After 15
years with Sandia National Laboratories, the former
program manager of the Technology Applications Department is starting her own company.
Nina Bergan French, Ph.D., is taking a two-year entrepreneurial leave of absence to
commercialize Laser-Spark, a continuous metal emissions monitor developed by the U.S.
Department of Energy's Office of
Science and Technology. She made this decision after helping develop the prototype
system that has been field tested for over 400 hours.
Sandia sees the entrepreneurial leave program as another way to transfer technology to industry. If her endeavor fails after two years, the program promises French a job similar to the one she left behind. French sees the leave program as a way she and her company, Sky +, can smooth Laser-Spark's way to commercialization. Many technologies at this stage of their life-cycle, between technology development and deployment, enter what some call a "valley of death," because initial funding sources and support dry up. French hopes her efforts will help Laser-Spark bridge the valley of death. "The tech transfer leave of absence encourages risk-taking," French said, "and transferring the people with the technology is more promising than tossing technologies over the fence to an existing company."
Laser-Spark uses laser light to detect heavy metals in smokestack emissions. Sky +'s metals monitor could save industries time and money monitoring airborne emissions of toxic metals regulated by the federal Clean Air Act, such as mercury, lead, beryllium, and chromium. The high-powered lasers energize atoms in the emissions; as the energized atoms return to their normal, low-energy state, they radiate their own signature patterns of light wavelengths. Laser-Spark identifies the metals present by deciphering the wavelength patterns.
The device's sensitivity for the 11 metals regulated by the Clean Air Act ranges from 0.1 parts per billion to several hundred parts per billion. Strict new emissions limits are being created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for all these metals at or near these concentration levels. "Detection at these levels is equivalent to finding one misspelled word in a document that is double-sided, single-spaced, and two miles thick," French said.
Unlike conventional, periodic toxic emissions sampling, the Sky + monitor can operate continuously and directly in a smokestack. Current sampling methods require extracting samples and analyzing them in a remote laboratory. "No one's ever seen continuous [metal emissions] data before--it's really exciting," said French. By 1998, she plans to have the instruments ready for sale at a cost of $75,000 to $125,000. Standard emissions sampling now costs up to $50,000 for one week's worth of data. She expects customers to be most interested in the ability of the monitor to provide in-situ, real-time data, allowing them to better understand and improve their process or operation. "The monitoring can also help demonstrate regulatory compliance and avoid costs by minimizing the extra control equipment needed to meet new regulations," French said.
Laser-Spark requires more technology development, especially for improving sensitivity and developing calibration schemes. As improvements are being incorporated into the instrument, French is building a market for the technology by training contract technicians to collect data as a service for customers. She plans to persuade semiconductor makers, large incinerator operators, and coal burning power plants of the importance of continuously monitoring their smokestacks for hazardous metals. French will try to reduce market uncertainties with her data services company, which she will finance one transaction at a time. This new company will gain field experience with Laser-Spark and show customers how data can be used for a variety of purposes, including process control.
Through a licensing arrangement, French pays royalties to Sandia for the right to commercialize and make a profit from Laser-Spark. Ownership of Laser-Spark is retained by Sandia. French is supporting herself during this stage of the device's development by evaluating technologies and consulting. She is interested in finding a partner with business savvy, an interest in making things happen, and ideas about technologies that will complement Laser-Spark.
