Life comes down to water, and Lauren Greenlee is working on a project she hopes will one day make the world’s water supply much cleaner.

Greenlee is an assistant professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, a position she has held since 2015. When she joined the faculty, she had been working as a scientist at the National Institute of Standards & Technology in Boulder, Colorado, where her research dealt with using nanoparticles for water treatment.

Greenlee, 39, has continued that work at the UA, where she has teamed with a startup company, AxNano LLC, a subsidiary of Triad Growth Partners of Greensboro, North Carolina. Greenlee and AxNano believe that her carbon-iron formula will more effectively remove contaminants from groundwater, and NIST gave the group a nearly $100,000 grant in 2016 to try to develop the process for commercial use.

The first main focus for the project is a contaminant called trichloroethylene, which was commonly used in manufacturing as a solvent. TCE has been classified as a carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency, and its improper disposal or storage has contaminated groundwater and facilities nationwide.

“It is one of the most common groundwater contaminants and it is carcinogenic,” Greenlee said. “We actually degrade it. We degrade it so it is not toxic anymore. It is super common. It is no longer produced industrially, but it was used throughout the 20th century as a solvent or a degreaser. “It was actually one of the main components in dry-cleaning facilities for a really long time. It doesn’t really degrade naturally.”

The degrading agent that Greenlee has created — she did her initial work while at NIST after earning her doctor-
ate in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2009 — combines carbon and iron nanoparticles and other components to create a material that is injected into the ground to interact with contaminated groundwater.
The material, which rolls off the tongue as bimetallic zero valent iron carbon composites, then attaches to the trichloroethylene in groundwater and renders it nontoxic. AxNano markets the substance as RemRx CSI.

Cheaper, Better
Similar compounds are already being used to decontaminate TCE in groundwater, but Greenlee believes her formula can be more effective.

She thinks her formula will be more viscous underground — seeping through more area to cleanse more groundwater — while being more effective with any TCE it comes into contact with. A more effective treatment protocol will mean lower costs, since current treatments often have to be repeated many times at any given contaminated site.

“What makes it expensive with current options is the number of treatments required,” Greenlee said. “The treatment has a short life. You have to reapply, reapply, reapply. If you don’t have good movement of the material in the ground, it is way less effective.”

Greenlee’s team consists of two postdoctoral students, 10 graduate students and a varying number of undergraduate students. They have made her formula into what she calls a “slurry” material so it can seep and ooze through underground strata and interact with as much contaminant as it can. “What we have found through our customer engagement and discovery is our potential customers have tried the other products on the market, and they are either not reactive enough, or they are reactive but they get stuck,” Greenlee said. “They pump them into the ground and nothing really happens. If you think about pumping a mixture into the ground, you want it to move a little bit so it can take care of a big enough area. I would say the biggest challenge is enabling that slurry to move a little bit in the subsurface.”


Greenlee said she hears concerns about her procedure because she is pumping a carbon-and-iron slurry into underground water sources. She said that the mixture is benign, especially compared to the TCE it will effectively eliminate.
“Some people balk at that, ‘Why would you be putting something into the ground?’” Greenlee said. “What is in the ground is much more dangerous and toxic than anything that we would put into the ground. We have very tight parameters around how we can design our material because we don’t want to put anything super toxic into the ground. “It really is a compromise. Nothing is going to be perfect. We would rather remove the contaminant that is actually carcinogenic and really toxic to humans and have something reactive in the ground that is really not that toxic.”

Business of Science
Cleansing a contaminated site can costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, which makes any successful creation a potential moneymaker.

Greenlee said her mixture has shown good results in lab tests and she hopes to begin field trials within the next year. In those trials, Greenlee said, her mixture will be used at volunteered sites and then the results tested to determine the effectiveness.
A better-working cleanup procedure is a desire of many developers and consultants, Greenlee said. Imagine wanting to put a commercial building on a site, or refurbish an existing vacant one, only to discover the site is contaminated and has to be cleaned up, expensively, before any development can be done. “That’s the main financial driver,” Greenlee said. “Our customer would likely be consulting companies. Say you’re a site owner and your site is contaminated; you don’t know how to treat it. A consulting company is contracted to come in and clean it up, and that consulting company is looking for technologies that they can use to clean up whatever mess they are trying to clean up.”

If the product turns into a successful business, it will fall in line with the university’s recent dedication to increase funding for more research and development and the creation of more businesses from that R&D. Greenlee said, as an engineer, it is helpful to have an application goal for her research.

“It is an interesting question when it comes to fundamental research: Should it be application-focused, or should there always be a space where people can investigate questions for the benefit of science and knowledge and learning?” Greenlee said. “I am of the opinion we need to have both. I love having an application in mind. I think it drives what we do. I would love to see it work.”

By Marty Cook, MCook@ABPG.com
Published in Arkansas Business, August 2018

America’s Seed Fund Powered by NSF Provides Funding for R&D; 
Helps small businesses move innovations out of the lab and into the market

GREENSBORO, NC, May 15, 2018 – Triad Growth Partners // Axnano has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant for $728,849.00 to commercialize the innovative technology by conducting research and development (R&D) work on the remediation of contaminated groundwater.

RemRX™ Controlled Release Polymers (CRP) based treatments will decrease exposure to groundwater contaminants known to cause many human health disorders. 

RemRx™ CRP addresses a broad range of commonly found contaminants, typically by-products of industrial manufacturing, cleaning solvents, and agricultural run-off. 

RemRx™ CRP patented technology treats contaminated water over more extended periods eliminating the occurrence of contaminant rebounding resulting in an overall shorter clean up time and lower total project costs. 

“The National Science Foundation supports small businesses with the most innovative, cutting-edge ideas that have the potential to become great commercial successes and make huge societal impacts,” said Barry Johnson, Director of Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships at NSF. “We hope that this seed funding will spark solutions to some of the most important challenges of our time across all areas of science and technology.”

"The NSF funding allows us to move forward with both field testing and manufacturing pilots and deploying a site-specific, customer driven, prescriptive product sales platform within months." and Charlie Gause, CEO, Triad Growth Partners/Axnano continues: " ... our business model and innovation process were validated right alongside our new invention, and this award is a big milestone."

Small businesses can receive up to $1.5 million in funding from NSF. Companies must first have received a Phase I award (up to $225,000) to become eligible to apply for a Phase II grant (up to $750,000) to further develop and commercialize the technology. Small businesses with Phase II grants are eligible to receive up to $500,000 in additional matching funds with qualifying third-party investment or sales.

Small businesses with innovative science and technology solutions and commercial potential across almost all areas of technology are encouraged to apply. All proposals submitted to the NSF SBIR/STTR program undergo a rigorous merit-based review process. NSF’s deadlines for Phase I small business proposals occur twice annually, in June and December.

To learn more about the NSF SBIR/STTR program, visit: seedfund.nsf.gov.

About the National Science Foundation's Small Business Programs: America’s Seed Fund powered by the National Science Foundation (NSF) awards nearly $200 million annually to startups and small businesses, transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and societal impact. Startups working across almost all areas of science and technology can receive up to $1.5 million in non-dilutive funds to support research and development (R&D), helping de-risk technology for commercial success.

America’s Seed Fund is congressionally mandated through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The NSF is an independent federal agency with a budget of about $7.5 billion that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering.


CONTACT:

Charlie Gause
CEO
Triad Growth Partners/Axnano
(540) 230-3881

Triad Growth Partners
2901 Gate City Boulevard ​Suite 2200
Greensboro, NC ​27401
(336) 217-5171

527 Bridge Street,
​Suite 301
Danville, VA
​24051 ​

​Welcome, Danilo Meyer (Dani), to Triad Growth Partners' AxNano technology development team.

Dani “pronounced Donnie" is responsible for field testing and lab work in the degradation of toxic contaminants and early technology development of groundwater remediation solutions.  

Donnie works with researchers, scientists, field experts and end users of environmental technologies that address specific market opportunities.

Dani's undergraduate studies in environmental science and geology led him from Juanita College to TGP.  

I took a few minutes to talk to Donnie one afternoon at TGP. When I asked him what he found most interesting and challenging in his work, Dani said: "A lot of what we do has never been done before..., we have to invent new methods to address our discovery and validation challenges. An example of that would be working with contaminated groundwater and RemRx™ CRP." 

"The release of oxidants and the oxidization of contaminants... TGP is pioneering innovations in a world typically left overlooked and unexplored by geologists and hydrologists."

I thought about the added level of complexity of doing innovative work within the framework of a scientific method.  Dani told me that he relied on his studies in chemistry, physics and most of all, good lab skills. 

Under the watchful eyes of Alexis Wells-Carpenter, TGPs Senior Scientist, those lab skills, such as methods of quantitation, accuracy, and precision, repeatability and reproducibility are core to the success of his laboratory work.

Dani likes the opportunities for innovation, trial and error, the definition of new experimental standards, and of course, the testing, testing, and more testing. 

He said: "...there was a chance here (at TGP) to have an impact on the world, to change the world, and make it a better place.

Born and raised in Durham, NC, Dani is a soccer fanatic and has adopted the practice of his favorite sport as an integral part of this life. He said that he was in many ways dedicated to soccer. He finds it to be a meditative experience, as well as a team building activity. 

I asked him what he was reading these days? 

"Love in the Time of Cholera" a novel by Colombian Nobel prize-winning author Gabriel García, and he continued: “you have to read between the lines.”

CRPS amendments are in the pilot testing phase.
​We are currently seeking pilot testing partners for in field application.
Contact: 
Alexis Wells Carpenter, PhD – PI
Charles Gause – Founder, CEO
(540) 230-3881​
​Learn more about TGP partnerships here.

​

RemTec – Denver CO March 7-9, 2017
AxNano attended the RemTEC Summit on Denver CO March 7-9, 2017. RemTEC delivers a truly unique platform focused on advancing the environmental science and remediation industry. It is the place where you can hear essential sources of information on technology, application and policy impacting the restoration of contaminated sites from the world's leading experts within the academic, regulatory and environmental-consulting communities. AxNano’s Principal Investigator, Alexis Carpenter, presented a poster presentation entitled “Next Generation Controlled Release Technology for In Situ Chemical Oxidation Remediation of Contaminated Groundwater”. During their time at RemTEC, Dr. Carpenter and AxNano CEO Charlie Gause met remediation material suppliers including Carus Corporation, Regenesis, Peroxychem, EOS; consulting firms including Haley-Aldrich, GeoSyntec, CDM Smith; state and federal regulatory agencies and many leading experts in the field. Dr. Carpenter was able to reconnect with a colleague from her Duke University days, Anh Pham who is now Assistant Professor in Environmental Engineering at Carleton University.
 http://www.remtecsummit.com/

Battelle Bioremediation Conference, Miami FL, May 22-25,2017
AxNano CEO Charlie Gause and Principal Investigator Alexis Wells Carpenter attended the Fourth International Symposium on Bioremediation and Sustainable Environmental Technologies in Miami FL May 22-25th.  As part of their I-Corps @ NIH Customer Discovery process, Charlie and Alexis were able to again meet with remediation material supplies, environmental consultants, drillers and applicators, and state and federal regulatory representatives. In addition to learning from key players in the remediation ecosystem and hearing the stories of how other remediation technologies gained market uptake, Charlie and Alexis used the opportunity to investigate partnerships for pilot testing the AxNano technologies in the field, which are the key milestones for Phase 2 contracts.
 
ACS 254th National Meeting, Washington DC August 20-24th, 2017
AxNano was invited to present at the 254th National ACS Meeting in the Special Session titled: “Economic Impact of Environmental Health Research: A Case Study of the NIEHS Superfund Research Program” Dr. Carpenter will give an oral presentation titled “RemRxTM CRP: Controlled release polymeric systems for in situ chemical oxidation of contaminated waters” where she will present data indicating anticipated economic impact of AxNano’s Superfund Research Program-supported technology in terms of: decreased cost of environmental clean-up, decreased liability to responsible parties, reclamation and regeneration of site for reuse, job creation and the global economic benefits of providing clean water.

AxNano was selected to participate in the prestigious I-Corps™ program through their NIEHS STTR Phase I contract. Based on the highly successful NSF I-Corps™ program, the I-Corps™ at NIH curriculum is designed to provide scientists from NIH SBIR funded companies with real-world, hands-on entrepreneurship training, facilitated by domain experts from the biotech sector. 

This program seeks to accelerate the development and commercialization of new products and services arising from projects supported by currently funded NIH/CDC Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards. In particular, the I-Corps™ program is designed to support training that will help project teams at NIH and CDC funded small businesses overcome key obstacles along the path of innovation and commercialization.

The course began with a three-day intensive “Entrepreneurial Immersion” course, followed by an 8-week I-Corps™ training curriculum with online instruction, and ending with a two-day report-out session. During the I-Corp™s program, the AxNano Team conducted 112 interviews (67 in person, 45 on the phone) with environmental consultants, remediation material suppliers and sales reps, site owners, regulators, and drillers/applicators.

Stellar team delivered brilliant results!
AxNano 's three member team included Alexis Wells Carpenter (PI), Charlie Gause (CEO) and Phil Rahn (Industry Expert) representing a first selection of Superfund Research Program supported teams into an I-Corps™ cohort.