After emerging from bankruptcy in 2009, CDG Environmental, a Bethlehem-based maker of water purification and disinfectant processes, is growing again in markets ranging from municipal water systems to food handling.
CDGE produces highly engineered, state-of-the-art chlorine dioxide chemistries that are safe, stable and easy-to-use; they are utilized in a wide range of sterilization, disinfection and decontamination applications for a variety of markets.
According to CDGE President David Morris, the basic technology was developed in the 1970s and '80s in collaboration with industry experts and university affiliations, and scaled up to commercial products.
Since 2009, CDGE has focused on two products for which regulatory approvals have opened up an array of new applications. At the same time, Morris adds, the company has expanded its distributor network to approximately 30 highly recognized organizations serving the water treatment, food processing and dairy markets, among others.
“It's a specialty niche business that has a lot of potential,” CDGE Technology Development Manager Peter Dent told the Allentown Economic Development Corporation (AEDC). “Ours is a demonstrated product in an area that has increasing importance around the world. It's basically clean water.”
The company's “products are used for the treatment of potable water and cooling water in hospitals, healthcare facilities, hotels, commercial, governmental and office buildings, ships, treatment of food processing water, livestock drinking water, industrial process water, vegetable washing and cooling towers,” added Dent. “The products are mostly used to get rid of bacteria, algae, slime and more, and do so in a quicker, more effective way than alternatives such as bleach, chlorine, PAA and other chemicals.”
CDGE employs about 12; half work at the company’s manufacturing facility in Allentown. CDGE is currently pursuing further development in the dairy, membrane separations, food processing, process water and municipal potable water treatment markets, as well as production and delivery improvements, and a new low-cost, chlorine dioxide generation system.
Source: David Morris, CDG Environmental and Joe McDermott, Allentown Economic Development Corporation
Writer: Elise Vider