Originally Published on Tuesday, March 06, 2012 By Sarah Mupo / The Daily Item
Two local businessmen hope they can find success with water, table salt and some electricity.
Lynnfield Green Technologies, which formed 10 months ago, markets and sells two products, the PathoSans Electrolyzer System and the Toucan-eco, that convert the simple water and salt solution into both an electrolyzed water cleanser and sanitizer. The company’s founders are 68-year-old Lynnfield resident Gerard Kiley and 61-year-old Beverly resident Patrick Lucci, who have worked together in different professional settings for the past 20 years. Lucci said they also recently hired another sales employee, who is based in Foxborough.
After adding a small amount of table salt to the water in the two products, an electric charge is applied to simultaneously create hypochlorous acid, a sanitizer, and sodium hydroxide, a cleansing agent commonly in soaps and detergents, Lucci said. The electrolyzed water created by the two products is nontoxic and safe to get on clothes or skin, as opposed to typical cleaning products, he said.
The PathoSans Electrolyzer System, a standing apparatus, makes the cleanser and sanitizer separately at a rate of one gallon per minute that is stored in tanks for later dispensing. The Toucan-eco, a tabletop device, takes three minutes to activate one bottle of a cleaning and sanitizing solution into electrolyzed water.
In a recent interview at Lucci’s Beverly home, Lucci took a drink of the solution he prepared in the Toucan-eco, and said, “We all know chlorine bleach is poison, so you wouldn’t want to do this.”
Lucci is a former consultant for the Glendale Heights, Ill.-based company PathoSans and helped develop the eponymous device. The Toucan-eco is made by the San Antonio, Texas company Falcon ProSolutions.
Lucci said that Lynnfield Green Technologies just started to market the two products within the past couple of months, but the company has already gained clients for both. The PathoSans Electrolyzer System has been sold to Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Endicott House in Dedham, the Grand Hyatt New York hotel in Manhattan and the Holland America Line cruise company, he said. In addition, Lucci said, the Toucan-eco has been sold to Boston Duck Tours.
“We’re billing every month, we’re getting commissions, we’re making money,” he said. “And we’re going to grow some more.”
Lynnfield Green Technologies is also in talks to sell the PathoSans Electrolyzer System to around six municipalities in Massachusetts, Kiley said.
“There’s an obvious argument for doing something that’s greener and less expensive in these days of budget cuts,” he said.
The PathoSans Electrolyzer System costs around $10,000 to $15,000 and is being marketed to hotels, restaurants and other large businesses. The Toucan-eco, meant for small businesses and households, is $350. Lucci said the initial investment pays off because the electrolyzed water costs one penny per gallon to make and eliminates the need for any other standard cleaning products.
Although the green movement has gained mainstream popularity, Lucci said the two problems with the movement are opposition from chemical companies and mislabeling of products that are not truly “green.” However, Kiley and Lucci both said that the push for more environmentally friendly solutions in all industries is an enduring development and not a fad.
“The drive toward doing things in a green way is truly institutionalized now,” Kiley said, “so I don’t see it turning around.”
Lynnfield Green Technologies is located at 5 Longbow Road in Lynnfield. For more information, visit www.lynnfieldgreentech.com or call 617-480-1119.
This article was originally published in The Daily Item by Sarah Mupo can be reached at smupo@itemlive.com.
