On the water frontVortex's water purification technology potentially disruptive

Good news for Prescott, Arizona-based Vortex Corporation, a developer of chemical-free water and air purification products: Red Herring named the company as one of twelve private companies with potentially disruptive technologies in the emerging residential water treatment market. The magazine’s May 2007Liquid Assets: Residential Water Technologies report said that there is “great opportunity” for the targeted companies to gain a “significant share” of the global water treatment market over the next few years.

There is a growing interest in the business and technology of clean water. In 2006 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a rule requiring water utilities to begin monitoring and treating ground water contamination, such as adenoviruses. According to WaterTechOnline.com, a Janney Montgomery Scott investment firm report finds that the rule is likely to increase demand for water monitoring and disinfection systems, prompting a shift away from chlorine disinfection toward systems which use specialty chemicals such as chloramines or ultraviolet (UV) disinfection. The Red Herring research report noted it is finding consumers’ lack of confidence in municipal and industrial treatment efforts is also resulting in a paradigm shift — one in which residents are increasingly actively purchasing advanced water treatment devices, resulting in significant opportunities for companies such as Vortex specializing in water treatment and distribution.

A word about Vortex’s technology: The company’s photo-oxidation technology simulates what the company describes as “the environment’s natural water purification phenomenon” by applying patented ultraviolet light and ozone technology. Vortex is also collaborating with the University of Arizona’s Water Quality Center.

This Point of Entry (POE) system ensures high quality water in residential showers, laundries, and sinks. Vortex is currently working to develop a ground water treatment system and expects to conduct a field trial with a major utility later this year. Vortex recently moved manufacturing to China to accommodate strong global demand for its products, particularly in Asia.

Ray Denkewicz, the company’s CEO, says that “No one technology is effective for treating water — whether in a residential, municipal, or third-world setting. By combining a multitude of technologies, Vortex’s multi-barrier approach effectively utilizes three disinfectants to ensure it is eradicating each and every organism it comes into contact with, from the Avian Influenza A Virus in water, to highly contagious adenoviruses which are destroyed by chlorine and ozone but not by UV, to organisms yet to be discovered.”

Vortex has also been funded by DHS to develop chemical-free water purification technology for municipal use. With the encouragment of DHS, Vortex has also spearheaded the Interactive UV/Ozone System as a Chlorine Alternative project with support from the University of Arizona’s Water Quality Center. DHS has identified chlorine gas transportation and storage as a top twenty domestic terrorist threat, and the project has the potential to reduce or eliminate the U.S. dependency on chlorine as a primary water treatment disinfectant.