News Release
Crain's Chicago Business, March 8, 2004
By Sarah A. Klein

Firm puts investment down the drain
Expanding production of waste-eating bacteria

A Wheaton-based company raised $1 million last month to make more waste-eating bacteria.

IN-PIPE TECHNOLOGY Co. will use the investment from the Asia West Environment Fund, a venture capital firm that bankrolls environmentally friendly technologies, to build a new plant in Wheaton and hire more scientists and sales people.

Privately held In-Pipe makes bacteria that reduce waste and sulfuric odor in sewer systems. The single-celled organisms convert solid waste into carbon dioxide, nitrogen and water. CEO Daniel R. Williamson Jr. says a few drops of the bacteria concentrate can cut a sewer system's solid waste — including human waste and the fat and grease from restaurant drains — as much as 60%.

"We rapidly reduce the load on the equipment," Mr. Williamson says. He estimates that cities using the bacteria save more on maintenance than they spend on the product: roughly a penny per day per resident.

In-Pipe sells its bacteria to 16 cities and towns, mostly in the South. Lakeland, Fla., which has used the bacteria since 2001, pays In-Pipe $20,000 per month for the product, which is used to treat 10 million gallons of wastewater per day. Richard Ruede, Lakeland's industrial pre-treatment coordinator, says the bacteria have reduced, and in some cases eliminated, the smell of rotten eggs caused by sulfides in the sewer system.

"The phone is not ringing" with residents complaining about the odor, as was the case in years past, Mr. Ruede says. The load of material passing through the pipes is down 20% to 25%, even though the town is now at its peak population with visitors from the North.

Mr. Williamson won't disclose In-Pipe's revenues, but says they doubled last year and predicts they'll triple this year. The company has a dozen employees.

In-Pipe and its competitors say cities have been slow to adopt the technology, even though it has no known adverse effects on public health.

"There have been so many sham artists" in the waste-reduction industry, says Art Barnard, CEO of United-Tech Inc., an Oklahoma-based manufacturer of waste-degrading bacteria. Persuading cities to try new technology after they have been sold useless products is a challenge, Mr. Ruede agrees.

"A lot of people have been burned in the past," he says.

Mr. Williamson says the company emphasizes its successes over three years to potential customers and has abandoned free trial offers. "We found the free trials don't get us very far," he says.

Asia West, based in Westport, Conn., sees potential for In-Pipe's bacteria in the developing world. Many Third World countries want to expand sewer systems but lack enough wastewater treatment capacity to handle more waste. Reducing the amount of waste traveling through the pipes would enable cities to add homes to sewer systems without overwhelming treatment plants.

"In China, where you have fast-growing urban centers, the problem is exponential," says Sanford Selman, managing director of Asia West. "What In-Pipe does is an extremely cost-effective way to take the load off an already strained wastewater system."

©2004 by Crain Communications Inc.

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