Contact:
Monica Sutton
suttonm@eetcorp.com
EET and Thermoflow Form Company to Recycle Liquid Wastes.
EET Corporation of Knoxville, Tennessee and Thermoflow Corporation of Las Vegas, Nevada have formed a new company, Liquitek Corporation, which will recycle liquid wastes such as antifreeze/coolants and wastewaters.
Founded in 1990, EET provides environmental and information technologies and services to clients in the government and private sectors. In 1997, EET ranked as the 222nd fastest growing privately held company on the Inc. 500. In 1996, it was listed as the fastest growing environmental, health and safety services and technology company in the United States by the National Technology Fast 500. EET has 100 employees with offices in Knoxville; Paducah, Kentucky; and Denver, Colorado.
Thermoflow Corporation was founded in 1994 and currently operates a fixed facility in North Las Vegas, Nevada. This facility recycles up to 10,000 gallons of antifreeze/coolants daily in a closed looped, one-of-a-kind process that doesn’t create waste by-products or require the storage of spent materials.
Late last year, EET and Thermoflow announced plans to locate an 18,000 square feet Environmental Technology Center at the Department of Energy’s K-25 site outside of Oak Ridge. Since then, the space has grown to 35,000 square feet. Plans are to begin recycling antifreeze there by September 2000 subject to achieving equity financing.
Initially, Liquitek will focus on spent antifreeze recycling and oily wastewater treatment. Plans include Liquitek-owned and operated regional domestic centers for recycling antifreeze and treating oily wastewater as well as licensing/leasing systems to other companies. Liquitek also will design and build recycling and treatment facilities for international markets.
Future plans include recycling propylene and triethylene glycols. Propylene glycol, a less toxic substitute for ethylene glycol, is used in such products as antifreeze, polyester, cellophane, refrigeration system coolants, hydraulic fluids, cleansing creams, sun tan lotions, aircraft and runway deicing fluids, and tobacco. Triethylene glycol is used in a variety of products including vinyl, polyester, polyurethane resins, printing inks, and also as a dewatering agent for natural gas. Plans also include recycling the ethylene glycol that results from the process for manufacturing plastic bottles.
Liquitek will produce systems for desalinizing salt water for municipal water supplies and purifying water for consumer and industrial users. Systems also are planned for small generators of spent antifreeze; industrial, food processing, and agricultural wastewater treatment; and radioactive, hazardous, and mixed (radioactive and hazardous) liquid waste treatment.
Ownership of Liquitek is divided evenly between EET and Thermoflow Corporation. Financial details surrounding the formation of Liquitek are not available because of the privately held status of both Thermoflow and EET.
Louie Sferrazza, EET senior executive vice president and co-founder, will serve as Liquitek’s president and CEO. Liquitek’s corporate headquarters will be located in Knoxville. Sferrazza predicts Liquitek will generate $170 million in revenue and employ about 200 people over the next five years.
"Liquitek’s decision to locate its headquarters in the Knoxville/Oak Ridge area was strongly influenced by the financial incentives offered by Bechtel Jacobs Development Company and the U.S. Department of Energy. Other contributing factors include the area’s strategic location in relation to population centers and the availability of skilled labor," Sferrazza said.
The Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee and the Bechtel Jacobs Reindustrialization Organization have provided Liquitek with long-term, low-cost space at DOE’s East Tennessee Technology Park. Additionally, Bechtel Jacobs Development Company is providing subsidies for new, non-DOE jobs created by Liquitek.
"I am extremely excited about the formation of Liquitek. This recycling technology is cutting-edge because it provides a cost-effective way for companies to recycle liquid wastes and be good environmental citizens. The technology is superb for economically removing all sorts of contaminants from water. We will use this technological edge to penetrate the worldwide water business, estimated to be $300-500 billion annually, " Sferrazza said. "My goal is to make Liquitek a globally recognized provider of state of the art liquid treatment and recycling technologies. After 10 years in operation, I fully expect our revenues to exceed $800 million."
"Liquid recycling is a business designed for the future, both domestically and internationally. It is even more attractive since the price of virgin ethylene glycol, the main ingredient in antifreeze/engine coolants, recently jumped 30 percent. Liquitek is poised to capitalize on this," added Ernie Schmidt, Thermoflow president.
Sferrazza and Schmidt recently oversaw the first installation of Liquitek’s recycling equipment at Unitek Solvent Services, Inc., operator of Hawaii’s largest recycling center. Unitek will use the Liquitek technology to recycle oily wastewater created from vehicle washing and maintenance and bilge water released from ships. Now companies from as far away as Japan, Korea, and Australia are interested in the technology.
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