PlasmaE, a water tech startup based at The Global Water Center in Milwaukee, has partnered with Milwaukee-based Chrysalis Packaging and Assembly Corp., or Chryspac, to make its aerator devices, creating as many as 50 local jobs, said David Aragon, president and CEO of PlasmaE.
PlasmaE states its AerEpop devices can produce clean water more than 10 times faster than any other device currently on the market.
Chryspac, located near General Mitchell International Airport, is one of the largest veteran-owned businesses in the Milwaukee area.
State and Milwaukee officials visited McKinley Marina Wednesday for a demonstration of PlasmaE’s AerEpop Pearl devices, but also to evaluate the possibility of using the company’s technology for waterways in Milwaukee County. Aragon said the company is also looking into working with Florida officials to use its devices to combat red tide along the state’s coastal waters.
The company is researching the possibility of making its aerators solar powered.
PlasmaE’s aerators were designed to increase dissolved oxygen and the oxygen transfer efficiency, or OTE, levels at wastewater treatment sites and in privately owned lakes, providing enough oxygen for good bacteria to grow rapidly, thus creating cleaner water. The company was looking into raising between $500,000 and $2.5 million for marketing and sales expenses associated with selling the AerEpop, company leaders told the Milwaukee Business Journal in a previous interview.
PlasmaE formed in 2016 and is selling two versions of the product, one for commercial use (wastewater plants, municipalities and industrial), and the other for domestic users. The domestic users, comprising private lake associations and its homeowners, use the device to clean up water near residential properties.
The AerEpop is expected to generate $100,000 in sales for its first year of availability and sales are projected to double each year within the first five years, company officials said.