{"id":22666,"date":"2022-02-28T21:57:14","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T21:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=22666&post_type=story"},"modified":"2023-11-20T20:17:45","modified_gmt":"2023-11-20T20:17:45","slug":"making-waves","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/making-waves\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Waves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every day when ecoSPEARS CEO and co-founder Sergie Albino \u201903<\/strong> walks into his office in Altamonte Springs, Florida, he is reminded of his mission, displayed prominently on the wall: \u201cWe imagine a world where every human being has access to clean water, clean food and clean air.\u201d<\/p>\n

What some may consider unattainable, the aerospace engineering<\/a> alum \u2014 who was named among the Orlando Business Journal\u2019s<\/em> 2021 CEOs of the Year \u2014 has a solution to help make that world a reality.<\/p>\n

Since he started ecoSPEARS in 2017 with exclusively licensed technology from NASA, Albino and his team design and develop sustainable methods to extract and eliminate polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins and other persistent toxins from the environment permanently. Many of them ended up in our soil and waterways because until they were banned in 1979, PCBs were legally used in everyday goods.<\/p>\n

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), \u201cMore than 90% of human exposure to dioxins is through the food supply, mainly meat and dairy products, fish and shellfish. \u2026 Dioxins are highly toxic and can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer.\u201d WHO predicts that by 2025, half of the world\u2019s population will be living in water-stressed areas.<\/p>\n

As a UCF student, Albino interned at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), where he later ended up as a payload hardware engineer. While working there and pursuing his MBA from Rollins College, he met KSC environmental engineer Jackie Quinn and UCF alumni Phil Maloney \u201907 \u201913PhD<\/strong> and Robert DeVor \u201903 \u201908PhD<\/strong>, who eventually invented the SPEARS (Sorbent Polymer Extraction and Remediation System) technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought the SPEARS technology had a lot of legs,\u201d Albino says. \u201c[What piqued my interest] was the challenge of \u2026 solving a world mission of clean water.\u201d<\/p>\n

The SPEARS technology uses clusters of plastic spikes filled with ethanol to absorb toxins. The spikes are then pressed into the sediment where they can stay until remediation levels are achieved \u2014 even if that takes years \u2014 before they are removed, and the harmful toxins are responsibly destroyed on-site using UV or chemical destruction of the contamination.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe aren\u2019t choosing options that would further create contamination,\u201d Albino says. \u201cWe would never want to trade off clean water or clean soil for clean air. That\u2019s not the right path.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company, which has 12 full-time employees and six interns \u2014 many of whom are Knights \u2014 has run pilot tests in California, Hawaii, Guam, Washington and Sweden.<\/p>\n

While the SPEARS technology is specific to sediment remediation in bodies of water, the company has since expanded its efforts to soil washing remediation (ecoTERRA) as well as industrial wastewater and groundwater remediation (ecoCUBE).<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to see this company grow to be a tool for change in the world when it comes to health and public safety, the environment, and sustainability,\u201d Albino says.
\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\n\"sergie<\/p>\n

Who<\/h2>\n

Sergie Albino \u201903<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Pitch<\/h2>\n

Green and sustainable technology for a cleaner environment<\/p>\n

Inspiration<\/h2>\n

NASA-developed technology, co-invented by UCF alumni Phil Maloney \u201907 \u201913PhD<\/strong> and Robert DeVor \u201903 \u201908PhD<\/strong><\/p>\n

Backers<\/h2>\n

EIA Social Enterprise Fund, Kirenaga Partners and Northwestern University<\/p>\n

Where you can find it<\/h2>\n

ecospears.com<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22695,"template":"","categories":[1408],"tags":[148,1452],"class_list":["post-22666","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-launchpad","tag-college-of-engineering-and-computer-science","tag-ucf-alumni","issues-1575","issues-spring-2022"],"yoast_head":"\nMaking Waves: How ecoSPEARS uses Green, Sustainable Technology to Clean Water \u00a0<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thanks to NASA-developed technology, this UCF alum\u2019s company is working to achieve clean water globally, and aims to expand to clean wastewater and soil.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/making-waves\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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