Hartlepool man is involved in groundbreaking technology which could be a huge help in the fight against Covid-19

Darren Magee Snr is the Managing Director of a company which has helped to develop a prototype process which he described as ‘groundbreaking’.

It filters bacteria and particulates from air in places such as hospitals and could also be used in cars to dramatically cut pollution.

It could also be used in sewage treatment, cleaning water, clean the air of contaminates which would mean a big difference to cases of health conditions such as asthma, as well as the fight against Covid-19, he said.

His firm, Endo-Med Ltd has been working with Archer Research Ltd for a number of years. They are working with the Government and private companies which have funded research, said the Hartlepool man.

He also emphasised his work with fellow researcher Tony Archer who invented the Archer reactor and had been inspirational and instrumental in working on the technology for a long time.

The device is now in the pre-production stage but Darren told the Hartlepool Mail: “The fact that we can clean up airborne pollution in population dense areas, removing toxic particle and pathogen contaminates in the air and preventing asthma and other respiratory illnesses, is revolutionary.”

Darren’s own specialist area of research is the use of non thermal-plasma to clear the air of toxins and pollution from the environment and remove pathogens and bacteria such as Covid-19 in the process, quite simply not only can we clean the air, we can decontaminated it also.

“We have got the possibility of removing 98% of pollution, toxins, bacteria from the air we breathe,” he said.

The process involves propagating and maintaining microwave induced non-thermal plasma and passing toxic gasses though the reaction, the energy that is imparted into electrons causes dramatic cascade atomic disassociation on such a scale, the reactive components and species created destroy pollutants and compromise pathogens.

“The devices we are making will be used in the NHS as a decontamination science to condition the air within hospitals to prevent the spread of pathogens such as bacteria and viruses,” said Darren.

He added: “The effectiveness of this technology has been proven to be 300 times greater than the viral HEPA filters used in hospitals.”

And he said there ‘would be no need for cars to produce pollution any more. We have the technology available’.

He described the application scaled up as having the capability of ‘cleaning air at three times the volume of a football pitch in a second’.

Darren told of his work with another entrepreneur called Tony Archer who ‘has been working on the technology for a long time.

“My area of interest at the time was the treatment of cancer, it still remains a high priority. Tony and I enhance and promote each other’s technologies.”

But Darren’s amazing work on helping the fight against Covid-19 does not end there.

He also works at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust where he is Head of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering.

His current role, and that of his team, is to maintain and repair all of the medical equipment and systems which are needed for patient care – and that is about 20,000 pieces of medical equipment.

That includes ventilators, incubators, anaesthetic equipment, and CT and MRI scanners, and Darren said: “It is a privilege to head that department.

“We have three hospitals and we have got a fourth coming on line as a response to Covid-19."

Darren also praised the British public for their ‘phenomenal’ support including Virgin Atlantic volunteer engineering staff on furlough who he has now trained and they are providing much needed help in medical engineering areas.

Tony Archer, whose companies include Archer Research Ltd, said his initial research years ago had been to benefit the power industry and to improve the way fuel was burned to get rid of emissions.

Developments meant it could also be used in the clean-up of water and air.

Tony said: “Darren approached me regarding medical applications. Because of what has happened with coronavirus, we have the technology that can eliminate it.”

He said one way in which the development could be utilised was a mobile unit which could be taken into a room to sanitise it. Another works in air conditioning units and another was one which could sanitise ambulances swiftly after they had been carrying patients carrying the coronavirus.

Thanks to his technology, the capability to eliminate all pathogens as well as tackling viruses would be available.

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