PlasmaSol named Environmental Company of the Year
When it comes to creating innovative solutions to serious environmental problems, PlasmaSol L.L.C. - a new, high-tech firm in partnership with Stevens Institute of Technology - takes the prize this year in New Jersey. PlasmaSol has been named Environmental Company of the Year for 2000 by the New Jersey Technology Council (NJTC).
The company's founders - who are all Stevens faculty and alumni - will be honored at the NJTC Fifth Annual Awards Gala on Nov. 2 at the Hilton East Brunswick, in East Brunswick, N.J. The award recognizes the company's impact on industry, its superior growth rate, its contribution to industry standards, and its success in the marketplace. PlasmaSol will receive the only award for Environmental Company of the Year among this year's awards in 14 categories.
PlasmaSol also won an award for Most Innovative Product at NJTC's March 2000 Venture Fair. The winning product is a breakthrough environmental technology, licensed jointly by PlasmaSol and Stevens as "Capillary Discharge Non-Thermal Plasma." One of the major applications of this Stevens-invented and patented technology is eliminating greenhouse gases from auto emissions. This technological advance is poised to revolutionize exhaust systems on combustion engines, resulting in significantly cleaner air. Because of the engineering simplicity of the product, automobiles could be retrofitted with a pollution-eliminating device.
Stevens' partnership with PlasmaSol, which began in 1999, is emblematic of the institute's concept of Technogenesis®, defined as "the educational frontier wherein students, faculty and industry jointly nurture new technologies from concept to realization."
About PlasmaSol L.L.C.
PlasmaSol L.L.C. is exclusively licensed by Stevens to use its new patented plasma technology - "Capillary Discharge Non-Thermal Plasma" - for environmental applications. The company has completed its first-round venture capital funding efforts, already resulting in $2 million for new product development. The PlasmaSol/Stevens partnership has been established through Technology Holdings L.L.C., also known as TecHold.
TecHold works side by side with Stevens and its faculty to promote the expansion of Stevens' research and development base, protect Stevens' technology through obtaining patents and copyrights, promote Stevens' technology through interactions with outside business interests, and, where appropriate, assist in the start-up and seed funding of affiliated companies. PlasmaSol is one of the Stevens-affiliated companies TecHold has assisted with start-up funding.
PlasmaSol began at Stevens as part of the university's Technology Ventures Incubator (TVI). One of the state's most successful business incubators, TVI has assisted 53 companies and, to date, helped them raise more than $18 million in start-up capital overall. TVI helps potential entrepreneurs with innovative ideas or commercially attractive technologies start their own companies on Stevens' campus in a supportive environment. The incubator ultimately creates freestanding technology companies that add high-value local jobs, create tax revenues returned to the community, and provide new technologies developed and retained in the state.
PlasmaSol's first product, a PLASMASOLTM reactor designed to eliminate volatile organic contaminants (VOCs) from soil, will be put to use at the Naval Air Warfare Center at Lakehurst, N.J., in November 2000. PlasmaSol also has contracted two additional projects with the Lakehurst base. One involves eliminating contaminants (VOCs) captured during a manufacturing process (i.e. spray booths), and the other uses PlasmaSol technology for cleaning surfaces in the manufacturing of aircraft launch and recovery equipment components which were previously cleaned with solvents, thus eliminating a pollution-causing process.
PlasmaSol also has recently partnered with Alcoa (Aluminum Company of America) to determine methods to clean aluminum surfaces with the new technology, again eliminating the need for the use of polluting solvents for cleaning. Aluminum sheets are used in many consumer products, including millions of beverage cans. Eliminating solvents for cleaning aluminum surfaces is expected to be a major step forward in reducing potential environmental hazards.
For more about PlasmaSol, visit its web site at www.plasmasol.com.
For more about the NJTC awards, visit www.njtc.org.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.
Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.
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