Osorb ‘Soaks Up’ Ohio Chamber Entrepreneurship Award

ABSMaterials donates $25,000 prize to B-WISER Program

WOOSTER, Ohio — ABSMaterials, Inc., manufacturers of the revolutionary water purification product, Osorb, has been chosen as the Ohio Chamber of Commerce Excellence in Entrepreneurship award winner for 2011. The award comes with a $25,000 prize, which ABS has donated to the B-WISER program (Buckeye Women in Science, Engineering, and Research) for its 7th and 8th grade camp for girls interested in science, which is held each summer at The College of Wooster.

ABS adopted the B-WISER program to encourage young women to pursue their interest in science in 2010 by underwriting its operational costs and providing scholarships. ABSMaterials Chief Science Officer, Dr. Paul Edmiston, who is also a professor of chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology at The College of Wooster, gives hands-on demonstrations to the campers, and leads a tour of the downtown facility during the camp. This year ABS has provided scholarships for 10 girls to take part in the full camp experience.

The recent Excellence in Entrepreneurship prize is awarded to the company that best demonstrates an entrepreneurial spirit through the introduction of a unique product or service with the potential to sustain long-term growth for the company, increase employment, and assist in the creation of economic prosperity in the state.

Based in Wooster, ABS is a private company, which was founded in 2009 and currently employs 32 people. Osorb is a hydrophobic material that removes solvents, hydrocarbons, and other non-polar compounds from water and soil. It is particularly effective in remediating aqueous contaminants in groundwater, municipal water systems, and produced water. The product rapidly swells up to eight times its dried volume upon exposure to non-polar liquids, and the swelling process is reversible, meaning that the Osorb material can be “wrung out” and used again.

Developed by Professor Edmiston, Osorb has been shown to remove 99 percent of hydrocarbons, more than 90 percent of dissolved BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes), and significant amounts of production chemicals from the water in tests conducted by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).

An estimated 21 billion barrels of produced water, containing a variety of hydrocarbons and other chemicals, are generated each year from nearly one million wells in the United States. According to the DOE, a number of existing treatment techniques separate dispersed oils from water, but very few effectively address dissolved hydrocarbons, sticking agents, and polymers that prevent flow-back water from being recycled or discharged.

ABS uses new technology developed in labs to find solutions to these problems. ABSMaterials hopes to encourage scientific excitement in the rising generation of scholars by offering opportunities to young women, such as those who attend the B-WISER camp.