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Successful Deployment of an Innovative Environmental Technology: The Terra‐Kleen Experience
Author(s) -
Cash Alan B.,
Miller Melvin N.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
remediation journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.762
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 1520-6831
pISSN - 1051-5658
DOI - 10.1002/rem.3440080203
Subject(s) - commercialization , revenue , environmental remediation , software deployment , environmental science , clean technology , business , engineering , contamination , finance , political science , marketing , ecology , software engineering , law , biology
The National Research Council's report, Innovations in Ground Water and Soil Cleanup: From Concept to Commercialization, reviewed the implementation of innovative remediation technologies and portrayed a bleak outlook for them. Conversely, Terra‐Kleen has invented, patented, permitted, and profited through the use of an innovative technology in the current market. Terra‐Kleen has implemented a solvent extraction technology for the removal of PCBs, PAHs, and chlorinated pesticides from soil, sediment, and debris. To date, Terra‐Kleen has successfully processed over 23 million pounds of PCB‐contaminated soil in Alaska, California, Florida, Ohio, and Oklahoma. The company has been profitable each year since its inception, and has averaged a revenue growth rate of 94 percent per year for the last four years. Corporate growth has been financed entirely through profits and conventional bank loans at favorable interest rates. This article reviews the factors that have led to Terra‐Kleen's success, overviews the solvent extraction technology, and details specific projects that have implemented the technology.