\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to this water scientists and health experts are constantly finding new health issues related to drinking water including bi-products from chlorine, micro-plastics, PFAS, radon and many other.<\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore even if the water provided by the local water supplier is deemed safe to drink at the source it may not be potable at the point of use.<\/span><\/p>\n

Existing solutions<\/span><\/h2>\n

Home water filters have existed for a long time. The main categories include<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
• Water pitchers \u2013 just fill it up with water and it filters it for instant use or place in the fridge to keep cool. E.g. Soma and Brita<\/span><\/li>\n
• Faucet filters \u2013 installs directly on your faucet and usually have a switch to turn filtering on and off. E.g. Tapp Water, Culligan and PUR.<\/span><\/li>\n
• Counter top filters \u2013 connects to your faucet or standalone to be filled and filters the water for drinking. E.g. Berkey and Propur<\/span><\/li>\n
• Under the counter filtration \u2013 filters the water specifically for the kitchen with replacement cycles typically every 3 to 12 months. E.g. Culligan and 3M <\/span><\/li>\n
• Whole house water filtration system \u2013 filters all incoming water in house for kitchen faucets, appliances, bathroom and shower. E.g. PureEffects, 3M, GE, Aquasanaable per market (e.g. bacteria removal, lead removal, limescale removal, etc) <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

  Type of filter<\/b><\/td>\n	Brands<\/b><\/td>\n	Advantages<\/b><\/td>\n	Price<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
  Water Pitcher (Carafe)<\/span><\/td>\n	Brita, Aquasana, PUR, Soma and Amazon Basic (90% market share in Europe and NA)<\/span><\/td>\n	Affordable, easy to install, use and maintain<\/span><\/p>\n Improves taste and water quality<\/span><\/td>\n	From \u20ac20 to buy + \u20ac5 per cartridge per month (most are more expensive)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
  Faucet filters<\/span><\/td>\n	Brita, PUR and Culligan (90% market share in Europe and NA)<\/span><\/td>\n	Affordable, easy to install, use and maintain<\/span><\/p>\n Improves taste and water quality<\/span><\/td>\n	From \u20ac30 to buy + \u20ac6 per cartridge per month (most are more expensive)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
  Counter top filters<\/span><\/td>\n	Berkey, Mitte and Propur<\/span><\/td>\n	Easy to install, use and maintain<\/span><\/p>\n Improves taste and water quality<\/span><\/td>\n	From \u20ac89 to buy + \u20ac60 per year for new filters<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
  Fridge filters<\/span><\/td>\n	Electrolux, GE, Whirlpool, Samsung, Bosch (approx 80% market share in Europe and North America)<\/span><\/td>\n	Pre-installed <\/span><\/p>\n Improves taste and water quality<\/span><\/td>\n	Included in price of fridge. <\/span><\/p>\n Cost of \u20ac100+ to replace per year.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
  Under the counter filters – Reverse Osmosis<\/span><\/td>\n	Brita, Culligan, APEC, Brondell, iSpring, Home Master (80% market share in Europe and NA)<\/span><\/td>\n	Greater volume and flow than other filters above. <\/span><\/td>\n	Typically \u20ac300 or more + installation (\u20ac100+) and \u20ac100 per year to replace filters<\/span><\/p>\n Extra to add back minerals<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
  Under the counter filters – Activated Carbon (and e.g. UV or Ion Exchange)<\/span><\/td>\n	Brita, Culligan, Aquasana (80% market share in Europe and NA)<\/span><\/td>\n	Greater volume and flow than other filters above. <\/span><\/td>\n	Typically \u20ac200 or more + installation (\u20ac100+) and \u20ac80 per year to replace filters<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
  Whole house filters – (e.g. Activated Carbon and Ion Exchange)<\/span><\/td>\n	Aquasana, Home Master, 3M, iSpring APEC, Dupont, Whirlpool<\/span><\/td>\n	All incoming water to the household filtered.<\/span><\/td>\n	Typically \u20ac2500+, installation and \u20ac500 per year in replacement filters.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Our solution – TAPP X<\/span><\/h2>\n TAPP X is the first smart connected water filter with mass-market appeal. <\/span><\/p>\n The filter can be installed without any tools in less than a minute and start providing clean tasty water and information about the quality of the water before and after. <\/span><\/p>\n Short description<\/b><\/p>\n \n Faucet water filter based on the core design of TAPP 2 that fits on 95% of all household kitchen faucets around the globe and enables filtered and unfiltered water<\/span><\/li>\n Sensors measuring various attributes of the water before and after including temperature, pH, TDS (total dissolved solvents) and water flow <\/span><\/li>\n MyTAPP Mobile app + Website that interprets the information and presents it in a customer-friendly format with insights about the water quality, filter status, water consumption (filtered and unfiltered), when to change the filter, eliminated water bottles, CO2 footprint reduction, money saved and more<\/span><\/li>\n Water filtration cartridges using carbon blocks with 100% organic activated and catalytic carbon for removal of over 100 potential contaminants and 5 other variants of the cartridges including ultrafiltration (removal of bacteria), Ion Exchange (removal of calcium\/limescale), UV (removal of bacteria) and nanomembranes (greater removal of e.g. arsenic, radionuclides, pharmaceuticals and more)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n What makes TAPP X unique?<\/b><\/p>\n \n Connectivity provides real-time data and insights about the tap water<\/span><\/li>\n Customized filter cartridges depending on the local needs based on the sensor data and other public data<\/span><\/li>\n Reusable cartridges leveraging 4 years of previous research on TAPP 1 and 2 \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Technical Information on TAPP X<\/span><\/h2>\n The project scope included the following research and product development on sensor technology. Some of these sensors may not be included at launch.<\/p>\n Heavy metal & Lead sensor<\/b><\/p>\n The sensor developed by Michigan University consists of platinum electrodes for the detection of heavy metal that have a long lifetime. The sensors operate by measuring the impedance change between the electrodes. The four-electrode sensor that can distinguish lead from other heavy metals.<\/span><\/p>\n Nitrate Sensor<\/b><\/p>\n The YSI nitrate sensor consists of a silver\/silver chloride wire electrode in a custom filling solution. The internal solution is separated from the sample medium by a polymer membrane, which selectively interacts with nitrate ions.<\/span><\/p>\n pH Sensor<\/b><\/p>\n pH sensors are available with tip sizes as small as 10 micrometers with a range of 2-10 pH. Tap water generally has a range of 6-8 with some spread outside this. Resolution is 0.01 pH. <\/span><\/p>\n Challenge is finding sensors are short enough for TAPP X. For the early prototypes we\u2019ve used Unisense pH electrode which should match our requirements. This microelectrode is a miniaturized conventional pH electrode based on selective diffusion of protons through pH glass, and the determination of potentials between the internal electrolyte and a reference electrode.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Water flow sensor and power generating turbine<\/b><\/p>\n Currently we\u2019ve experimented with several alternatives for water flow as well as power generation. Ideally we would be able to remove the battery completely and power TAPP X with a turbine. Although we\u2019ve been able to do this in the working prototype, the size of the turbine is still too big for the final version and there is uncertainty about how it will work with low flow and infrequent usage. The flow range that needs to be detected is between 0.1 l\/min to 15 l\/min with 0.1 l\/min resolution.<\/span><\/p>\n Temperature sensor<\/b><\/p>\n The temperature sensor is potentially the easiest component to source although flowing water makes it more complicated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Other sensors<\/b><\/p>\n In parallel with current developers, we are testing new senors that can measure Turbidity, Calcium, Fluoride, Nitrate, Bromide, Chloride, Cupric, Iodide, Silver, Ammonium, Lithium, Magnesium, Nitrite, Percholate, Pottasium and Sodium. The current sensors are too big and energy consumers but we are working with labs and University institutions to bring them down in size.<\/span><\/p>\n Partnerships & Jobs<\/h2>\n TAPP Water is actively looking for European partners to support the launch and further development of the product including research institutions, suppliers of technology, agencies supporting PR, video creation, events and more.<\/p>\n We are also actively recruiting people for this and other projects including software engineers, hardware designers, data scientists, product managers, marketing managers, quality assurance managers and more.<\/p>\n If you believe you can contribute then please contact us through the contact page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Funding & Investors<\/h2>\n This project is supported by a grant from the EU H2020 SME program. See\u00a0https:\/\/ec.europa.eu<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n TAPP Water is seeking further investments to fund the launch and ongoing development of TAPP X and our other products. See our Investor Relations<\/a> page.<\/p>\n Media<\/h2>\n For more information about TAPP Water see our Mediakit<\/a> and contact our team.<\/p>\n Partners & Resellers<\/h2>\n For more information about how to become a distributor or reseller of TAPP X visit our reseller page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Want to learn more<\/h2>\n Please contact us through the contact page<\/a> to learn more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What?\u00a0 In 2021 we will be launching TAPP X – The world’s first Sensor-Based water filter to purify and analyse tap water.\u00a0 This page provides a high level overview of the project and product. Please contact us for more information as most details are kept confidential until launch. 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