Founder and CTO Paige Peters (left) with COO Will Schanen (right) pictured at the Torrent 3 Treatment Facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Our Mission
Rapid Radicals Technology, Inc.
Our aim is to make wastewater treatment systems that improve treatment performance at a reduced cost while taking up minimal space for more resilient economies and industries.
Our technology reduces the eight hours it currently takes a treatment plan to treat wastewater to under 25 minutes, significantly reducing the footprint for treatment of combined stormwater and wastewater.
Our Vision:
In pursuit of a world where wastewater problems are enthusiastically met with the solutions of tomorrow.
Who are we?
Rapid Radicals Technology was founded in 2016 by CTO, Dr. Paige Peters. In pursuit of her PhD at Marquette University, she developed and scaled the Torrent3 Treatment System to provide a treatment solution for municipal capacity needs, industrial treatment and pretreatment.
What was the inspiration behind Rapid Radicals?
In July 2010, 500-year storms hit Milwaukee, Wisconsin having a detrimental impact on the local infrastructure and community members. Marquette University Water Quality Center's Director, Dr. Daniel Zitomer experienced a basement backup and set out to develop a solution to wastewater infrastructure failures when capacity was stretched. With nearly 25 years of consulting and research experience in wastewater treatment, he teamed up with Paige on the development of Rapid Radicals Technology.
Who are we?
Rapid Radicals Technology was founded in 2016 by CTO, Dr. Paige Peters. In pursuit of her PhD at Marquette University, she developed and scaled the Torrent3 Treatment System to provide a treatment solution for municipal capacity needs, industrial treatment and pretreatment.
What was the inspiration behind Rapid Radicals?
In July 2010, 500-year storms hit Milwaukee, Wisconsin having a detrimental impact on the local infrastructure and community members. Marquette University Water Quality Center's Director, Dr. Daniel Zitomer experienced a basement backup and set out to develop a solution to wastewater infrastructure failures when capacity was stretched. With nearly 25 years of consulting and research experience in wastewater treatment, he teamed up with Paige on the development of Rapid Radicals Technology.
Our Team
Our team is comprised of economists, engineers and scientists from both the United States and Europe.
Dylan Waldhuetter, CEO
After five years serving as a business development consultant to Rapid Radicals, Dylan was brought on as the CEO in June of 2022. Dylan’s educational and professional background have touched upon many aspects of water innovation and stewardship. Dylan has a BBA from UW-Whitewater in Integrated Water Science & Business and an MS from UW-Milwaukee in Water Policy & Management. Dylan spent six years with The Water Council as the North American Program Manager for the Alliance for Water Stewardship and Director of Water Stewardship Solutions. In these roles he worked closely with businesses at adopting water stewardship principles and practices as part of their corporate sustainability strategies. Dylan has a unique blend of business acumen and policy knowledge that is a great compliment to the technical knowledge of the team. Dylan provides the skill-set required to drive business strategy and identify local/national policy frameworks that are important components to the future growth of Rapid Radicals.
Will Schanen, COO
Will is passionate about the field of economics and how it can be effectively applied to environmental problems. After graduating from Marquette University with a B.S. in Environmental Studies and Economics, Will found an opportunity to apply his dynamic communication skills, motivated work ethic, and multidisciplinary background to build and validate Rapid Radicals’ commercialization plan. Will’s experience with demand analysis and market research provides Rapid Radicals with the tools necessary to build a company that has a competitive advantage in the wastewater industry. His expertise as an environmental economist in making business cases for environmental protection efforts is vital in securing future partnerships and customers. Will is also a recent graduate of the Water Environment Federation’s Water Leadership Institute, a program aimed at educating emerging leaders in the water industry through management training and examination of real-world challenges.
Paige Peters, Founder & CTO
Paige has expressed her passion for water treatment and protection through various endeavors, most recently the development of Rapid Radicals Paige graduated with a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Marquette University. In 2015, she returned to Marquette University to pursue her M.S. in Environmental Engineering with an emphasis on water and wastewater treatment. The research focus was developing a high-rate advanced wastewater treatment process, particularly for elimination of combined sewer and sanitary sewer overflows, and that turned into the foundational technology of Rapid Radicals. Between her time as an undergraduate student and her graduate work, Paige worked as a consulting environmental engineer in Madison, WI designing solid waste and wastewater management solutions. Outside of the laboratory, Paige is a professional mentor with the Madison Area Professional Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB-MAPC) on water supply and distribution projects in Guatemala.
Bailey Bancroft, Business Development Lead
Bailey started working for Rapid Radicals at the beginning of
2024 as an intern, before progressing in July. Bailey is currently pursuing an MSc at the University of Bristol in Business Analytics. Born in London, Bailey
demonstrates a strong work ethic and a proven track record in
the online media landscape. As our Business Development Lead
Bailey looks to cultivate new partnerships and drive strategic
growth for the company through networking, sales and
marketing. Beyond academics, Bailey actively seeks opportunities for professional development. His recent attendance at the European Wastewater Management Conference and Exhibition highlights his commitment to lifelong learning and a well rounded understanding of business practices within a global context.
Ashley Tan, Project Engineer
Ashley first became interested in a career in water resources engineering through her work with Marquette University's Engineers Without Borders (EWB-MU) student chapter. After spending a semester as an R&D Intern for Rapid Radicals and graduating from Marquette University with a B.S. in Environmental Engineering, Ashley was brought on to Rapid Radicals as a full-time Project Engineer. Ashley has an extensive background in wastewater treatment research at Marquette, as well as in the construction field. As a student, she helped design several drinking water treatment systems with EWB and was a member of the winning design team for a wastewater treatment plant in Costa Rica for the Central States Water Environment Association (CSWEA) Student Competition (Global Water Stewardship Category). She is passionate about using engineering as a tool to improve the quality of life and environment of others, and is excited to continue pursuing innovative solutions with Rapid Radicals.
Our Team
Our team is comprised of economists, engineers and scientists from both the United States and Europe.
Dylan Waldhuetter, CEO
After five years serving as a business development consultant to Rapid Radicals, Dylan was brought on as the CEO in June of 2022. Dylan’s educational and professional background have touched upon many aspects of water innovation and stewardship. Dylan has a BBA from UW-Whitewater in Integrated Water Science & Business and an MS from UW-Milwaukee in Water Policy & Management. Dylan spent six years with The Water Council as the North American Program Manager for the Alliance for Water Stewardship and Director of Water Stewardship Solutions. In these roles he worked closely with businesses at adopting water stewardship principles and practices as part of their corporate sustainability strategies. Dylan has a unique blend of business acumen and policy knowledge that is a great compliment to the technical knowledge of the team. Dylan provides the skill-set required to drive business strategy and identify local/national policy frameworks that are important components to the future growth of Rapid Radicals.
Will Schanen, COO
Will is passionate about the field of economics and how it can be effectively applied to environmental problems. After graduating from Marquette University with a B.S. in Environmental Studies and Economics, Will found an opportunity to apply his dynamic communication skills, motivated work ethic, and multidisciplinary background to build and validate Rapid Radicals’ commercialization plan. Will’s experience with demand analysis and market research provides Rapid Radicals with the tools necessary to build a company that has a competitive advantage in the wastewater industry. His expertise as an environmental economist in making business cases for environmental protection efforts is vital in securing future partnerships and customers. Will is also a recent graduate of the Water Environment Federation’s Water Leadership Institute, a program aimed at educating emerging leaders in the water industry through management training and examination of real-world challenges.
Paige Peters, Founder & CTO
Paige has expressed her passion for water treatment and protection through various endeavors, most recently the development of Rapid Radicals Paige graduated with a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Marquette University. In 2015, she returned to Marquette University to pursue her M.S. in Environmental Engineering with an emphasis on water and wastewater treatment. The research focus was developing a high-rate advanced wastewater treatment process, particularly for elimination of combined sewer and sanitary sewer overflows, and that turned into the foundational technology of Rapid Radicals. Between her time as an undergraduate student and her graduate work, Paige worked as a consulting environmental engineer in Madison, WI designing solid waste and wastewater management solutions. Outside of the laboratory, Paige is a professional mentor with the Madison Area Professional Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB-MAPC) on water supply and distribution projects in Guatemala.
Bailey Bancroft, Business Development Lead
Bailey started working for Rapid Radicals at the beginning of
2024 as a consultant, and extended his stay as our Business Development Lead in June. Bailey is currently enrolled at the University of Bristol pursuing an MS in Business Analytics, learning valuable skills to further Rapid Radicals in both North America and Europe. Born in London, Bailey provides a foot abroad for Rapid Radicals Technology - attending the European Wastewater Management Conference & Exhibition in Manchester earlier this year. Bailey has a proven track record in the online world, and specializes in sales, networking and marketing efforts, and looks to cultivate new partnerships and drive strategic growth for the company. Beyond academics, Bailey actively seeks opportunities for professional development, improving his skills relating to strategic business growth and software development whilst gaining valuable sales experience and knowledge within the global wastewater industry.
Ashley Tan, Project Engineer
Ashley first became interested in a career in water resources engineering through her work with Marquette University's Engineers Without Borders (EWB-MU) student chapter. After spending a semester as an R&D Intern for Rapid Radicals and graduating from Marquette University with a B.S. in Environmental Engineering, Ashley was brought on to Rapid Radicals as a full-time Project Engineer. Ashley has an extensive background in wastewater treatment research at Marquette, as well as in the construction field. As a student, she helped design several drinking water treatment systems with EWB and was a member of the winning design team for a wastewater treatment plant in Costa Rica for the Central States Water Environment Association (CSWEA) Student Competition (Global Water Stewardship Category). She is passionate about using engineering as a tool to improve the quality of life and environment of others, and is excited to continue pursuing innovative solutions with Rapid Radicals.
Our Advisors
Each member of our advisory board has over a decade of industry experience, and has helped to build Rapid Radicals into what it is today.
Daniel H. Zitomer, PH.D., P.E., BCEE
Dr. Zitomer has over 25 years of experience in the environmental engineering industry, working in both consulting and academia. Dr. Zitomer joined Marquette University in 1995 where he is currently a civil and environmental engineering professor, serves as the Director of the Water Quality Center, and is the Marquette Site Director for the NSF WEP IUCRC. His areas of expertise are industrial and municipal wastewater management and biotechnology for waste treatment as well as renewable energy with focus in anaerobic bioprocesses. Information on the Zitomer lab group can be found here.
Scott Goodson
Beginning in late 2017, Scott turned his attention to an organization focused on gas dissolution technology development at the University of Arkansas and Texas A&M University. The team leveraged Scott’s guidance, leadership, and relationships to transition the technology and its developing applications from an early stage and proof of concept group into a viable, commercial business. After three years of focus on strategic markets, revenue model diversification, and because of some strategic investments in people and equipment, this group was acquired by Chart Industries (NYSE: GTLS) in late 2020.
Menachem Tabanpour
Menachem brings expertise in venture capital and early-stage funding, manufacturing, water/wastewater, agriculture, automation, and end-to-end product development as well as coaching, business development, sales and fundraising. He is currently the managing director of gener8tor Luxembourg and previously worked coached tech startups at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in a partnership with gener8tor, the computer sciences department and the tech transfer office. Before joining gener8tor, Menachem co-founded and ran a cleantech circular economy startup called Nutrient Recovery and Upcycling for over 10 years.
Our Advisors
Each member of our advisory board has over a decade of industry experience, and has helped to build Rapid Radicals into what it is today.
Daniel H. Zitomer, PH.D., P.E., BCEE
Dr. Zitomer has over 25 years of experience in the environmental engineering industry, working in both consulting and academia. Dr. Zitomer joined Marquette University in 1995 where he is currently a civil and environmental engineering professor, serves as the Director of the Water Quality Center, and is the Marquette Site Director for the NSF WEP IUCRC. His areas of expertise are industrial and municipal wastewater management and biotechnology for waste treatment as well as renewable energy with focus in anaerobic bioprocesses. Information on the Zitomer lab group can be found here.
Scott Goodson
Beginning in late 2017, Scott turned his attention to an organization focused on gas dissolution technology development at the University of Arkansas and Texas A&M University. The team leveraged Scott’s guidance, leadership, and relationships to transition the technology and its developing applications from an early stage and proof of concept group into a viable, commercial business. After three years of focus on strategic markets, revenue model diversification, and because of some strategic investments in people and equipment, this group was acquired by Chart Industries (NYSE: GTLS) in late 2020.
Menachem Tabanpour
Menachem brings expertise in venture capital and early-stage funding, manufacturing, water/wastewater, agriculture, automation, and end-to-end product development as well as coaching, business development, sales and fundraising. He is currently the managing director of gener8tor Luxembourg and previously worked coached tech startups at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in a partnership with gener8tor, the computer sciences department and the tech transfer office. Before joining gener8tor, Menachem co-founded and ran a cleantech circular economy startup called Nutrient Recovery and Upcycling for over 10 years.
