BioLargo Inc (OTCQB:BLGO) said that it has achieved a “critical technical milestone” in the development and commercialization of its Aqueous Electrostatic Concentrator (AEC), which eliminates a toxic soup of chemicals from water.
The chemicals, resistant to breaking down in the environment, are known as per and fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. According to media reports, some have been linked to cancers, liver damage, low birth weight and other health problems.
“This development, which involved a re-design of the AEC's electrical configuration, dramatically improves its operating and maintenance costs,” noted the company. BioLargo said it can now “finalize agreements” for the technology's “first demonstration pilots and commercial trials.”
READ: BioLargo’s subsidiary tackles PFAS toxic chemicals head-on with new treatment technology
US President Joe Biden's administration has made regulation of PFAS in drinking water a top priority, having recently issued final regulatory determinations for the two most common PFAS compounds under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
In a statement, BioLargo CEO Dennis P Calvert said: "With this advancement to the AEC's design, our next step is commercial trials. We can now finalize the details of several trials at municipalities on the West Coast and in the American Midwest as well as a major federal government organization.”
“BioLargo Engineering is already working to build the demonstration units for those projects. We believe the success of these initial pilot projects will provide the commercial validation data that will convince state authorities to adopt the technology en masse," he added.
Currently, the water treatment process for removing PFAS is filtration by granulated activated carbon (GAC). This technique has a significant downside as it generates huge volumes of PFAS-laden carbon waste that requires disposal, usually at a landfill or by incineration, both of which are costly and have poor environmental outcomes.
“In comparison, the BioLargo AEC uses electrophoresis to collect PFAS onto proprietary membranes, using little electricity and requiring a diminutive physical footprint,” noted the company. The AEC is projected to have more affordable operating costs and generate a fraction of the PFAS-laden waste compared to carbon filtration.
The company said its subsidiary BioLargo Engineering, Science & Technologies Inc (BLEST) has “succeeded in modifying the AEC to extend the useful lifespan of its specialized membranes, which are a crucial component of the technology.”
This has improved the operating and maintenance metrics for the technology, potentially reducing the frequency of membrane replacement by a factor of six, said the company.
BioLargo has already patented the AEC and has filed at least one “patent application to expand the existing intellectual property coverage for the AEC with the new modification.”
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
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