This CEO wants to get forever chemicals out of our water—and bodiesAllonnia CEO Nicole Richards talks about the startup’s ingenious solution...
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network
Allonnia CEO Nicole Richards talks about the startup’s ingenious solutions to removing PFAS and other dangerous chemicals from the water supply.
Forever chemicals, known scientifically as PFAS, are typically traced back to the late 1930s and a DuPont innovation, which the chemical company branded “Teflon.” Given its oil- and water-resistant properties, this seemingly miraculous substance allowed for the creation of the nonstick pan. It was emblematic of the creations of the American Century, which improved people’s day-to-day lives but came with longer-term health risks.
As we have since learned, forever chemicals—of which there are now more than 10,000—can have deleterious health effects, even at low levels of exposure. The EPA has a strategic roadmap to protect the public from these effects, particularly in drinking water, with $1 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure law earmarked for clean water.
It is fitting that Nicole Richards is CEO of the “bio-ingenuity” startup, Allonnia, which is particularly focused on neutralizing the effects of PFAS and other chemicals, such as 1,4-Dioxane, as her job before joining Allonnia was at DuPont, where she was the growth, strategy, and M&A director in the $33 billion market cap company’s water solutions business. “PFAS and Teflon, I thought those were good things,” Richards says. “The more I’ve been in the industry and the more [experience] I’ve accumulated, I’ve realized that there is a downside.”
Allonnia has raised $90 million to date, including $30 million in July to accelerate its R&D, to find novel solutions to not only remove forever chemicals from water but also address waste issues in the metals and mining sectors as well as in plastics. Several governmental agencies, including the EPA and Department of Health and Human Services, have concluded that 1,4-Dioxane is a likely human carcinogen. “1,4-Dioxane being in 20% of our drinking water . . . these have really negative effects,” says Richards. “But we can find the solutions. There’s an optimism and a hope that is to be conveyed in the public, to know that it’s not all doom and gloom. We do have problems, but we can solve those problems.”
Fast Company spoke with Richards in late summer about Allonnia’s clever products to eliminate these chemicals from our water supply. This conversation has been edited for content and clarity.
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Taxonomy
- PFAS