Curio Water launches new BlueBarrier™ treatment train for PFAS and micropollutant removal

World leading water treatment and engineering specialists unite to pioneer PFAS and micropollutant removal for UK market 

Cranfield University, UK, 12^th April, 2026: Curio Water, the specialist water treatment engineering company, will launch BlueBarrier™, a containerised, multi-barrier treatment train designed to deliver comprehensive removal of certain PFAS (‘forever chemicals’) and micropollutants from wastewater.

The launch comes in direct response to a marked increase in enquiries from water utilities seeking to understand their options as regulatory pressure on micropollutant removal begins to build across the UK.

The Cunliffe Review, published in July 2025, identified micropollutants, including PFAS, pharmaceuticals, and microplastics as one of the four central challenges facing the UK water sector.

BlueBarrier™ water treatment draws directly on Curio’s experience in engineering the UK’s first wastewater micropollutant removal plants, delivered in partnership with Severn Trent Water at Frankton, Ludlow, and Itchen Bank as part of Severn Trent’s Green Recovery programme. 

That experience — the challenges of site-specific water matrices, the importance of rigorous pilot testing, and the need to sequence treatment stages precisely for each location — has been built directly into the BlueBarrier™ methodology. 

Every deployment will begin with a characterisation and feasibility phase, using containerised pilot plants to build a detailed profile of PFAS and micropollutants at a specific site before any capital commitment is made.

Curio has assembled an alliance of specialists to deliver each stage of the treatment train that will allow utilities to target a wide profile of micropollutants: 

• Veolia Water Technologies provides Ozonia^® ozone generation, offering proven reliability and efficiency at scale.

• Atlas Copco enables on-site oxygen generation using Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) technology, providing a reliable, cost-effective and continuous oxygen supply to support ozone production.

• Statiflo delivers advanced inline static mixer technology in wastewater applications to ensure optimal ozone transfer and contact efficiency, maximising the oxidation performance of the ozone stage.

• Nereus supplies ultrafiltration membrane systems that act as a critical physical barrier, removing suspended solids, pathogens and colloidal matter ahead of downstream treatment stages.

• Desotec delivers both Biological Activated Carbon (BAC) for biological polishing and Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) for the adsorption of residual micropollutants and long-chain PFAS compounds.

• UV Guard provides high-efficiency UV disinfection systems for the final treatment stage, with the option to operate in UV-AOP mode for additional micropollutant polishing.

Curio’s base at Cranfield University will support the feasibility study and pilot phase, giving utilities confidence in the data underpinning any investment decision.

Water matrices vary significantly across regions and sites with contaminants differing markedly. BlueBarrier™ is designed to accommodate this, with sequencing that can be adapted as regulations evolve and new contaminants come into focus.

Howard Marles, CEO and founder of Curio Water, said: “We are very excited to bring together the world’s leading water technology specialists to offer the new BlueBarrier™ treatment train for micropollutant and PFAS removal.

“This approach is designed to make micropollutant removal achievable within existing infrastructure where possible, avoiding the need for entirely new installations and reducing long-term capital costs.

“The aim is to give utilities a clear, evidence-based route from today’s uncertainty to tomorrow’s compliance, whatever form that compliance ultimately takes in the coming years.”