UV LED firm Seoul Viosys plans to partner with Watersprint of Medicon Village, Lund, Sweden, which develops water purification products and systems for the disinfection of bacteria, viruses and protozoa. The system will be used to supply safe drinking water for people suffering from drinking water contamination in Bangladesh.

Water purification products and systems based on Watersprint's water control technology make it possible to keep water clean via sterilization using Seoul Viosys' Violeds technology. Seoul Viosys was established in 2002 as Seoul Optodevice (a subsidiary of South Korean LED maker Seoul Semiconductor Co Ltd) based on a technical cooperation with Japan's Nitride Semiconductor Co Ltd (the first firm to develop long-wavelength UV LEDs, emitting at 360-400nm, in 2001). It is said to be the first firm specializing in UV LEDs (spanning epitaxy, chip, package and module manufacturing) and the first to develop short-wavelength UV LEDs. Seoul Optodevice was renamed Seoul Viosys in 2013 to denote its expansion from a visible LED and UV LED chip maker to a UV LED system provider.

Realized through the collaboration between Seoul Viosys and Sensor Electronic Technology Inc (SETi) of Columbia, SC, USA (which manufactures deep-ultraviolet LED devices and modules), Violeds technology is available in a compact module, so it can be applied to industrial and commercial facilities as well as to home applications. In the water purification system, Watersprint is using a Wi-Fi system for 24-hour water quality monitoring and statistics (important for supplying clean water).

Even boiled water or sterilized vacuum-packed drinking bottled water cannot be kept several days without possible contamination by virus or bacteria, say the firms. Also, there have been many reports that tap water, shower mixers or water pipes are the main triggers of many diseases.

Violeds technology, which is used in sterilization systems in the International Space Station's (ISS) bio-laboratory equipment, is applied to the new clean water supply system with what is claimed to be a performance rate of 99.99% sterilization.

Muhammad Yunus, a Laureate of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Peace and co-pioneer of the project, has been running the Micro Production Center to supply clean and safe drinking water in order to help improve water quality in Bangladesh. Seoul Viosys' Violeds technology, combined with Watersprint's system, is applied at the Yunus Centre. The aim is to extend this system to water purification for the 750 million people without access to safe drinking water worldwide.

"UV-LED technology is at the core of our products," says Watersprint's CEO Anders Ruland. "A month ago, we announced a collaboration with Yunus Center and the launch of Micro Production Centers for water cleaning in Bangladesh, for which we are pleased to use the Seoul Viosys technology," he adds.

"The two companies will continuously cooperate to uplift the living conditions of people worldwide and capture business opportunities by developing and introducing new technologies," comments Seoul Viosys' CEO Jae-jo Kim.