Summer, 1996
Volume 1, Issue 1
MASSACHUSETTS ENVIRONMENTAL VENTURES is published for the business community by the Environmental Business and Technology Center located in the College of Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The Strategic Envirotechnology Partnership (STEP) is an innovative effort begun in 1994 by the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, the Executive Office of Economic Affairs, and the University of Massachusetts to promote the growth of new environmental and energy-efficient technologies in Massachusetts. Inquiries and contributions for publication are welcome.
Editor: William J. Brah, Director, Environmental Business and Technology
Center.
Editorial Advisory Board: Eric Hayden, Dean, College of Management,
University of Massachusetts Boston;
Tom Chmura, Vice President, University of
Massachusetts;
Gina McCarthy, Director, Massachusetts Toxic Use Reduction
Administrative Council; and
Vincent Rocco, President and CEO, TRC Companies,
Inc.
For further information, please contact: University of Massachusetts Boston,
College of Management, 100 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA 02125-3393;
tel:
617-287-7723; fax: 617-287-7757.
by Tom Chmura, Vice President for Economic Development, University of Massachusetts
On behalf of the Environmental Affairs Secretary Trudy Coxe, Economic Development Department Director David Tibbetts, and University of Massachusetts President William Bulger, I am pleased to introduce the inaugural issue of Massachusetts Environmental Ventures.
This publication is designed by the Environmental Business and Technology Center at UMass Boston's College of Management to highlight important new environmental technologies -- exciting R&D partnerships between industry and universities, creative new approaches to technology regulation, demonstration and testing, innovative domestic and international marketing efforts, and much more about the environmental technology business in Massachusetts.
This publication was specifically developed to highlight the progress being made in environmental technology as a result of a unique state partnership among the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, the Department of Economic Development, and the University of Massachusetts. The partnership is called STEP -- the STrategic Envirotechnology Partnership.
Massachusetts has long been a breeding ground for technology-based industries -- ranging from computers to biotechnology. While the growth and development patterns of each of these industries has been unique, most have benefited from effective interaction among creative entrepreneurs, sophisticated financiers, and inventive universities, together with a supportive state and federal government.
The environmental technology industry is already a strategic industrial sector for Massachusetts, with over $6 billion in sales and 60,000 people employed. Its future growth and development depends on the same kind of factors as those that supported other high tech industries here.
The STEP program can help a firm get a new technology to market in many ways -- such as joint research and development to develop or refine a new technology, arrangements for a technology demonstration in a state facility with an independent technical assessment and verification, guidance on the best permit pathways for new technologies and expedited permitting processes, business and financial planning to envirotech firms, and domestic and international marketing support, including an historic interstate technology certification agreement, and much more.
With dynamic business leadership, a supportive state government, and responsive universities working together through partnerships like STEP, Massachusetts would appear to be well positioned to achieve its goal of becoming a world leader in the development and promotion of new environmental and energy-efficient technologies. As the Massachusetts envirotech industry success story unfolds, we hope to capture many of its highlights here in Massachusetts Environmental Ventures.
For more information, contact William Brah, Director, Environmental Business and Technology Center, UMass Boston, College of Management at 617-287-7723 or fax 617-287-7757.
To promote the rapid deployment of innovative environmental technologies, I signed an agreement on June 4, 1996, with California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania that establishes the country's most aggressive state- sponsored program to promote new technologies. The signing of this interstate agreement marks the beginning of a five-month pilot where 12 envirotech companies - - two from each state -- will receive coordinated cross-state review and evaluation for approval and permitting.
The two Massachusetts firms are: Cellini Purification Systems, a Ludlow company that has developed a new in-process, closed-loop treatment for the metal finishing industry; and AWT Bioclere from New Bedford, a company that designed an alternative septic system now permitted in Massachusetts. Both companies, which participate in the Massachusetts Strategic Envirotechnology Partnership (STEP), view this agreement as a major opportunity to expand their markets and strengthen their products.
The 12 pilot companies will form the basis for continued interstate sharing of information on new technologies and for the development of common data and review protocols, leading to expedited permit review and approval across the participating six states. Overall, this interstate effort will leverage our STEP resources and provide access to broader markets for all 12 companies. It will also help to better position our U.S. companies to effectively compete in the $400 billion global envirotech market.
The envirotech industry in Massachusetts is a vital growing sector of our economy. Through STEP and the cross-state agreement, we will help to keep Massachusetts in the forefront in the envirotech market and give our new emerging firms a competitive edge in the deployment of their technologies in Massachusetts and throughout the nation. Ultimately this effort to promote new environmental and energy-efficient technologies will not only grow our economy, but also improve our environment.
Over the past 18 months, STEP has provided business assistance and regulatory guidance to 60 Massachusetts builders of new technologies. We have performed third- party performance evaluations on 16 of those technologies; we have started up five technology demonstrations -- two of which are nearly completed, including one under joint peer review with California and New Jersey; we are starting up 5 more demonstrations in the next few months; and the University of Massachusetts is busy providing applied research and technology assistance to literally dozens of emerging companies and exciting new technologies.
By effectively coordinating the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, the Executive Office of Economic Affairs, and the University of Massachusetts, we are able -- without creating new bureaucracies -- to provide a wealth of services to companies that enable them to market new technologies and to spawn economic growth.
For more information on the interstate agreement, please call Gina McCarthy, Director, Administrative Council on Toxics Use Reduction, at 617-727-9800 x 214.
SolmeteX, Inc.: Water Treatment Technology Solutions
Incorporated in February 1984, SolmeteX, Inc. has developed a technology -- Keyle:X(tm) -- for the removal of heavy metals from process and wastewater, groundwater, and drainage water. This technology offers significant metals reductions in waste streams, including mercury removal in high-flow discharges down to less than one part per billion.
Keyle:X(tm) is based on industry-standard polystyrene adsorbent beads, which are surface modified through a proprietary coating that selectively binds target metals. Keyle:X(tm) adsorbed place conventional ion exchange-type systems. However, unlike other systems, the SolmeteX technology treats the water so it can be used in the ultra-pure and mega-pure reprocessing markets, making the system very efficient. A technical assessment of Keyle:X(tm) completed by the University of Massachusetts Lowell Center for Environmentally Appropriate Materials concluded that Keyle:X(tm) offers industrial waste-water treatment tools that can be manipulated for specific treatment applications, off SolmeteX a range of markets with focused treatment applications, such as at Superfund sites, metal plating and finishing facilities, groundwater remediation locations, semiconductor and printer circuit board manufacturing, wood preservative, oil refining, and mining operations. SolmeteX entered STEP in early 1995 as one of program's first participants.
"We entered STEP to provide us with the partnering assistance necessary for the commercialization of our technology," said Owen Boyd, Chief Executive Officer. "In today's business environment, strategic alliances and public-private partnerships are important methods for developing innovative technologies."
After the preliminary technical assessment, STEP initiated a multi-faceted program, using its many resources to help SolmeteX in its development. SolmeteX has a need for immediate turn-around time on grab samples taken at its pilot project facilities. Under normal conditions, the company used outside labs for these samples -- receiving results in 5 to 7 days -- delaying the company's ability to make timely adjustments to the system. Working in conjunction with Gordon Wallace, Professor of Environmental Science at UMass Boston, SolmeteX was given access to a laboratory and personnel to perform these tests and adaptions in a prompt, controlled fashion.
"Working with SolmeteX, we investigated a variety of procedures to verify the performance of this technology," said Wallace. "As a result, a comprehensive analytical testing protocol was researched and developed for the Keyle:X(tm) technology. Design experiments were conducted, resulting in the development of analytical protocols and a quality assurance-quality control verification procedure."
In addition, SolmeteX was assigned a student intern from UMass Boston to provide laboratory assistance in testing the SolmeteX technology. Results of this testing will be collected and compiled in a complete report to the STEP Technical Panel, which will then issue a final assessment on the technology's performance and commercial applications.
STEP also provided SolmeteX with assistance in developing business strategies and market intelligence information. David Lutes of the Massachusetts Office of Business Development and Professor David Levy at UMass Boston College of Management met with SolmeteX officials to clarify overall business objectives and focus marketing efforts, including possible partnering ventures with other industries and the identification of additional sources of financing.
Because of its work with STEP, SolmeteX was able to access other possible business development targets and areas for technological growth. For example, SolmeteX was introduced to officials at the Office of Technical Assistance (OTA), who were able to identify other opportunities for its technology, including possible sites for pilot demonstration projects.
"STEP introduced us to companies that were looking for new methods to achieve compliance," said Boyd. "Our technology provides an innovative solution to efficiently reduce mercury and metals in water and wastewater. Opportunities, such as the one with OTA, increase the exposure of our technology and enhance our corporate reputation. "
For more information, contact Owen Boyd, CEO, SolmeteX , at 508-668-0890.
A recently completed demonstration of the AIRxpert/6000 demand controlled ventilation system at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) confirmed its cost and performance features.
Headquartered in Lexington, AIRxpert Systems is the designer and manufacturer of the AIRxpert/6000, a microprocessor-based system designed to monitor air quality in multiple locations in large buildings and facilities. Using state-of-the-art technology, the system provides building managers with a comprehensive method to proportionally match the amount of fresh air with appropriate occupancy levels in a given facility.
Airxpert Systems President Stephen Wallis said, "Energy costs and indoor air quality have become two very important criteria that our technology can address. Our system seeks the critical path be- tween these two perspectives to find the best achievable result for a respective facility."
AIRxpert Systems requested a demonstration of its technology at a highly visible site at the University of Massachusetts. "By participating in the STEP program, we were able to establish credibility with a reference account in a high-profile, university setting -- a key ingredient for technology development and growth," said Wallis.
Initially, AIRxpert Systems received from STEP a two-tiered review of its business, including an introductory technology assessment and business planning and marketing strategy review. "STEP reviewed our business plan and provided us with validation and suggestions for our product development and marketing models," Wallis said.
On completion of this analysis, AIRxpert System was granted STEP assistance in the planning and monitoring of its technology in a targeted UMass facility. Under the direction of Larry Ambs, Director of the Energy Analysis and Diagnostic Center (EADC) at UMass Amherst, AIRxpert personnel worked closely with EADC to implement the technology and monitor the results. Data was collected over a two-month period to provide an assessment of building use and occupancy levels.
"The data collection period was done in late fall and early winter, which is an important time of the year for indoor air quality," continued Wallis. "This provided us with the opportunity to test air quality at different occupancy levels and climate conditions."
Data was reviewed by EADC staff, using accepted engineering procedures and formulas. Based on this data collection, several models were devised incorporating various observations and recommendations of how the technology could realize economic savings and improve air quality at the facility. Results of this project culminated in a complete report outlining AIRxpert's technology and performance levels.
"Through our technology assessment, we were able to confirm many of the claims of the AIRxpert technology and make appropriate recommendations for future applications, including an alternative use as a possible diagnostic system for Heat Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) assessment," said Ambs.
With the help of the STEP program, AIRxpert Systems has completed the first phase of its evolution -- the establishment of a viable, innovative technology with a validated marketing strategy. Currently, AIRxpert Systems is moving into its next development stage -- creating strategic alliances and investigating financing sources. According to Wallis, the Environmental Business and Technology Center at UMass Boston is assisting AIRxpert Systems in partnering with large national firms to use its technology in various facilities through-out the country.
In addition, because of the company's STEP participation, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs has forwarded AIRxpert's technology assessment to the other states participating in the interstate technology certification process, including California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
For more information , contact Stephen Wallis, President, AIRxpert at 617-862-4739.
VSEAT: Testing Underway with the Massachusetts Dry Cleaning Industry
Detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions using real-time monitors has been limited in the past, and analysis of the results has often been misleading. Video Source-Emission Assessment Technology (VSEAT) eliminates many of the problems that have previously occurred with VOC emissions testing.
Salvatore DiNardi, a UMass Amherst Professor in Environmental Health Sciences, with backing from the National Environmental Technology for Waste Prevention Institute (NETI) at UMass Amherst, is applying VSEAT technology to the dry cleaning industry in Massachusetts. This industry employs approximately 500,000 people in the United States and 10,000 in Massachusetts. Previous studies have revealed that the risks for worker exposure to VOCs in this industry can be quite high. DiNardi's team has been testing VSEAT technology at the following sites in the Western Massachusetts area this past year: Mirkins Cleaners (Springfield), Sentry Cleaners (Chicopee), and Standard Uniforms (Agawam).
In DiNardi's project, the worker is equipped with a real-time monitoring instrument, worn like a backpack, called a photo-ionization detection (PID) instrument. This instrument measures the composition of the air actually being inhaled by the worker. At this point, the VSEAT technology comes into play. While the worker is monitored with the PID, he or she is also being videotaped.
The data coming in through the PID is superimposed onto the taped video image as the worker works with his or her equipment. What is produced is a video image showing a worker's actual exposure in real time while performing specific tasks, with the sampling data appearing alongside on the screen. The data appears as a fluctuating red vertical bar, where the height o the bar indicates the level of emission exposure.
VSEAT not only detects the release of VOCs, but also graphically demonstrates these results instantaneously. After the data is compiled, VSEAT gives a precise assessment of the risk factor to a worker and helps identify how exposures can be reduced. Cost-effective recommendations can often be made to modify individual worker activity patterns to reduce exposure. In other cases, it is possible to suggest specific engineering controls to reduce release of solvents. NETI is currently investigating the creation of a new, entrepreneurial company that would deploy a field team to industries requesting VSEAT analyses.
For more information, contact Sharon Tracey, NETI Program Manager, at 413-545- 2842, or fax 413-545-2304
W.C. Conner and R.L. Laurence of the University of Massachusetts Chemical Engineering Department, with backing from NETI, are developing alternative technology to recycle volatile organic compounds (VOCs), the major pollutant in the power, petro-chemical, and materials industries. Their research involves the development of a recyclable alternative to activated carbons currently used for cleaning contaminated water and air. The alternative adsorbents being developed have several advantages over former "state-of-the-art" technology. The adsorbents can be designed to selectively remove VOCs from process streams so that valuable contaminants may be recycled for reuse. The use of microwave radiation is being studied to enhance the sorption. The adsorbents are expected to be inexpensive on an industrial scale since they are based on modifications of current technology. This technology could become the dominant technology for the separation of specific contaminants from process water and air.
ChemDesign, a chemical intermediate producer in Fitchburg, is working with Drs. Conner and Laurence to develop this technology and use these adsorbents on their own plant streams. At ChemDesign, the technology is being tested for the removal of cyclohexane from the adsorbent. It will be accomplished conventionally with a heated purge gas as well as through a unique alternative approach using microwave radiation.
For more information, contact Sharon Tracey, NETI Program Manager, at 413- 545-2842, or fax 413-545-2304.
The Advanced Technology Center (ATC) at UMass Dartmouth recently completed a project with SeaWatch International, a worldwide seafood processing and distribution firm, to develop new market applications for the recycling of clam shell byproducts.
In April 1995, SeaWatch International located a new, advanced clam-shucking plant in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The plant, employing over 100 people locally, is primarily dedicated to the on-site processing of clams. Through this procedure, the shell is separated from the clam meat and disposed of; hundreds of tons of clam-shell byproducts accumulate each year.
Prior to the plant's opening, SeaWatch International contacted officials at ATC to investigate possible uses for these clam shell byproducts, capitalizing on the shell's many properties for value-added applications.
Jay Nash, ATC's Assistant Director, said, "ATC investigated typical uses for the shell, such as landscaping material, but also explored how the unique composition of the clam shell could be used in other industries, such as the manufacturing of plastic fillers and papermaking."
SeaWatch has initiated the development of operations where these clam shell byproducts can be successfully used as daily cover for area landfills, thereby reducing the costs of finding clean fill and stabilizing acid concentrations.
For more information, contact ATC's Assistant Director Jay Nash at 508-999-9121, or fax 508-999-9120.
Twin Rivers Technologies in Quincy was formed in 1994 to manufacture, market, and distribute "biodiesel," a versatile, alternative fuel consisting of fatty acids, vegetable oil additives, and conventional diesel oil. With a marketing effort targeted at urban buses, Twin Rivers has already documented significant emissions reductions in response to the Clean Air Act regulations. Opportunities for market expansion exist with other industries dependent on diesel fuel for power, including centrally-fueled transport fleets, the maritime industry, and underground mining operations.
Twin Rivers had requested STEP assistance in the form of an independent third- party technology assessment. This assessment is underway by the Energy Analysis and Diagnostic Center at UMass Amherst. In addition, Twin Rivers is receiving assistance from the Department of Environmental Protection in addressing regulatory barriers and required approval issues by government agencies, as well as Executive Office of Environmental Affairs assistance in accessing state fleet purchases. Business planning assistance is being offered through the Massachusetts Office of Business Development (MOBD).
For more information, contact Steve Mello, Vice President, Twin Rivers Technologies, at 617-472-9200.
Ion Signature Technology (IST) in Concord recently developed the "Siteworks" technology, a field-based Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) software package designed to provide rapid screening and high-quality data equivalent to EPA standardized methods. The technology, originally evolved at the Tufts University's Center for Field Analytical Screening Technology (CFAST), offers the prospect of reducing GC-MS analysis time from days to minutes without any compromise in sensitivity or selectivity.
This technology can realize significant cost savings from both stationary and mobile laboratory platforms. If successful, this technology offers the promise of a quantum leap in laboratory GC-MS instrumentation and procedures on a worldwide basis.
A complete technology assessment is currently underway by the Environmental Business and Technology Center at UMass Boston to compare and contrast IST's performance claims against current technologies and protocols. To assist Licensed Site Professionals (LSPs), the Department of Environmental Protection has developed guidance on how to justify and confirm the appropriate use of alternative analytical methods.
For more information, contact J.H. Vestergaard, President & CEO, IST, at 508-369- 5646.
Field Assessment Technologies Get Boost from State
The privatized nature of the Massachusetts hazardous waste cleanup pro-gram has left the responsibility to choose cleanup technologies to Licensed Site Professionals. While this may allow new technologies to bypass the regulatory approval process common to many other states, innovators continue to find it difficult to receive widespread acceptance of their products. The development community appears justifiably reluctant to take chances on unknown or unproven technologies. Through the efforts of Bob Huang and others at the Department of Environmental Protection's Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup and the Massachusetts Office of Business Development (MOBD), STEP determined that one method of encouraging product acceptance and use would be to create a forum for innovators and users to interact and gain a better understanding of the issues that face the new technologies.
In March, 1996, STEP hosted a Technology Forum featuring companies with innovative field assessment technologies. These technologies are becoming standard tools for assessing and monitoring hazardous waste and offer the potential for faster, less expensive response actions at these sites. The forum was sponsored by the Licensed Site Professionals Association in cooperation with STEP.
STEP recruited companies that offered different approaches to hazardous waste assessment, including The Foxboro Company, Millipore, Niton, ORS, Pine and Swallow, and Siteworks. The Forum was designed to expose these technology companies to the customers and regulators that can have the most impact on their long term acceptance. The audience for the forum consisted of Licensed Site Professionals, industry users, developers and regulators.
"It is generally recognized that field assessment technologies are the wave of the future with regard to this type of work," said David Lutes, STEP coordinator for MOBD. "It is also clear that Massachusetts is a leader in developing innovative assessment and monitoring technologies. We felt it was important to help innovators reach their markets within the state."
For more information, contact David Lutes of MOBD at 617-727-3206.
Recycling Initiative Launched to Benefit Massachusetts Plastic Product Manufacturers
The Chelsea Center for Materials Reuse at UMass Lowell recently published the Massachusetts Directory of Recycled Product Manufacturers, a comprehensive directory highlighting 85 manufacturers throughout the Commonwealth that use scrap materials. The directory provides a wide range of pertinent data, including company listing, year founded, number of employees, scrap material(s) used, and product creation and availability information. It serves as a useful tool for state and local purchasing officials, as well as manufacturers searching for new product components.
Also, The Chelsea Center and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection are currently developing a program with the Massachusetts Manufacturing Partnership (MMP) to help manufacturers throughout the Commonwealth currently using virgin plastic resin to incorporate recycled plastic into their feedstock.
Experience with manufacturers has shown that recycled feedstock can be less expensive than virgin resins and can maintain and enhance certain product characteristics. For example, using high-density polyester resin from old milk jugs can lead to better strength properties in injection molded products and film applications.
The project, managed by The Chelsea Center, will work with plastic manufacturers in Massachusetts to determine the appropriate amounts of scrap plastics for the manufacturing process and analyze the effect of recycled feedstock on end-product quality. Project officials will make recommendations for optimizing process requirements and overcoming development barriers in the use of recycled feedstock. The project is funded by the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs and implemented by the MMP.
For more information, contact Amy Perlmutter at The Chelsea Center at 617-887-2300.
New Technology Pipeline to Central Europe Created by TRC Companies
TRC Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRR) has received the first annual Massachusetts Export Achievement Award from the Massachusetts Port Authority and The Alliance for the Commonwealth, a business-funded research and education group.
TRC won the award for negotiating an agreement with the Polish government that encourages U.S. exports of pollution control technology to Poland. The result of this agreement is a new company, PAKTO, S.A., which is a joint partnership between TRC and Poland's two principal environmental funding organizations, the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, and BOS Bank, the world's only environmental bank.
The decision followed a landmark financing agreement, signed at The Bank of Boston, between the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the Polish government to support the co-financing of U.S. environmental technology exports to Poland.
PAKTO,also financed by The Bank of Boston, will serve as a principal agent of the Polish government for environmental technology purchases and a focal point for U.S. companies to export to Poland and other nearby countries. Vincent Rocco, Chairman and CEO of TRC Companies, is also Chairman of PAKTO.
For more information, contact TRC at 860-289-8631.
Is There A Winning Formula For Commercializing Environmental
Technologies?
By Richard Golob, President, World Information
Systems
Environmental technology companies are currently facing a difficult challenge in raising the necessary funding for the commercialization process. Investors have become increasingly sophisticated about the factors for success in developing commercially viable environmental technologies, and have tightened the screening criteria for potential investments. And yet, without adequate financing, the most innovative companies will not succeed in bringing their environmental technologies to market.
It is difficult to devise a winning formula that applies to environmental technologies in all industry sectors. However, the development of such a formula may provide a useful measure in determining whether a specific environmental technology has the potential to serve as the basis for a new environmental company.
To achieve success, any innovative environmental technology must provide a "better, cheaper, and faster" solution than the competing technologies. An environmental technology that fulfills only one or two of these three measures will probably not prove viable; it will not attract the necessary capital for commercialization and will not displace the conventional technologies in the marketplace. An environmental technology that achieves only incremental improvements will not support an entire company; rather it might serve as an extension to an existing product line or provide a licensing opportunity for a larger, established company.
In addition, for an environmental technology to serve as the foundation for a company, it needs to be a significant new core technology, not simply a variation on an existing one. The environmental technology also needs to have both U.S. and foreign patent protection. The technology must have global applications, indicating that its market is not dependent on a specific U.S. regulation. In addition, the technology's market must cut across several different industries; if its market is a niche in a single industry, the environmental technology will probably not succeed as the basis for a new company.
Perhaps more importantly, the successful environmental technologies will need to have a regulatory push and an economics pull. The concept that "future environmental technologies will be economics-driven, not regulatory-driven" is perhaps an overstatement, because any technology that runs counter to an existing regulation will likely fail. At the same time, successful environmental technologies must provide a strong economic benefit to the user so that, even if the regulations change or enforcement efforts slacken, the technologies will still have strong commercial appeal.
In addition, successful environmental technologies will need to be based largely on a circular economic model, whereby waste is minimized and reuse and recycling are maximized, and whereby zero emissions and zero discharge are the ultimate goals. Traditional environmental technologies have followed the linear, end-of-pipe model, emphasizing treatment and disposal. Once again, those technologies that improve the company's industrial performance and its bottom line will likely succeed.
Industry experts are now even debating whether environmental technologies will someday be dubbed "industrial technologies," because these technologies will have been integrated into the overall industrial process. They will be driven primarily by financial payback, not regulatory issues, and as an additional benefit, they will offer superior environmental performance.
While potential investors will first analyze an environmental technology company in terms of its technology's potential, they will also place a high priority on the company's management, as the commercialization process is arduous and only the best management teams will prevail. Investors look for management teams that have succeeded in other technology commercialization efforts and that have a combination of technical and business skills. For success in the commercialization process, a company must make the shift from a technology-driven to a market-driven operation, and only a management team with a strong business focus will be able to make that transition.
In addition, environmental technology companies will succeed in attracting funding if they can demonstrate a strong financial payback not only to their customers but also to their investors. Venture capital funds seek companies that will grow from a startup to $50 million in annual revenues within five years and that will provide a return of ten times the investment within that time period. Individual investors offer an alternative funding source for startup environmental companies, as these investors often have a longer time horizon and a lower anticipated rate of return than venture capital firms.
Increasingly, environmental technology companies have begun to seek out funding and support through alliances with strategic partners and participation in government programs like STEP. While startup biotechnology companies have the pharmaceutical industry as a potential partner, environmental technology companies have not enjoyed such a strong relationship with another industry. Now, the large environmental engineering and consulting firms have begun to realize that technology can help provide a way to differentiate themselves from their competitors and so have become increasingly interested in new technologies.
For more information, contact Richard Golob, President, World Information Systems, at 617-491-5100.
* BioSafe International, Inc. (NASDAQ: BSFE), based in Cambridge, has a patented "landfill remodeling" process, which provides municipalities an innovative approach with an economics pull and a regulatory push for dealing with unlined landfills. Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Subtitle D Regulations, municipalities must close down their unlined land-fills, but the closure and post-closure monitoring are expensive, and many municipalities have not set aside the necessary funds for those activities.
Through landfill remodeling, BioSafe recycles landfills, bringing them into compliance with appropriate environmental regulations and reprocessing the waste in the landfills. The BioSafe process involves separating out the soil and ferrous metals in the landfill waste, and shredding and compacting the remaining waste; the process succeeds in recovering about 40 to 80 percent of the original landfill space. During the contract term of 10 to 15 years, BioSafe operates the landfill, and based on the tipping fees received at the landfill, the municipality receives funds from BioSafe for future closure and monitoring costs, as well as a host fee for current community use. BioSafe's patented process has international market potential, and currently the company is involved in establishing an operation in Europe.
* Conversion Technologies International, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTIX) of Hazlet, New Jersey, has found a niche in the circular economy model, focusing on materials reuse and recycling. It has a patented process that produces industrial abrasives and that uses industrial wastes from the aluminum and other industries as raw materials. Conversion Technologies' Alumaglass brand of manufactured abrasives can be used as loose grain abrasives applied with blasting equipment or as ingredients in products such as polishing agents and non-skid flooring. The Alumaglass provides performance advantages and cost savings in comparison to other competitive products, such as aluminum oxide, steel grit, and glass beads in many applications. Also, Conversion Technologies is engaged in recycling cathode ray tube glass used in televisions for sale to the original manufacturers of the glass and to others. The company uses its manufacturing equipment to convert certain types of the glass for use in its production of Alumaglass. While Conversion Technologies International could be defined as an environmental technology company, it regards itself as a "specialty materials company." The market for the company's Alumaglass product spans several different industries and has strong international potential.
* Thermatrix Inc. (NASDAQ: TXMI) of San Jose, California, has a patented core technology for achieving destruction efficiencies 99.99 percent or greater for volatile organic com-pounds (VOCs) and hazardous air pollutants, with minimal emissions of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide. Compared to competing traditional technologies, Thermatrix's flameless thermal oxidation technology provides a "better, cheaper, faster" solution for controlling organic pollutants. For example, a competing control technology operating at 98 percent efficiency would emit 200 times more VOCs than the Thermatrix system.
The trend in environmental policy toward "beyond compliance" will provide a regulatory push and, in turn, an economics pull for the Thermatrix technology. The technology's high control efficiency offers direct cost-savings benefits for permitting and compliance. The lower overall emissions produced by the company's technology might qualify the user's facility for emissions credits or for a less restrictive permit category; the emissions levels might even obviate the need for a permit at the facility. Thermatrix technology has potential applications in several different industries; in addition, to strong market acceptance in the U.S., the company has received orders in Europe and the Pacific Rim.
* Of these companies, only Thermatrix Inc. is currently under review by the STEP Program.