Startup offers clean water from a Red Bird

An environmental engineering and remediation company in Pittsburgh, Pa., is taking more than a bird's eye view of the need for clean water.

Cardinal Resources makes an energy efficient, self-contained water purification system it thinks could have global reach. 

The company's Principal Barbara Jones told the Cleantech Group today that her company—formed in 2004 with a background in water remediation for industrial clients—has developed a patented solar-powered device that can pump, filter and purify up to 30,000 gallons of drinking water a day using natural materials and no added pre-treatment chemicals.

Cardinal Resources has also developed what it says are patent-pending, low-energy systems for waste water and environmental remediation.

“There are a lot of systems for filtering water, but many involve expensive and sophisticated membranes that may not be available everywhere in the world,” she said.

The company's solar-powered Red Bird System is fully integrated so it can pump water from a source, filter and disinfect the water and deliver it to a water tower or storage tank to serve a small community—all housed in a standard, 20-foot shipping container.

“It’s a very rugged system,” she said. 

The Red Bird can produce about 10 to 20 gallons per minute, which would be enough to serve a 1,000- to 2,000-person community, or a remote mountain resort that has appliances that use water.

Jones said some of the other comparable systems on the market produce one to two gallons per minute, which make them suitable for drinking water, but not necessarily for all hygiene uses.

New Mexico-based Altela has a thermal distillation system for cleaning water that uses no membranes (see Water purification attracts investors). 

The Solar Cube, a cooperative project by Spectra Watermakers and Trunz Metallchnik, offers clean drinking water and emergency electricity (see Solar powered water desalination device for emergency relief).

Earlier this year, Irvine, Calif.-based WaterHealth International said it was planning to install water purification and disinfection systems for 600 communities across India, funded by $15 million from the International Finance Corp. (see IFC invests $15M in WaterHealth for filtration in rural India). 

Cardinal Resources is planning to ship its first unit on Oct. 6 to a private purchaser in China, which intends to use the device for bottled water.

However, Jones said Cardinal Resources initially thought its market would be through direct sales to water co-ops or utilities, government and non-government agencies.

The company is also looking to market the product to distributors, with potential financial success coming through multi-unit sales. The device costs about $100,000.

The global water market represents a $600 billion to $700 billion opportunity, but the niche for community-sized systems is just a fraction of that, at about $10 billion, Jones said.

Executives from Cardinal Resources have traveled to Senegal and Ghana to speak with water ministry officials and received an enthusiastic response. However, potential customers want to see the system in action.

“People need to see and taste to believe,” she said.

The company is working with an angel investor to place a second unit in West Africa.

Cardinal Resources has raised more than $1 million to date from angel investors and its founders. The company is seeking $5 million in the next six months to market its product in West Africa, Brazil and Mexico, as well as for working capital, manufacturing management and IP.

“We are so motivated to make this happen,” Jones said. “We are anxious for investment because it will allow us to move forward faster.”

The company had $4.4 million in revenue in the past year from its environmental engineering and remediation work, with $25.6 million in revenue projected for 2011.

Cardinal Resources is one of 8 new clean technology companies the Cleantech Group added to its innovation pipeline this week, available exclusively to members of its Cleantech Network. Members can click here to search the database.

Interested in emerging cleantech innovations? Here are two new companies added to the Cleantech Group's database this week also looking for funding:

• Minnesota-based green chemistry company Segetis is seeking up to $20 million in financing to continue developing its technology and set it on course to build a $20 million plant that could make 100 pounds per year of its new chemical. The Khosla Ventures-backed company is developing a technology that turns cellulosic biomass into something called levulinic ketal. This is a new molecule can be made into a host of industrial chemicals (see Biofuel financing one-upmanship and Smart grid and solar IPOs).
• Australia-based Solar Systems is seeking up to $83 million to fund research and development to lower the costs for its solar dish. The company develops concentrated photovoltaic dishes using dense array converter technology. In 2008, the company raised $40 million from Australia-based TRUenergy, giving TRUenergy a 20 percent stake in the company (see Converting cellulosic ethanol into cash).
• San Jose, Calif.-based Solexant is seeking $50 million in a Series C round of funding for its 100-megawatt, commercial-scale solar panel assembly line. The company makes photovoltaic panels with super thin solar cells that are printed onto the surface of the panels. The company is currently developing a smaller, 3 MW assembly line.  

Seeking capital, partners or customers? Submit to the Cleantech Group’s innovation pipeline.

Browse past pitches here.

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