Aquagga

Aquagga is a spin-off from the University of Alaska and the University of Washington offering containerized solutions to breakdown and destroy per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS; a man-made liquid repellent chemical) in contaminated groundwater using its patented hydrothermal alkaline treatment (HALT) technology. The waste process using HALT produces clean water and salts as byproducts. 

As of March 2024, the company offers three PFAS-destruction systems - the Pilot Series (up to 2 gallons per hour (gph) processing capacity), which is available for pilot and bench testing; the Steed Series (10-20 gph), which is taking bookings for deployments; and the Stampede Series (50-150 gph), which is under development. 

The company targets PFAS-impacted areas including military, defense, industry, drinking water, and solid waste. Its solutions are also applicable to other industries like oil and gas, wastewater, and landfills with PFAS-containing products.

Key customers and partnerships

In April 2023, Aquagga entered into a licensing agreement with the Colorado School of Mines for the commercialization of its patented HALT-PFAS technology, which was developed in a Mines laboratory.

Funding and financials

Since 2020, Aquagga has raised nearly USD 4 million in non-dilutive funding, partially from Phase II SBIR contracts with the EPA and U.S. Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), and raised over USD 750,000 in private investment. The funding were used to demonstrate its technology.