Date: Mar 17, 2014 Author: press release Source: Bangor Daily News (
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ORONO, Maine — Cerahelix, a Maine company that has developed a nano-ceramic coating used in to produce highly efficient filters, announced that it has been awarded a $1 million Phase II Small Business Innovative Research grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The award is based on product and market validation during the DOE funded Phase I research in 2012, and will be used to support engineering and customer pilot studies of its new titania nanofiltration product.
Cerahelix is using a patented process to make ceramic filters that can operate at high efficiency under conditions that are too harsh for current commercial filters made out of plastic. Filtration is widely recognized as the most cost effective separation process for the multi-billion-dollar process industry as it uses significantly less energy, occupies a smaller footprint, and uses less chemical pre-treatment. The Cerahelix filtration technology provides an energy saving alternative to customers across a wide range of industries by combining fast, low pressure nanofiltration with a highly durable titania ceramic material.
"This award comes at a critical time for Cerahelix," says Susan MacKay, Chief Executive Officer, and Principal Investigator on the project, in a press release. "We are currently working with a number of key stakeholders, customers and strategic partners, all of whom are pushing us to get our titania product to market. The DOE funds will enable us to respond to our customers and engineer the product with the best chance of commercial success."
"The DOE process is highly competitive. Fewer than 9 percent of the original applications received Phase I Awards, and out of the 66 Phase I companies who applied for Phase II funds, only 27 were selected. This is important recognition of the value of this type of energy efficiency product for the process industry, "says Dr. Karl Bishop, co-founder and Chief Science Officer for Cerahelix, in the press release.
Cerahelix, Inc. was established in 2011 to develop energy saving filtration products based on its innovative DNA ceramic technology. Cerahelix filters provide superior filtration performance under a range of harsh and challenging conditions.
