Microvi Awarded Over $1.1 Million to Scale its New Technology that Eliminates a Cancer-causing Chemical in Water

HAYWARD, Calif., Nov. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Microvi announced today that it has been awarded over $1.1M in funding from the National Institute of Health (NIH) to scale-up its newly developed technology to eliminate chromium, a cancer-causing chemical, in drinking water.

Chromium in drinking water threatens the health of millions of people due to its link to cancers and reproductive effects. Chromium pollution is a widespread issue that affects Americans across all 50 states, according to the Environmental Working Group. To address this challenge, the current Federal standard for total chromium in drinking water (100 parts per billion (ppb)) is under review. Some areas, like California, a region especially affected by naturally occurring chromium, have proposed limits as low as 10 ppb.

Microvi developed a novel approach for chromium elimination based on its MicroNiche Engineering (MNE) platform technology. This new technology was successfully shown to reduce hexavalent chromium in water to very low levels (less than 5 ppb), meeting both current and potential future regulatory limits. A comparative economic analysis of this new technology showed significant cost savings in capital, operations, and maintenance costs over conventional approaches.

"We are excited to finalize this new technology for such a significant problem that affects the health of millions of people around globe," said Dr. Fatemeh Shirazi, CEO of Microvi. "Our commitment to our customers in the drinking water industry has always been to offer the most reliable, advanced, safe, and cost-effective treatment technologies."

"The water industry continues to require innovation and new technologies to sustainably and cost-effectively meet water quality needs," said Lee Odell, Principal and Water Treatment Technology Lead at Consor Engineering, and participant in the project. "Consor continue to be at the forefront of working with companies like Microvi to deliver transformative projects for the industry."

Microvi's MNE technology has been successfully applied in a number of applications across the water and wastewater sectors. Recently, Microvi achieved a major commercial milestone for its drinking water installation at Sunny Slope Water Company. Additionally, along with the 2021 commissioning of its first commercial side-stream treatment system in the Pacific U.S., the advantages of the Microvi MNE Technology are currently being demonstrated for total nitrogen removal at Linda County Water District Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Microvi is a transformative biology company based in the San Francisco Bay Area that delivers next-generation biotechnologies for the water, wastewater, bio-based chemicals, biofuels and biopharma industries. Microvi offers commercial technologies around the world to reduce waste, increase productivity and provide disruptive economics across the value chain. Learn more at www.microvi.com.

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SOURCE Microvi Biotech, Inc