Companies that are under increasing pressure to report and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions are implementing a variety of options to increase energy efficiency. Industries such as pharmaceuticals and wood products are doubly constrained because they are also required to limit their emissions of volatile organic compounds, and the leading method of VOC reduction is through the carbon-intensive process of thermal oxidation.

Bio-Reaction Industries of Tualatin, Oregon, has developed a bio-oxidation process for eliminating VOCs that the company says reduces CO2 output at a lower cost. Karl Mundorff, the President and CEO of Bio-Reaction, says for example, companies that rely on spray painting can generate up to 3,000 tons of CO2 per year by using natural-gas powered thermal oxidizers to burn off the VOCs. He says thermal oxidizers require a lot of energy because they must maintain a very high temperature to burn off all of the gases.

Bio-Reaction's patented process compacts compost from yard waste into ping-pong ball sized circles called bio-airSpheres made from inorganic material that digest the VOCs. The bacterial microbes from the compost eat the offending compounds and release only CO2 and water. Bio-Reaction's three-stage process requires minimal energy to operate, thereby reducing a company's carbon footprint, according to Mundorff. The compost and inorganic material must be replaced every six years or so to maximize their efficiency.

The bio-oxidation equipment costs approximately as much as thermal oxidation competitors upfront, but eliminating the cost of natural gas will provide instant savings. Even more substantial savings are obtained during years 6-10 of operation, Mundorff says. Thermal oxidation equipment maintenance during that time can cost as much as the equipment itself, which typically ranges between $2 and $3 million.

Thermal oxidization is often more efficient than the biological process, eliminating up to 98 percent of VOCs, while Bio-Reaction's process is more often in the 70-95 percent range. Mundorff believes the savings in CO2 more than makes up for this difference in the eyes of most environmental regulatory agencies.

The bio-oxidation process works well on digesting many but not all VOCs. While benzene and other common VOCs can be eliminated, long chain carbon compounds such as alkanes take too long to process. "As long as they are organic compounds, they can be treated biologically, but the question is how long does it take" to be feasible, Mundorff says.

Bio-Reaction is targeting four primary industries with its technology: wood products, paint and coatings applicators, chemical processing such as adhesives, and pharmaceutical manufacturers. Mundorff says companies, such as its first partner in China that was announced last fall, are also drawn to the technology because it avoids the price volatility of natural gas as an energy source.

Clean tech companies such as Bio-Reaction developing new technologies sometimes face funding hurdles because lending institutions want to avoid risk and are therefore reticent to embrace unproven technologies. Mundorff's company saw this as an opportunity and in January launched BRI Leasing to provide leases for equipment that uses emerging pollution control technologies.

I first met Mundorff at the CleanTech Cleantech Forum XVIII in September of 2008, and since then the company has landed multiple investors and is wrapping up a Series A round of investment. He says a portion of the investment will be used for BRI Leasing.

Within a year Bio-Reaction hopes to refine its technology to better work with "batch" processing of VOCs. The current process works best when the bacteria have a continuous source of chemicals to digest, according to Mundorff.

Updated 2/24/09: Bio-Reaction announced that Toyota will be using its technology to eliminate VOCs at a paint spray facility in British Columbia.