Feb. 25, 2003 — From the Love Boat to the kids’ aquarium, two small tech companies are sinking money into waterborne nanomaterials that can sponge away everything from annoying algae to harmful bacteria.
Scotia Prince Cruises ferries up to 1,000 passengers a day on 11-hour trips from Portland, Maine, to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, in the Canadian Maritime Provinces. Upon arrival, the crew has about an hour to unload passengers and vehicles, clean the ship and its 320 cabins, then reload another group on the return trip to Maine.
It’s a duty that has taken on added importance since recent outbreaks of Norwalk virus, a gastrointestinal aliment, on several cruise ships. Scotia isn’t swabbing its decks with bleach or other irritating chemical cleaner. It’s using EcoTru, a cleanser that uses proprietary nanoemulsion technology. EcoTru was developed by San Jose, Calif.-based EnviroSystems Inc.
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Scotia said EcoTru keeps the ferry on schedule, since there is no waiting for noxious fumes to dissipate. Nanoemulsion also allows EcoTru to use far less bactericide than other commonly used cleansers.
EcoTru uses nanospheres of oil droplets ranging from about 170 nanometers suspended in water to create a nanoemulsion that adheres to bacterial cells. According to Brent Nixon, EnviroSystems’ vice president of marketing, the nanospheres are not only valued for their surface area, but also allow EcoTru to be manufactured with .2 percent of the biocidal compound PCMX, compared to the 3-5 percent solution found in non-nano solutions.
EnviroSystems said EcoTru is the only EPA registered Tox IV category disinfectant in the United States, with no harmful dermal, ocular, inhalation or ingestion effects.
Nixon said the 5-year-old company is taking in annual revenues of less than $1 million, but is encouraged by discussions with “billion-dollar players” in the medical, consumer product and cruise line industries, and has a “good deal of traction with the military,” particularly aboard submarines.
The company’s short-term business plan includes working with distributors as well as licensing the technology to a large manufacturer of consumer cleaning products.
Mark Hudson, Hampton, Ontario-based director of marketing for Scotia Prince, said feedback from employees has been positive. “The advantage is the crew doesn’t have to use gloves and masks,” as is the case when chlorides are used. “(EcoTru) doesn’t cause respiratory infection, and is not hard on their skin.”
Neil Gordon, president of the Canadian NanoBusiness Alliance and partner at Montreal based Sygertech Consulting Group Inc., said he sees “a real market” here because of increased attention to places people are confined, whether it’s a cruise ship or an airplane. “There’s so much concern about the dangers of travel that minimizing the impact of germ transfer seems to make sense,” Gordon said.
“The chemistry is not esoteric but an extension of things we’ve learned in drug discovery. Smaller particles sizes mean higher surface area, and more concentrated payload to a better targeted area. Such products have a higher chance of being effective with fewer side effects.”
Far from the high seas, Reno, Nev.-based Altair Nanotechnologies Inc. has been using nanotech to clean up swimming polls, spas and even home aquariums.
In December, Altair filed a new patent application for its NanoCheck Algae Preventer. The product is designed to remove phosphates from water, which prevents algae growth in pools, fountains and spas. Altair wants to license its NanoCheck technology to a company that already serves the pool and spa industry.
It’s an attractive market. According to the National Spa & Pool Institute, there are more than eight million pools and four million existing spas worldwide with about 360,000 pools and 260,000 spas or hot tubs installed each year.
Rudi Moerck, Altair’s president, said his firm is talking to several companies that want to receive test samples of NanoCheck. Moerck said the technology is based on the knowledge the company gained developing a drug for kidney dialysis patients. “It’s a similar compound,” Moerck said. “Instead of killing the algae, you’re preventing their growth by removing the phosphate nutrient that the plant needs to survive.”
Moerck said the lanthanum-based compound absorbs phosphate and does not cause the sludge formation or filtration problems associated with lanthanum carbonate. Lanthanum is a transition metal that has been used to remove heavy metals and arsenic from drinking water. “We made the compound so that it has large surface area of 30 square meters per gram using a 40-nanometer spherical particle that acts like a sponge to absorb the phosphate,” Moerck said.
Altair hopes to absorb a hefty share of what Moerck calls a multimillion-dollar swimming pool cleaning market, especially since algae is resistant to chlorine, the most popular pool water cleaner.
Another potential payoff for NanoCheck could be in the commercial fish farm and home aquarium market. “Algae growth is a big issue, and the (NanoCheck) material doesn’t seem to harm fish,” Moerck said.