April 29, 2009

DAN PELTON

“We’re excited at the prospect of moving from the lab, where batch results on the bench have been tremendous, to a real world scenario where we can collect data from a continuous flow model,” says Xogen CEO Angella Hughes.

Water and Wastewater

Tech firm set to test wastewater technology in Orangeville, Ont.

Xogen Technologies pilot project set to revolutionize wastewater treatment

DAN PELTON

correspondent

Orangeville, Ont.

Thanks to increasingly volatile markets and stiffening offshore competition, the traditional manufacturing sector in Canada is being clobbered.

Yet, as traditional factories disappear, dynamic new green enterprises, like Xogen Technologies Inc. of Orangeville, Ont. are sprouting up to fill the void.

The local town council has agreed in principle for Xogen to install a pilot plant at the Orangeville water pollution control plant to test its globally-patented wastewater treatment technology.

At its six-employee, 3,200-square-foot Orangeville lab, Xogen has developed a process that treats wastewater using an electrolytic process that not only eliminates biosolids but also requires a much smaller facilities footprint than conventional treatment approaches, thereby lowering potential capital costs.

As well, the process produces a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen gas that can be used to generate energy through combustion or fuel cell energy that can be sold back to the grid or re-used to help further reduce costs.

Although originally designed with energy production as the focus, subsequent testing of the Xogen technology on wastewater samples from a conventional sewage treatment plant identified the potential application as a wastewater treatment process.

Under specific operating conditions in a bench scale reactor, the technology has achieved high levels of organic degradation and pathogen destruction at very low retention times and temperatures.

The pilot project at the Orangeville plant will not impede the facility’s day-to-day operations since it will only be processing approximately 6,300 gallons of wastewater a day and take up just 750 square feet of floor space. As well, the treated water will flow into the back into that of the plant.

“We believe our patented technology has the potential to revolutionize the wastewater treatment process,” says Angella Hughes, CEO of Xogen.

“We’re excited at the prospect of moving from the lab, where batch results on the bench have been tremendous, to a real world scenario where we can collect data from a continuous flow model.”

Having received the Town of Orangeville’s agreement in principle to act as host for the pilot plant, Xogen has submitted a proposal for up to one-third funding for the pilot plant from Sustainable Technology Development Canada a non-profit corporation created by the Government of Canada to finance and support the late-stage development and pre-commercial demonstration of clean technologies.

SDTC is expected to announce the results of its latest funding round in early July.

Design and construction of the pilot project is expected to be completed and fully operational in early 2010.

Once operational, the Xogen pilot plant will divert a small portion of raw sewage through its reactor on a continuous flow basis in order to demonstrate its viability for municipal wastewater treatment.

An objective third party will evaluate the results.

With data obtained from the pilot, Xogen will be able to refine the technology for commercial use in both Canadian and international markets.

The pilot plant is expected to run until 2011.

By partnering with Xogen, the Town of Orangeville joins with other members of a consortium that includes the University of Toronto, Newalta and other specialized technology companies contributing to the project.

Xogen has a collaborative research agreement with the University of Toronto which has received financial support from the federal and provincial governments, including from the Ontario Centres of Excellence and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Hughes feels the various levels of government are warming to the economic, as well as environmental, potential of green industries and companies such as Xogen.

“So far we’ve had amazing support from the Ontario government through the Ontario Centres of Excellence program,” says Hughes.

“On the federal level we’ve received funding from NSERC to support our research.”

“We think now is the time for governments to get behind green technology as it promises to be a huge job creator ... but it will take investment up front.”

Such companies will also require a highly-skilled labour force to succeed.

Nevertheless, she is confident that Xogen can find the people it needs right in Orangeville.

“All my technicians are local people,” Hughes points out. “There are a lot of skilled people commuting to the GTA every day who would like to live and work here.”

While it is excited about the pilot project, Xogen is, by no means, restricted to the Town of Orangeville. Its patented technology has attracted international interest with inquiries coming from Washington D.C. and Seattle in the U.S., to as far away as Malaysia.

“We’ve been getting inquiries from places where conventional (wastewater treatment) solutions are no longer addressing the problem,” says Hughes.

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