HAYWARD, CA, Jan. 22, 2014 -- A $1.5 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) was awarded to Microvi Biotechnologies -- a biotechnology company that develops biocatalytic solutions in the water, energy and chemical industries -- to demonstrate at scale a novel technology for the treatment of 1,4-Dioxane in water.
This undertaking follows on the success of work completed during the Phase I grant, where a prototype was developed and tested of a first-of-its-kind biological treatment technology for dioxane degradation called MB-DX™.
Among the most widely-detected organic contaminants in groundwater and drinking water, 1,4-Dioxane has been identified in 13 percent of U.S. drinking water sources tested, according to Thomas Mohr, senior hydrologist with the Santa Clara Valley Water District and a thought leader in the field of 1,4-Dioxane.
"Available treatment solutions are expensive and energy intensive and often have inconsistent performance records,” Mohr said. "Microvi’s MB-DX™ technology uses 1,4-Dioxane degrading microbes in a way that is effective and reliable and overcomes common challenges to bioreactor performance such as system stability and clogging."
Congressman Eric Swalwell (CA-15) added, "Technological innovations like the sustainable solutions developed at Microvi are driving our economic growth in the Bay area, and I will keep advocating for strong public-private partnerships (PPPs) to support this sector."
About NIEHS
NIEHS supports research to understand the effects of the environment on human health and is part of NIH. For more information, visit www.niehs.nih.gov.
About Microvi
Microvi is a leading biotechnology company that develops, manufactures, and commercializes innovative biocatalytic technologies for water, energy and chemical industries. Microvi’s pipeline of solutions, created using its proprietary MicroNiche Engineering™ platform, enable cost-effective, energy efficient and waste free bioprocesses that deliver higher performance than conventional methods. For more information, visit www.microvi.com.
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