CycloPure Hires Dr. Jason Spruell to Commercialize Firm's Invention of Breakthrough Polymer Adsorbents

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Feb 05, 2018, 09:00 ET

ENCINITAS, Calif., Feb. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CycloPure, Inc., a developer of next-generation water purification adsorbents, announced the hiring of Dr. Jason Spruell as its new Vice President of Commercial Development. Dr. Spruell will lead CycloPure's efforts to commercialize its breakthrough High-Affinity Cyclodextrin Polymers (HACPs) for use in the water treatment, industrial separation, and textile application markets. He brings years of experience in the development of specialty materials and will work with market partners to commercialize applications for the company's patented adsorbent materials. Prior to joining CycloPure, Dr. Spruell served in technology and market-facing roles at Eastman Chemical and Milliken & Company, where he worked with customers across the supply chain to develop polymer-based materials.

Dr. Spruell has been recognized for his academic and industrial work and is the recipient of several national awards including an R&D 100 Award Winning Product, Milliken's Innovators Hall of Fame, and the IUPAC Prize for Young Chemists. He received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University where he studied in the lab of Fraser Stoddart, 2016 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, followed by an Elings Fellowship at UCSB, where he worked with Prof. Craig Hawker.

"We are thrilled to have Jason join the CycloPure team," stated Will Dichtel, co-founder and Chief Science Officer of the company. "He is a great fit for our technology and commercial development activities. He combines first-class skills in polymer chemistry with industrial experience developing specialty chemicals and functionalized textiles."

Dr. Spruell will join Dr. Gokhan Barin, CycloPure's Vice President of Research & Development in the company's Research & Technology Center located in Skokie, IL.

"It is great to have Jason on board," said CEO Frank Cassou. "His recruitment is timely. We are now running multiple customer trials with our initial HACP product formulations CD-MP and CD-PFAS. Jason is going to have a huge impact our commercialization efforts."

Cassou added, "Contamination of drinking water by micropollutants is a growing problem throughout the U.S. and the world. CycloPure's mission is to develop novel, cost-effective adsorbent materials that can eliminate these contaminants and make drinking water safe for consumers everywhere. With Dr. Spruell and Dr. Barin, we now have world-class expertise in polymeric materials in place to advance our technology from the lab to the marketplace."

Making Water Safe - About CycloPure
Founded in 2016, CycloPure is a material sciences and technology company that is commercializing a new class of selective adsorbents called High-Affinity Cyclodextrin Polymers (HACPs). The company's breakthrough technology allows the conversion of renewable cyclodextrins (derived from cornstarch) into highly adsorbent materials that are ideally suited for water treatment applications.

Government and other studies have shown that trace contaminants (measured in parts per billion and less), including industrial chemicals, pesticides, and pharmaceutical residues, are pervasive in water and can retain toxic effect at low concentration. Using its novel polymer technology, CycloPure has developed two lead adsorbent formulations, CD-MP and CD-PFAS, for the removal of harmful contaminants from water, including the perfluorinated compounds PFOA and PFOS.

CycloPure's patented HACPs can be produced in varying particle sizes, tailored to filtration and water flow requirements, allowing for flexible use across a broad spectrum of water purification applications. CycloPure is working with global partners to produce and distribute its proprietary HACPs to meet growing worldwide interest from water treatment managers, food and beverage companies, government agencies, and manufacturers of point-of-use consumer water purification products.

For more information about CycloPure, Inc. and our mission to make water safer with novel adsorption technology, please visit www.cyclopure.com or follow CycloPure at twitter.com/cyclopure, and facebook.com/cyclopure/.

For Media Inquiries, contact Roy Berger at [email protected] or (203) 858-3839.

SOURCE CycloPure, Inc.