Industry Giant Chicago Bridge & Iron to Support Implementation of BioLargo’s Clean Water and Air Technologies

By: Justin Kuepper

* 2020 update: Enforcement of Ballast Water Discharge Regulations Delayed to 2030 Link Here for More Information 

*2017 Update- BioLargo forms BioLargo Engineering, Sciences and Technologies (BLEST) Link Here

BioLargo, Inc. (OTC: BLGO), owner and developer of the breakthrough AOS (Advanced Oxidation System), a low-energy high-efficiency clean water technology, announced the start of a relationship with Chicago Bridge & Iron, NV (NYSE:CBI). According to the press release and a number of recent interviews with BioLargo’s President & CEO, Dennis P. Calvert, the new relationship was formed to support the commercialization of BioLargo’s proprietary technology and to provide independent performance verification. BioLargo also reports the AOS has been proven to disinfect and decontaminate water better, faster and at a lower cost than any other competing technology.

Based on the breadth and significance of the technical performance claims for its AOS, BioLargo has a broad range of commercial opportunities for large industrial applications that must contend with water such as: maritime ballast water management systems, wastewater treatment, environmental remediation, food safety, oil & gas, mining, and agriculture. Its future uses also promise to impact the drinking water industry, including municipal, home use, and emerging nations. The company is also busy commercializing its new “CupriDyne Clean” an industrial odor control product launched last May. The company reports that the product is so effective and low-cost it is gaining rapid traction through trials with leaders within the waste handling industry and that it has had some early sales. Management believes sales will continue to climb, as they finalize supplier agreements with large multi-location customer accounts. CupriDyne Clean may also have an important role to play in industries that contend with volatile organic compounds like hydrogen sulfide (H2S) that impact air quality and safety.

Dennis P. Calvert, President & CEO of BioLargo commented, “All of our technologies at BioLargo can serve a wide array of industrial customers that want clean water and clean air. Our mission to ‘Make Life Better’ includes helping industry tackle operational challenges cost effectively. That intersection of service is likely where our new relationship with CB&I will shine the brightest and we look forward to working with the exceptional team at CB&I to serve industry.” 

With more than 40,000 employees, $13 billion in annual revenue and over $20 billion in future contracts, CB&I is a world-leading engineering, procurement, fabrication, and construction company, and a provider of environmental and infrastructure services. CB&I builds oil refineries, liquefied natural gas terminals, wastewater treatment plants, offshore platforms, and power plants. CB&I is also the world’s largest tank construction company and builds tanks for the oil & gas, mining, water, and wastewater industries. The company also remediates hazardous waste problems. 

Clean water and clean air are at the heart of many of industries served by CB&I and BioLargo’s technologies. Details in the first announcement were slim. This news sends notice to the investment world and to industry that Biolargo’s technologies can have an important role to play in helping solve air and water contamination problems in a safe, effective and affordable way. Calvert has been quick to point out that the current version of the AOS has been engineered to serve entry-level clients and that important scale-up work is required to serve very large-scale industrial clients.  

BioLargo Water’s research team recently showcased the first pre-commercial prototype of its AOS water treatment system, billed as the lowest cost and highest impact, scalable clean water technology in the world. By combining a cutting-edge carbon matrix, advanced iodine chemistry, and electrolysis, this technology rapidly and inexpensively eliminates bacteria and chemical contaminants in water without leaving residual toxins. 

University of Alberta researchers, in collaboration with BioLargo Water Scientists, have confirmed test results that validate the AOS achieves unprecedented rates of disinfection, eliminating infectious biological pathogens such as Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli. The AOS has also been proven effective in oxidizing and removing hard-to-manage soluble organics acids, aromatic compounds, and solvents faster than existing technologies and with very little input energy. Proven test results validate its important role for extremely high oxidation potential to tackle a long “watch list” of contaminants identified by the EPA. The company reports that future generations of the AOS will include the extraction and harvesting of important contaminants like sulfur, nitrates, phosphorus, and even heavy metals. 

The company’s first “Alpha” AOS was constructed in collaboration with the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT)'s Center for Sensors and Systems Integration and with NAIT's Applied Bio/Nanotechnology Industrial Research Chair. Its “Beta” unit is expected to be ready for commercial trials in 2017. 

"Alpha" AOS- BioLargo’s AOS Water Treatment
Solution Showcased August 2016 at BioLargo
Water’s 2nd Annual Technical Symposium 

What places the AOS above competing technologies is its exceptionally high rate of disinfection (100x more effective than the competition, as verified in poultry production applications) and remarkably low capital and operational costs, made possible by its extremely low amount of electrical energy required to power the oxidation process.Studies have shown the AOS to achieve remarkable rates of disinfection at less than 1/20th the electrical energy input of competing technologies.

The AOS is scalable and modular in design to meet a wide variety of needs in the marketplace. BioLargo is already working on what it calls the “Gen 2 AOS” for ultra-high flow rates. Because the markets for the AOS are very large and the needs so great, management reports that they believe it is only a matter of time before industry adopts this new breakthrough low cost technology. 

Industries and Companies to Benefit

Oil and gas companies such as Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM), Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL), Schlumberger Limited (NYSE: SLB), Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) and Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS-A) could dramatically reduce water transportation, sourcing and disposal costs by adopting the AOS. The AOS has been shown to be cost effective at removing problematic contaminants from oil & gas “produced water”, and any technology such as the AOS that could cost-effectively enable water recycling on-site could slash costs and greatly improve the bottom line for many producers that are now suffering big losses due to persistently low oil prices. It could also alleviate the costly problem of injecting produced water deep into injection wells, and simultaneously reduce pollution. 

The maritime industry has increasing regulatory pressure to eliminate the detrimental transfer and release of invasive marine species through the discharge of ballast water. This issue prompted the International Maritime Organization to impose regulations for the treatment and discharge of ballast water, and these new rules are scheduled to come into force beginning September of 2017. An estimated 65,000 ships must adopt ballast water treatment systems type approved under the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004 (BWMC). Approved systems must disinfect seawater to specified standards without adding any toxic elements to the discharged water. 

Global Water Intelligence estimates that the average cost for each ballast water management system will be more than $750,000 and the total cost to outfit every vessel will be about $46.5 billion. Because it is the highest impact, lowest cost, lowest energy technology known that can solve this problem, the AOS is could be the most practical solution to maritime operators such as DryShips, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS), Navios Maritime Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: NM), Diana Shipping, Inc. (NYSE: DSX), Sino-Global Shipping America, Ltd. (NASDAQ: SINO), Diana Containerships Inc. (DCIX) and several others. 

In an effort to reduce the incidence of foodborne illness in the poultry industry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service, FSIS, announced new, stricter federal standards to reduce Salmonella and Campylobacter in ground chicken and turkey products, as well as in raw chicken breasts, legs, and wings. The new regulations took effect July 1, 2016 and have the potential to impact sales of poultry processing operations of Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN), Pilgrims Pride Corporation, (NASDAQ: PPC), Sanderson Farms, Inc., (NASDAQ: SAFM), Hormel Foods Corporation, (NYSE: HRL), Perdue, Cargill, Smithfield Food, Inc., Conagra Foods, Inc., and every other poultry processor. Researchers at the University of Alberta confirmed that the AOS could be highly effective in reducing cross-contamination of pathogens when poultry is washed in chill tanks. 

Water quality of municipal water systems is also a growing concern and a few large water treatment companies that provide water services to millions of U.S. residents are American Water Works Company, Inc., (NYSE: AWK), American States Water Company (NYSE: AWR), Aqua America, Inc. (NYSE: WTR) and Veolia Environment S.A. (OTC: VEOEY). 

The need for a better and lower cost clean water technology is urgent and CB&I may just be the perfect company to support implementation of breakthrough low-cost water and air treatment technologies developed by BioLargo, Inc. that can help solve problems across such a broad spectrum of industries.

** Update to Article: In late 2017 BioLargo formed BioLargo Engineering Science & Technologies, Inc. with a team of innovators formerly employed by CB&I.