Stevens' start-up, HydroGlobe, named "Most Socially Responsible Company" for its arsenic removal technology
HydroGlobe LLC, a water treatment company associated with Stevens Institute of Technology and its Technology Ventures Incubator, was named "Most Socially Responsible Company" at the Awards Program of the New Jersey Technology Council Venture Fair this month.
In presenting the award to John H. Schroeder, President of HydroGlobe, Don Panek of DMS Technology Solutions praised the many contributions HydroGlobe has made in the area of environmental technology and its focus on developing the type of low-cost solutions to environmental issues that allow more widespread use of those technologies.
In accepting the award, Schroeder noted the early work of the company in Bangladesh, which led to an easy-to-use, low-cost solution for that country's widespread problem with high levels of naturally occurring arsenic in well water. The company's work has already led to the creation of an "arsenic free" village in Bangladesh.
"HydroGlobe was one of 50 company applicants accepted to exhibit at the Venture Fair this year, and we were very honored participate," said Schroeder, who is a Stevens alumnus.
"Many who attended the Venture Fair were interested in what we do, and that was extremely gratifying," he said. "Especially of interest, considering the EPA's new standard for arsenic in U.S. drinking water, were our several technologies for cost-effectively reducing arsenic in drinking water right here at home."
About HydroGlobe
HydroGlobe is an innovative supplier of highly effective, low-cost technology and equipment to remove arsenic and heavy metals from drinking water, contaminated groundwater, and industrial wastewater. It was founded in 2001 by engineers and scientists from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J. HydroGlobe has an agreement with Stevens as the sole licensee of any water and wastewater technology developed at the institute, and as part of that agreement HydroGlobe has use of the resources of the laboratory at the Center for Environmental Engineering at Stevens. Stevens professors Dr. George Korfiatis, the center director, Dr. Xiaoguang Meng, and Dr. Chris Christodoulatos worked with Stevens students to invent the technology, and today they advise HydroGlobe on its technology applications.
Development of the patent pending metals removal technology began at Stevens during the mid 1990's, and in 1997 the technology was installed at a site in Texas with groundwater contaminated with arsenic. At this initial commercial installation, the results included arsenic reduction from 200 ppb to less than 20 ppb. In 1999, Stevens pioneered arsenic reduction efforts in Bangladesh, where the health of some 70 million people is at risk from arsenic levels as high as 500 ppb. Stevens developed a simple coprecipitation/filtration solution for use in Bangladesh, with costs estimated at less than $2 per family per year, and has subsequently seen its implementation in an "arsenic free" village.
HydroGlobe has followed this effort by testing more than a dozen drinking waters from around the United States and determining that the technology, now commercially available as the FerriMet process, can acceptably reduce arsenic levels in these drinking waters to below the new EPA promulgated standard of 10ppb. During these studies, substantial know-how has been developed to deal with the wide variety of water qualities and co-contaminants that exist across the United States. HydroGlobe has just concluded certification testing in New Jersey under the auspices of the New Jersey Corporation for Advanced Technology and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, successfully reducing the arsenic in a Hopewell, N.J., well from 40 ppb to under 5ppb. The company expects to receive the certification shortly. In addition, HydroGlobe successfully piloted the technology at the site of a former nursery in Florida, reducing arsenic in contaminated groundwater from over 700 ppb (including 100 ppb of organic arsenic) to less than 10 ppb.
The FerriMet technology has demonstrated significant advantages over other processes for removal of arsenic from drinking water, due to the low cost of system operation, low residual waste generation, and small system footprint. In addition to the FerriMet system, the company also markets a system for removal of higher levels of heavy metals from waters, which is its patent pending ActivMet system. The first commercial installation of this process is currently successfully reducing copper and vanadium in contaminated groundwater at a former site of Phibro-Tech in Georgia.
Stevens began as a respected East Coast engineering school in the late 19th century, and has since evolved to be much more. The buzzword at Stevens today is "Technogenesis®," a term the university recently trademarked to describe its new strategic direction for teaching and research: encouraging students, faculty and industry to work together to bring new products or services all the way from initial innovation to marketplace implementation. HydroGlobe is one example of this process in action. More information on the company is at www.hydroglobe.com.
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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