ABS Materials, Inc.

ABSMaterials was founded in December 2008 by Dr. Paul L. Edmiston and Stephen Spoonamore to commercialize Osorb®, a swellable organosilica that removes organic compounds from water. Since then, ABS Materials has continued to receive numerous awards and grants for our innovative research and groundbreaking solutions in water remediation, as well as media attention from publications such as Forbes, Popular Mechanics, Bloomberg, The Huffington Post, NPR, Chemical Engineering, Planet Forward, and RIGZONE. Dr. Edmiston has developed over 200 new types of responsive glass materials during his scientific career. At the age of 29, he received a CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation to molecularly engineer glass for explosives detection. He further refined the explosive sensors in collaboration with the Georgia Tech Research Institute (where he is a Fellow), again sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The glass that is now Osorb was devised by Edmiston in his College of Wooster lab during the early stages of the initial project. One of his undergraduate research assistants, Colleen Burkett, was the first to observe its unique swelling properties when she added acetone to a vial of the material via a dropper. Edmiston recognized the nano-engineered material’s unrivaled potential, and he spent two years studying, refining, and developing the technology. In recent years, Dr. Edmiston has continued to develop new variants of the material to create new, even more functionally efficient materials with specific applications in different markets. ABSMaterials has applied Osorb to advanced technologies in a number of industries, as well as developed cutting-edge solutions for scavenging volatile contaminants from ground, surface, and municipal water with no negative effects on the environment. Unlike outdated remediation methods such as air stripping, granular activated carbon, sparging, or oxidizers, there are no toxic byproducts, no landfilling, virtually no replacement costs, and minimal energy requirements with our products. Today, ABS Materials continues to study new applications for Osorb and to help our commercial clients exceed industry standards for effective, cost-efficient, and eco-friendly water treatment.