MAR Systems
Cleveland
Website
Founded: 2005
Employees: 8
2009 revenue: N/A
Estimated 2010 revenue: $500,000
When prospective clients call MAR Systems, which makes a sorbent that removes mercury and arsenic from industrial waste streams and water in municipal treatment plants, they lean on anonymity and the subjunctive. "Our phone rings all the time with questions like, ‘If I did have a problem, would your stuff work?'" says Chief Executive Officer Tony Lammers. The "stuff" is called Sorbster, and the way it works sounds magical: Within seconds of being added to contaminated water, Lammers explains, the patented product binds with a slew of heavy metals, making the resulting material disposable without restrictions, even sellable as concrete filler. He says the compound, made from an industrial by-product called alumina and sold by the pound in granular form, is a breakthrough invention that could transform the way wastewater is cleaned, drastically reducing time, cost, and hazards. Sorbster, which has been on the market since April 2009, was developed with EPA scientists by former BP (BP) procurement specialist Claude Kennard. As the owner of Metaloy, a recycler of industrial waste materials, and founder of an earlier spinoff that processes waste material for reuse by refineries, Kennard has access to plenty of alumina. Lammers, 53, who met Kennard, 61, while both were earning MBAs at Case Western University, says the company has raised $3.3 million from investors and expects to be cash-flow positive, but not profitable, by yearend.
