Fighting forever chemicals and startup fatigue

Megan Tatom: From the Massachusetts Institute Technology Technology, I am Megan Tatom. This is Business Lab, the offer that helps business leaders understand the new technologies that come out of the laboratory and in the market.

Today’s episode is presented to you in partnership with Michigan Economic Development Company.

Our topic today is the launch of a start -up company in Michigan. Building an innovative idea in an applicable product requires knowledge and resources that individuals may not enjoy. For this reason, Michigan Economic Development, or Medc, launched an innovative campaign to support technology entrepreneurs.

Two words for you: the starting ecosystem.

My guest is Dr. Dennis Kai, co -founder and CEO of Enspared Solutions, a Michigan -based startup that focuses on removing chemicals forever called PFAs from water.

Hi, Dennis.

Dr. Dennis Kai: Hi Megan.

Megan: Hello. Thank you very much for joining us. To start, Dennis, I wondered whether we could talk about ENSPIRED solutions a little more. How did the idea appear and what do your company do?

Dennis: Well, I had a co -founder, Meng, and professions in consulting, and we provide advice to customers about the fate and toxicity of chemicals in the environment. What we have done is to assess how chemicals move through soil, water and air, and toxic effects that may have humans and wildlife. This put us in a unique position to see early on the environmental and health repercussions of the human chemical PFAS in our environment.

When we learned about the new and elegant chemistry that can effectively destroy PFAs, we can predict the value of making this chemistry available for commercial use and the possibility of a great positive impact on maintaining healthy water resources for all of us.

As it was mentioned, PFAS is referred to as a chemical forever because it is very resistant to collapse. It does not collapse naturally in the environment, so it revolves around and around it. This chemistry, which will break this cycle and disintegrate the molecule, can really support all of our health.

Ultimately, we left Meng our jobs, and we founded ENSPIRED solutions. Our goal was to design, manufacture and sell commercial equipment that destroys PFAs in the water based on this laboratory chemistry on the scale of the seat that was discovered, and the goal is that this toxic pollution does not continue to distribute it in our natural resources.

At this stage, we won an award from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Ministry of Defense, and we have proven our technology in more than 200 sample of different water that ranges from groundwater, surface water, landfill jam, and industrial wastewater, [and] Municipal sewage. It is really everywhere. What we see traction now is customer applications to manage semiconductor waste. Groundwater and surface water tend around the airports to be high in PFAS. Central waste disposal facilities that collect and manage polluted fluids with PFAS. Also, even moving to Firetrucks to foaming fire -free fires.

Megan: amazing. This is a great expansion of applications, incredible things.

Dennis: Yes.