September 16, 2024 · Entrepreneurs, Innovation, Program Impact, Stories
Keeping Alabama’s Freshwater Clean: A Spotlight on Grant Recipient Fagan Consulting
Did you know Alabama has more than 132,000 miles of freshwater rivers and streams, making it one of the world’s most biologically diverse ecosystems? Keeping these waterways clean and fresh is essential to maintaining this status.
Stormwater runoff from construction sites and urban and agricultural lands is a leading threat to the quality of Alabama’s waters. This runoff can carry sediment, nutrients, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, bacteria and pathogens, pesticides, herbicides, trash, debris and other pollutants into the state’s waterways all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.
Recent Innovate Alabama SBIR/STTR Supplemental Grant Recipient Fagan Consulting, LLC, in partnership with Auburn University, is developing a portable self-contained stormwater treatment device to help address many of these pollutants. The team’s Electrical Flocculant Generator, or “Floc Generator” under development uses electricity to remove pollutants from stormwater without chemicals, pumps, or filters. The device can be used to treat runoff from construction sites and can fit into existing stormwater infrastructure such as pipes, detention basins, and ponds.
Fagan Consulting and Auburn University’s floc generator, nicknamed “Tiger Shark,” can be inserted into a 12” pipe. Electric current passes across metal plates as water flows through causing pollutants to drop out of suspension.
Fagan Consulting and Auburn University’s portable floc generator runs on 12 volts of solar power and treats stormwater runoff without chemicals, pumps, or filters.
The Innovate Alabama Supplemental Grant Program has already helped Fagan Consulting and Auburn advance their work beyond their Phase I SBIR contract. As they begin work on their recently received Phase II SBIR contract with the US Department of Transportation, Innovate Alabama will again support the work of the team. Thanks to its recent Innovate Alabama grant, Fagan Consulting will be able take the Floc Generator to the next level of commercialization and mass usage across the state and nationally.
Innovate Alabama Phase II supplemental funding will be used for:
- Enhancing and technically validating the performance of the Floc Generator
- Assessing the Floc Generator’s performance under field conditions
- Strengthening the commercialization strategy
Other Phase II tasks include device refinement, pollutant loading evaluations, sustainable power integration, automation of controls, field observations, commercialization strategy, and patent protection. This project aims to achieve several milestones that will eventually lead to the commercialization of the Floc Generator.
Development of the Floc Generator will benefit the State of Alabama in a number of ways. As Alabama’s toolbox for protecting freshwater resources expands, the State’s technological footprint will also be enhanced and highlighted, attracting future investments and creating jobs.
With Alabama containing the highest diversity of freshwater species in the U.S., including more than 450 species of freshwater fish, protecting water quality is crucial. With support from Innovate Alabama, Fagan Consulting and Auburn University are delivering innovative solutions that will be used to protect aquatic resources in Alabama and beyond.
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