XploSafe Wins 2021 EPA Green Chemistry Challenge Award
Stillwater, OK – 15 June 2021 – XploSafe announced today that it has been awarded the coveted EPA Green Chemistry Challenge Award in the Small Business Category, recognizing a groundbreaking scientific contribution in the green chemistry field for their invention, PhosRox™.
PhosRox™, a novel sorbent for the removal of phosphorus and nitrogen from water, helps to reduce the effects of nutrient pollution and eutrophication on aquatic ecosystems. The PhosRox™ material can then be reused as a time-delay fertilizer for plants and crops once it has been saturated with nutrients.
The annual award, present by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in conjunction with the American Chemical Society (ACS) is “the nation’s most prestigious award program for green chemistry innovations,” says Mary Kirchhoff, Ph.D., director of ACS Green Chemistry Institute and executive vice president of Scientific Advancement at ACS.
Shoaib Shaikh, Co-Founder of XploSafe stated that “we have been developing this technology for many years now. Support from the State of Oklahoma (OCAST), the US EPA (SBIR), and countless partners across the country and world have helped us to reach this spectacular milestone, and we are so grateful to see all of our dedication and hard work come to fruition with such a prestigious award”.
Annually since its inception in 1996, the award has had over 1800 nominations and only 133 winners across its 5 total categories. The small business category, which XploSafe won, is annually awarded to only a single company across the entirety of the United States.
XploSafe’s Operations Manager, Michael Teicheira, had the following to say: “this award is a major stepping stone in our growth as a company. We set our vision on developing green chemistry solutions over a decade ago, and it has not always been an easy path to walk. We are a small, bootstrapped venture and we are absolutely humbled to join the elite ranks as a winner of this highly sought-after award”.
XploSafe’s partners in this research endeavor included the Oklahoma Aquarium, the Stillwater Wastewater Treatment Plant, Oklahoma State University’s Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Department (Dr. John Veenstra and Wayne Kiner), and The Stover Group.
XploSafe based in Stillwater, Oklahoma is a provider of critical safety solutions for homeland security and chemical safety. Their XploSens explosives detection, XPell peroxide safety products, and XCel+ chemical vapor sampling badges are used by first responders, industrial safety officers, threat assessment officials, and laboratory and chemical manufacturing personnel all over the world. PhosRox™: Sorbent for sustainable capture of plant nutrients from wastewater and other waters and subsequent application as time-release fertilizer.
For questions, please contact Shoaib Shaikh, Co-Founder and CEO, at Shoaib@XploSafe.com.
Top Image Back Row (L to R): Dr. Evgueni Kadossov, Dr. Allen Apblett, Dr. Nick Materer, Jake Golden, Dylan Disney
Top Image Front Row (L to R): Michael Teicheira, Dr. Moumita Bhattacharya, Shoaib Shaikh, Fiona Byrd, Bob McGregor
