BioLargo Engineering Awarded EPA Grant to Develop Methods to Remove Toxic Contaminants from Water

WESTMINSTER, CA / ACCESSWIRE / April 30, 2019 / BioLargo, Inc. (OTCQB: BLGO), a technology innovator and full service environmental engineering solutions provider, announced today that its engineering subsidiary had been awarded an SBIR Phase I Competitive Grant by the Environmental Protection Agency in the amount of $100,000 to investigate solutions for the removal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from water. PFAS have been linked to cancer, fertility problems, asthma, and more, and are present in a vast range of manufactured goods including food, common household products (e.g., cleaning products, cookware), and electronics. PFAS also pose widespread and serious water safety problems around the world, with governments and industry actively seeking new technologies and processes to eliminate PFAS from groundwater and drinking water.

The mission of the SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) program is to support scientific excellence and technological innovation through the investment of Federal research funds in technologies that have the potential for commercialization. The objective of ''Phase I'' research grants are to establish the technical merit, feasibility, and commercial potential of the proposed research and development efforts, and to determine the quality of performance of the small business awardee organization prior to providing further Federal support.

Randall Moore, President of BLEST commented, ''the removal of PFAS contaminants from water presents an important and very difficult challenge. Our team's extensive work in environmental engineering and remediation combined with our comprehensive work in electro-chemistry, advanced oxidation processes and advanced water treatment solutions combine to make our team uniquely qualified to solve issues surrounding environmental PFAS.''

Dennis P. Calvert, President and CEO of BioLargo added, ''This is another example of BioLargo's unique ability to leverage its science and engineering capabilities to deliver innovative real-life solutions to big problems that threaten our water, air and life. We earn the trust of our clients every day by delivering results and value in the most difficult cases. We are also grateful to the US EPA for recognizing our capabilities and supporting our efforts in finding solutions for the removal of PFAS from the environment.''

About BioLargo, Inc.

BioLargo, Inc. is an innovative technology developer and environmental engineering company driven by a mission to "make life better" by delivering robust, sustainable solutions for a broad range of industries and applications, with a focus on clean water, clean air, and advanced wound care. We develop and commercialize disruptive technologies by providing the capital, support, and expertise to expedite them from "cradle" to "maturity" (www.biolargo.com). Our engineering division features experienced professional engineers dedicated to integrity, reliability, and environmental stewardship (www.biolargoengineering.com). Our industrial odor control division, Odor-No-More (www.odornomore.com) features CupriDyne Clean Industrial Odor Eliminator (www.cupridyne.com), which eliminates the odor-causing compounds and VOCs rather than masking them, and is now winning over leading companies in the solid waste handling and wastewater industries and other industries that contend with malodors and VOCs. Our subsidiary BioLargo Water (www.biolargowater.ca) develops the Advanced Oxidation System "AOS," a disruptive industrial water treatment technology designed to eliminate waterborne pathogens and recalcitrant contaminants with better energy-efficiency and lower operational costs than incumbent technologies. Our subsidiary Clyra Medical (www.clyramedical.com) features effective and gentle solutions for chronic infected wounds to promote infection control and regenerative tissue therapy.

Contact Information

Dennis Calvert President and CEO BioLargo, Inc. 800-400-2863 x 2

Safe Harbor Act

This press release includes ''forward-looking statements'' within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ from expectations, estimates and projections and, consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as ''expect,'' ''estimate,'' ''project,'' ''budget,'' ''forecast,'' ''anticipate,'' ''intend,'' ''plan,'' ''may,'' ''will,'' ''could,'' ''should,'' ''believes,'' ''predicts,'' ''potential,'' ''continue,'' and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results.

BioLargo Spotlight: Microbrewing Industry is Battling Wastewater Challenges

We at BioLargo Engineering, Science & Technologies are making strides to position ourselves in the engineering services marketplace as a pacesetter in innovative wastewater treatment services. This includes our wastewater engineering services as well as our cutting-edge water treatment technology – BioLargo’s AOS water treatment platform. But it also means that we have a passion for helping people seek out solutions to their water and wastewater problem so that they can get back to what matters – their business. Today we want to explain the challenges small breweries face with wastewater in beer production and speak to the solutions that can remedy those problems.

Craft beer brewing (commonly known as “microbrewing”) serves an ever-growing market for high-quality, small-batch beer and ciders. There are more than 7,000 brewpubs, microbreweries and regional craft breweries in the United States, with 1,000 expected to be added in 2019.  In 2017, they produced over 750 million gallons of beer, about 10% of total U.S. beer production.

In contrast to the major brewery operations that make brands like Coors and Budweiser, many craft breweries are located in condensed residential areas. Some are even integrated with restaurants and/or organize tours of their brewing facilities wherein customers get to learn about the brewing process from the brewers themselves. One thing that most people don’t know is that microbreweries, just like industrial breweries, create large volumes of wastewater per unit of beer produced. In fact, the average microbrewery produces almost 10 gallons of wastewater for each gallon of beer produced. That’s more than 7.5 billion gallons of wastewater per year. Brewery wastewater is laden with high levels of organics including bacteria and yeast, undigested carbohydrates, and chemicals including ethanol, aldehydes and ketones.  All of these constituents add to what is called the “organic carbon load” of the wastewater. In addition to this organic carbon load, brewery wastewater sometimes contains suspended and colloidal solids, excess nitrates/ammonia, and microbial activity.

Many cities require that microbreweries treat their wastewater on-site prior to discharge to the sewer, or face increasing fines and penalties. This is well-articulated in a 2016 news piece by CBC news in this video, which describes Vancouver’s wastewater infrastructure struggling with the load from the city’s many craft breweries. Because of this, microbreweries seek new ways to reduce wastewater volumes and contaminant loads. The challenge for any small business is doing so without disrupting operations and breaking the bank.

BLEST offers solutions to these problems for microbreweries, including engineering consulting, permitting services, design, and wastewater treatment (including the BioLargo AOS system). We understand the wastewater issues that brewers contend with, and we are able to provide custom-engineered treatment systems suited for microbrewery needs, including:

• COD/BOD treatment systems
• Denitrification Systems – MBBRs, Packed Bed Bioreactors
• Lamella Style Clarifiers
• Dissolved Air Floatation (DAF) Systems (fine solids removal)
• Potable water treatment to remove chlorine, solids, lead, bacteria, etc. prior to brewing
• AOS for influent water treatment and AOS for bacteria control
• Water capture, treatment and reuse systems

Additionally, many microbreweries in brew pubs prefer to start up in “historic” structures. These structures often require environmental, structural and safety related upgrades to meet newer building codes.  BLEST is positioned to provide a package of engineering services that can address these issues as well as services and products provided to the BioLargo family of companies. 

The national market for on-site waste water treatment for the craft brewing industry is, according to our internal market research, approximately $200 Million. The total market for overall wastewater treatment for industrial facilities is of course orders of magnitude larger than that. Targeting a small fraction of the total market provides significant revenue potential and an opportunity to serve a growing market segment local to all BioLargo geographic locations. Even within the immediate areas of BioLargo’s Westminster and Oak Ridge offices, there are several dozen micro- and craft breweries, many of which are in need of wastewater treatment solutions.

What is a BioLargo Spotlight?

It’s an exciting time at BioLargo. We’re moving fast, and it can be difficult to keep our stockholders and the investing public informed of our progress. In light of this, we will be posting a series of short articles titled “BioLargo Spotlight”, highlighting certain business activities and other important information in between our required SEC filings. Of course, these do not replace our public filings, which contain more complete information than can be delivered in this forum, and thus we urge you to carefully read and rely on those filings for definitive information, and to review our risk factors and caution regarding forward-looking statements. We are optimistic about our business as we work hard to continue to grow and ultimately generate profits for our stockholders.  

Legal Disclaimer

Our attorneys remind us that while we believe these developments are important and that these small victories could add up and lead to big victories, at this stage they do not rise to the level of an official material disclosure. As the size and magnitude of these developments become material, we will naturally report that information in an 8-K and our regular SEC filings