Portfolio Highlight: Focal Technologies, Inc.
For 15 years, VertueLab has provided funding and holistic support to startups at every stage of their journey in our shared fight against climate change. We’ve had the honor of helping accelerate countless climate technologies from ideation to community deployment through our funds while connecting directly with the entrepreneurs behind the magic. Join us as we take a deeper dive into VertueLab’s portfolio, speaking directly with our supported startups to hear more about their stories and awe-inspiring technologies. Keep reading below to see our interview with Eric Steinmeyer, the CEO of Focal Technologies, Inc., illuminating the relatively untapped potential of combining heat and UV to generate sustainably sourced clean water.
About Focal Technologies, Inc.
Focal Technologies, Inc. created the Ray® Solar Remediation System. Ray® is a transportable and autonomous unit that harnesses the energy of the sun to remediate wastewater. The breakthrough combination of high heat, intense UV and photocatalysis allows Ray® to destroy a vast amount of pollutants on a molecular level.
The EPA lists 1,595 Oregon facilities that have violated the Clean Water Act within the last 3 years. That number jumps significantly when looking at a larger state, such as California with 7,666 violators. The Ray® unit is designed to help these facilities adhere to water quality standards and aid the efforts of those suffering from a lack of clean water to effectively water their crops and feed their cattle. Ray’s lens captures 6000 W/m2 UV and its heat chamber can reach internal temperatures of about 900 degrees*. Its capabilities position it as a powerful tool against a multitude of contaminants found across agricultural and industrial plants such as bacteria, glycols and high BOD compounds.
Leading the overall strategy of the business and execution of the operating plan at Focal is CEO Eric Steinmeyer. Much of his day-to-day work involves contacting investors to introduce Ray to new markets or working with his engineering team to ensure their product is performing at peak performance. Below he explains the concerns of both producers and regulators, and why Ray® is the tool to best address them.
Focal Technologies, Inc. CEO, Eric Steinmeyer
VERTUELAB: Besides the environmental implications, why are producers motivated to treat their wastewater?
STEINMEYER: Most of our customers are actually fairly good stewards of the land and take great pride in how they care for the environment on their property and off of their property. There are permit regulations, of course, that most of our producers need to meet and there are a variety of ways to meet these. Many of them require hauling, which is a high carbon cost and a high cost monetarily, so treating on site is something that is preferable for most folks. There’s also the added issue of the Food Safety Modernization Act which has created a significant amount of liability around the presence of E. coli in the food supply, and producers are eager to address that issue as they manage their wastewater.
What makes Ray® unique in today’s remediation landscape?
Ray® is unique in the fact that it uses a large lens to concentrate the sun for remediation purposes, using both the heat and UV as an entirely new tool in the toolkit for environmental remediation. It runs a 5 step process that uses filtration, aeration, photocatalytic breakdown, and heat. What we’re hoping for is to provide a unique and innovative solution to meet most people’s remediation needs in a highly sustainable fashion.
What sector are you most looking forward to positively impacting your product?
We’re really excited about the impact that Ray® can have on the environmental remediation practices of the agricultural industry. And not only dairy farmers, and large animal facilities, but also producers of process products and the reprocessing of water for irrigation. There’s a huge need out there to address the concerns of agricultural interests, and lowering their costs can help address the issues in the environment. We’re excited to play a part in that.
Sometimes sustainability initiatives can come at the price of what some deem efficient or even effective when applied to large scale challenges. How is Ray® able to provide a truly sustainable solution while ensuring functionality for producers?
We probably downplay the sustainability aspects of the system because we’ve really been more concentrated on creating a durable and useful piece of equipment that is compatible with industrial sites and farms. The system is designed to operate in high wind loads and relatively harsh conditions. For a lot of people, sustainable and green means fragile and expensive, but we’ve endeavored to create a durable and robust piece of equipment that defies those conventions and meets the needs of our customers.
What exciting plans do you have coming up as an organization?
Ray® has the ability to address almost any organic through the photocatalytic process and through the application of heat, but one of the things we’re looking forward to the most is additional research on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are right now the holy grail of environmental remediation. Early studies from Oregon State University indicate that the system has effectiveness on this product, and there’s also expanding research on the use of catalytic metals to degrade the PFAS/ PFOAS as well. Pairing Ray’s immense concentration and energy deliverability with some of these emerging catalysts is something that opens up exciting new possibilities for the system and promises a fully sustainable way to remediate the forever chemicals.
What have you learned by working in your role at Focal Technologies, Inc?
That’s a really great question. One of the things that’s been the most fulfilling is learning about all the different folks out there that are making and building and creating things, and what their processes look like. [I’ve enjoyed] talking to them about what their needs are and addressing their concerns about environmental remediation. I’ve also learned the value of collaboration and working with a diverse team. […] there are many different concepts that are brought together in a single equipment envelope, and that takes a wide variety of very talented and skilled people which I’m proud to say our system and our company has been able to attract.
Thanks for joining us for our first ever edition of Portfolio Highlights! You can find out more about Focal Technologies and their Ray® unit here. Stay tuned for our next installment!
