Argonide Corp

Company Description

Argonide was founded by Fred Tepper in 1994 as an investment in nanotechnology. Argonide Corp mission is the development of nano products, with a substantial focus on filtration technology and devices. Prior to founding the company, Fred had a long career with the Mine Safety Appliance Co. (MSA), starting as a research chemist in filtration related to military gas masks. In 1969 he was promoted to head the Catalyst Research Corporation. Fred led the team that developed the lithium iodine battery that is still the gold standard in powering pacemakers. This battery changed the market dynamics considerably because it extended the life of pacemakers from about 18 months to more than 8 years. In 1984, Fred was promoted again to be General Manager of the newly formed Instrument Division of MSA. By the time Fred retired in 1996, he was managing several divisions of MSA, including those in instruments, batteries, chromatography and chemical manufacture. In 2000, Fred, with his associate Dr Leonid Kaledin, invented the nano alumina filter, currently being sold under the name NanoCeram®. In 2001 Argonide received a small business award from NASA, the first of several government grants for the further development of the filter. That led to a Phase II grant from NASA that allowed the company to supplement its own investment in the technology. Currently the company has a Phase III grant from the Air Force for the development of an improvement over HEPA (high efficiency) air filters. Significant company investment occurred from 2002 through 2006 to bring this innovation from the laboratory scale to a continuous manufacturable filter media and subsequently to a filter cartridge. Included was a significant investment in a patent portfolio on the media and subsequent improvements. In late 2006, Argonide granted a world-wide exclusive license to Ahlstrom for the manufacture and sale of the now patented filter media, who does so under the Disruptor™ label. The relationship between Argonide and Ahlstrom is proving to be a highly symbiotic one. The sale of cartridges, manufactured by Argonide, is growing rapidly. The original technology that focused on water filtration is expanding to other fluids and for applications that were only a dream at the beginning. The original particulate filter has now been joined by its younger brother, an activated carbon filter, with unusually rapid adsorption kinetics. Its high efficiency results from our ability to electroadhesively graft very fine activated carbon particles to the NanoCeram® structure. A third major development is NanoCeram-NET™, a non-woven media that would suspend ultrafine and nanosize particles in a moving stream. The particles may be a catalyst such as nano titanium dioxide, a bio particle such as DNA or an antibody, or an inorganic particle such as nano silicon dioxide. Applications for the three types of media include filtration in residential, commercial and industrial sectors, including those in pharmaceuticals (for virus and protein separation) and in virus sampling of water. The media is beginning to challenge membrane filters in many applications, yet also complementing them in others. A significant example is the growing use of NanoCeram® to protect reverse osmosis membranes. A major thrust is the development of low cost filter systems for use by people in the third world that are deprived of electric power and clean water. We are confident that future development of our air filter will lead to improved respiratory filters, including those that might be a defense against influenza virus. The future is bright and expanding rapidly. We are committed to bring about improvements and other innovations that would enhance our products with better performance and enhanced quality that would bring a high value and a delight to our customers. We are also dedicated to our loyal employees that are making all of this happen.