Purifica engineers safe and sustainable nano materials that target nutrients and contaminants in wastewater.
Purifica was formed to commercialize cutting-edge nanotechnology developed at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. Our advanced material is specifically designed to tackle two critical environmental challenges: phosphorus (P) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination. These pollutants pose significant risks to water quality, ecosystems, and public health, particularly in rural and manufacturing areas.
The use of nanomaterials in our approach provides a significant advantage, as their high surface area and rapid reaction kinetics enable efficient contaminant removal from wastewater. Recently, we achieved a major breakthrough by integrating Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) technology to effectively separate the nanomaterial from treated water, ensuring both cost-efficiency and scalability.
The problem we address is urgent: many rural wastewater treatment facilities struggle to meet compliance standards for phosphorus levels in effluent, while manufacturing sites often face persistent PFAS contamination. Regulatory non-compliance can result in environmental harm, financial penalties, and reputational damage, highlighting the critical need for innovative solutions. Purifica's technology offers a transformative approach to solving these challenges, providing wastewater treatment plants with an efficient, sustainable, and practical method to achieve regulatory compliance. By bringing this groundbreaking nanotechnology to market, Purifica is not just solving an industry problem but also contributing to cleaner water and a healthier planet.
Our team combines entrepreneurial experience, technical expertise, and strong industry connections to drive Purifica’s success.
- Wesley Samples, Co-Founder and CEO, is a 2x founder with a background in complex operations, financial planning, and personnel development. As the former COO of Sora Schools, Wesley gained deep experience in scaling businesses. He is well-connected in the Georgia Tech and Atlanta entrepreneurship ecosystems.
- Jie Xu, Technology Director, holds a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Georgia Tech and is a Principal Research Scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. Jie brings invaluable technical expertise in nanomaterials and wastewater treatment.
- Graham Gintz, Sales + Ops, is an Associate Director at HatchBridge Incubator and a 2x founder. With an MBA from Georgia Tech, Graham has deep experience in sales, operations, and scaling startups.
- Wayne Daley, Advisor, has a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech and extensive experience in automation and agriculture.
Purifica’s go-to-market strategy focuses on leveraging key partnerships and targeted outreach to scale our innovative wastewater treatment technology. Our immediate priority is collaborating with private operators, such as the one managing the municipal plant in Woodstock, GA. This partnership is supporting our transition from a successful 100-gallon-per-day pilot to a 10,000-gallon-per-day scale test in spring 2025. This critical step will validate the technology’s economics, long-term regeneration capabilities, and scalability for broader municipal adoption. There are select municipalities in Georgia already leveraging state funding through the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) to address contaminants like PFAS. Purifica plans to strategically approach these cities, as well as others with similar needs, by partnering with municipalities to identify and apply for grant opportunities. Through tailored grant writing efforts, we aim to unlock additional funding sources to accelerate adoption and implementation of our solution. In parallel, we are actively expanding outreach to industries beyond municipal wastewater, including mining, poultry processing, and city aquariums. These sectors face unique and significant water treatment challenges that our technology is well-positioned to address. We are cultivating relationships within these industries to establish pilot projects, with deployments targeted for late 2025 and early 2026. By pursuing a dual-track strategy—targeting municipal plants through private operators and engaging key industrial markets like mining—Purifica is poised to rapidly scale our impact, bringing advanced water treatment solutions to sectors that need them most.
Purifica will generate revenue through product sales and service contracts, offering a cost-effective solution that delivers both immediate and long-term value for wastewater treatment operators.
- Product Sales: Our patented nanomaterial will be sold to municipalities, private operators, and industrial clients. Competitively priced with current treatment chemicals, the material offers added benefits by reducing stress on treatment infrastructure, potentially extending asset lifetimes and lowering long-term capital expenditures. Its reusability and proven regeneration cycles enable recurring revenue through periodic replacement material sales as clients scale operations.
- Service Contracts: To maximize performance and customer success, we will provide consulting, installation, and maintenance services. These contracts ensure seamless integration and ongoing optimization, helping plants achieve compliance while lowering operational costs.
Our pricing model aligns with the operational savings and extended asset life enabled by our technology, making Purifica a strategic partner for operators seeking efficient, scalable, and sustainable solutions.
We are seeking $750K in funding to accelerate the commercialization of Purifica’s wastewater treatment technology. This funding will enable us to engage our founding team and expand our engineering capabilities, build a mobile pilot unit for field testing, and scale our production capacity.
A significant portion of the funds will be allocated to constructing the mobile pilot unit, which will allow us to execute pilots at several high-need sites. These pilots will demonstrate the effectiveness and scalability of our technology, proving our concept to potential customers across municipalities and industries facing critical water treatment challenges. In parallel, we will scale our production capacity from a few hundred grams per day in the Georgia Tech lab to over 20 kg per day. This production expansion is essential for supporting larger-scale pilots, meeting growing demand, and establishing a reliable supply chain as we move toward full-scale commercialization.
The goal of this funding is to complete a series of scaled pilots, building momentum toward securing our first major customer. These pilots will not only validate our technology but also generate the data needed to refine our offerings and prove long-term cost-effectiveness, ensuring we can scale rapidly and meet market demand.
Purifica’s patented material has shown exceptional promise in addressing critical wastewater treatment challenges. Our phosphorus removal technology has successfully undergone field testing, most notably in Woodstock, GA, where it achieved remarkably high removal rates of phosphorus, solids, COD, and BOD from raw wastewater. This field trial, conducted at a scale of 100 gallons per day, provided a strong validation of the material’s effectiveness in real-world conditions. The operator in Woodstock was highly impressed with the results, which has led to ongoing collaboration to scale the technology for a larger pilot test. This next phase, slated for spring 2025, will increase the treatment capacity to 10,000 gallons per day. This critical step will not only validate the material’s economics but also demonstrate its long-term regeneration potential in a dynamic, field-based environment. In laboratory settings, the material has already proven capable of sustaining over 10 regeneration cycles, maintaining its performance and cost efficiency. We are excited to extend these findings through the upcoming large-scale field test, which will provide valuable data on its durability and performance over extended use. Purifica is committed to advancing its technology through rigorous testing and collaboration with industry partners. These efforts are setting the stage for commercial readiness, ensuring that our innovative solution delivers reliable, scalable, and cost-effective results to address the pressing needs of wastewater treatment operators.
