BioLargo Inc (OTCQB:BLGO) told investors it was preparing for commercial trials for its AEC water technology as soon as possible after new testing showed it could remove 99.9% of PFAS, the so called "forever chemicals," from water in just a single pass.
Shares in the company nudged up 6% on Tuesday to stand at $0.26 each.
READ: BioLargo estimates a 31% surge in 2020 full-year revenue driven by product breakthroughs
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of man-made chemical contaminants found in various products such as cookware and electronics. They do not break down easily in the environment or in humans and are associated with serious health problems.
Testing at the University of Tennessee showed that PFAS compounds are attracted and bound to the surface of the AEC's proprietary membranes, which in a single pass collect over 99.995%, such that less than one out of 50,000 PFAS molecules was able to penetrate the membrane, said the company.
"Competing technologies reliant on carbon media create a significant amount of carbon waste that is often incinerated, releasing greenhouse gas emissions," noted Randall Moore, president of BioLargo Engineering. "This new study confirms the AEC reduces the waste produced to a fraction of the competition - imagine that to treat the same volume of water, while carbon solutions will create a truckload of spent carbon for disposal, our AEC system will create a waste product the size of a brief case."
BioLargo CEO Dennis Calvert added: "With the recent EPA action and Biden Administration's focus on these ‘forever chemicals,' our AEC technology is in a position to become an industry standard.
"Thankfully, our team recognized the need for efficient removal for PFAS early and has invested the last two years developing the AEC to a now ready for commercialization stage. We are preparing for commercial trials as soon as possible and have a number of municipal water agencies that want to work with us. We expect to share more information about our AEC as it progresses."
BioLargo noted that PFAS chemicals were now a focus for the new US president's government whose nominee for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, Michael Regan, has been heralded by environmental groups for his work combatting PFAS contamination in North Carolina.
BioLargo is an environmental engineering company, which has developed several innovative and patented products targeted at three markets: water and wastewater treatment, industrial odor and volatile organic compounds (VOC) elimination, and advanced wound care.
It operates four subsidiaries: Odor-No-More Inc, BioLargo Water Inc, BioLargo Engineering, Science & Technologies Inc (BLEST) and Clyra Medical Technologies Inc.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com