World Environment Day Spotlight: Florida manufacturer aims to make a difference with our wastewater
Did you know there’s a Florida manufacturer who is coming up with innovative ways to help cities, counties, colleges, and other entities confronting wastewater treatment issues on a daily basis? Brevard-based Kationx’s CEO Bill Cox shares what his company does in the following Q&A:
Kationx is an interesting name!
Our name “Kationx” is a play on the type of chemistry we build into our product design: our materials are mostly positively charged. Positive-charged materials are termed “cationic” because positively-charged ions are called “cations.” We spell cation with a “K” using the German spelling.
Tell us about Kationx.
We’re a Florida-based technology company specialized in designing, manufacturing, and selling performance materials. We’re both an advanced and emerging technology – something new, and something different. We deliver results that our customers haven’t previously been able to achieve with traditional 20th century solutions.
Why did you select Florida?
We are located on Florida’s Space Coast in Indialantic. We believe that our location provides a nice marketing advantage as many of our customers know this area as being home to an emerging hi-tech economy. For our customers, having a working business relationship on the Space Coast is also a great reason to come visit.
How is Kationx different?
Kationx products reduce costs, complexity, and risks while improving performance and environmental compliance. Our value proposition is unique. Kationx products fix problems and include results that are immediately observable. We win new customers mostly by delivering reliable, consistent performance at lower costs. Our products are safe, simple, and easy to use – that’s proving to be a unique difference that our customers truly appreciate.
How did Kationx begin?
By accident! I developed several floc solutions to improve biosolids settling in wastewater treatment plants. This has expanded into a continuum of treatment solutions – our product line – including upstream (sewers) through downstream (treatment plants); solutions that ultimately benefit our environment. Our tech is uniquely green and clean.
What does your company manufacture and tell our readers about the Kationx process?
We make products typically as a powder format. We manufacture by blending source materials together using proprietary Kationx “recipes.” These blends, which are naturally cationic, are then loaded into buckets or totes. We ship by the pallet all over the country. Florida-manufactured products are shipped to 11 other states and territories, including Puerto Rico.
Kationx products work by delivering performance. Our products work through physics processes, not typical chemical reactions. Water chemistry isn’t altered. This difference sets us apart from our competitors and provides a beneficial green/clean paradigm shift for wastewater treatment. All materials - and even our packaging - is U.S.-sourced.
Tell us about your company activities in the community.
Kationx has a recycle program: we give a $2 dollar credit for every bucket returned. Probably half of our customers use this program.
Kationx also has a give-back program for two marine-focused charities: the Marine Resources Council of East Florida, Inc.; and, the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary – a volunteer program that educates the boating public.
As a veteran-owned small business, we offer benefits that especially encourage continued involvement in the reserves, guard, or military volunteer programs.
We’re also very active in the manufacturing community through our membership with the Manufacturers Association of Central Florida (MACF). Being a part of the larger manufacturing community helps us connect with others in the sector and helps expose us to best practices in manufacturing techniques.
How do your products touch the lives of Floridians on a daily basis?
Wastewater is something that touches everyone. We all “contribute” every day. Where does it go and what happens to it? Florida, alone, produces about 2 billion gallons of wastewater daily: that’s almost three-quarters of a trillion gallons yearly! Kationx products make the sewers work better and safer, and the treatment plants more efficient – and ultimately more compliant with environmental regulations. Kationx products reduce the chemical loading on discharged wastewater plant effluent, making for a cleaner and less toxic environment.
Our customers also find that Kationx products lower their direct and indirect operating costs.
To summarize, our products are having a significant impact with our early adopters; we’re proving beneficially disruptive. What I hear a lot when conducting field tests and demos is “I haven’t seen that before!” Kationx products lead to cleaner surface waters: cleaner streams, lakes, estuaries, and coastal waters.
Bill Cox is a serial entrepreneur. He is a retired military officer whose professional experience includes the energy, chemicals, and aerospace sectors with a focus on business development.
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