Innovation

Pond was formed over ten years ago and has since introduced an innovative patented process that creates a carbon capture system to be environmentally safe. This unique procedure is imposed upon sources that emit large amounts of carbon in their operations. Rather than being emitted into the environment, the emissions are diverted into several large ten to fifty thousand litre tanks. Next, the carbon is then consumed by algae within the tank to utilize the carbon while growing a valuable product. This environment has been tailored to optimal algae growth through adjusting the water’s pH and the lights surrounding the tank. Carbon capture is seen through storage or utilization, and Pond practices a carbon utilization model (CCU), ensuring the carbon is removed from our environment.

This innovative process addresses several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, specifically goal #13 climate action and goal #12 responsible production and consumption. To begin, we identified these goals as Pond implements a process that utilizes carbon, thus removing it from our ecosystem. Furthermore, Pond also targets responsible production and consumption as the algae can be used for human food and animal feed consumption. Due to the very high protein content and macronutrients within algae, Pond is able to obtain a byproduct from their carbon utilization process that has desirable traits to pursue responsible consumption

Finally, Pond offers our world a better position as Pond’s innovative technology has wide applications within renewable fuel production, food and alcohol production and oil production facilities. As our world desires carbon sequestration, Pond is leading our world into a more environmentally and economically sustainable position. Through the impact their technology has on the environment through carbon utilization and the algae produced, Pond is solving demanding topics in a very innovative manner.

Inspiration

The inspiration to start PondTech was originally created by the Founder Steve Martin who saw the problem in the world regarding high fuel prices and how the process of obtaining these fuels was unsustainable. The company's name was originally PondBiofuel and the innovation started for the company with the idea to conquer the energy crisis by creating a more sustainable fuel alternative to run automobiles and more. The company's current CEO Grant Smith said, “there was a concern and interest looking to alternative fuels for fueling your car other than gas and petroleum. People were looking into plant oils as fuel for cars.” In the beginning stages, PondTech was focused on whether they could grow algae to fuel cars and buses etc.

As time went on the company shifted its innovation to algae for fertilizer and how it can be grown through carbon emissions. The company believed that if carbon emissions can be reduced and used to grow algae simultaneously, then the company can reap the benefits of both reducing emissions and growing a valuable commodity. “The market then shifted further and there is now a market for animal feed and fish feed and human feed as Beyond Meat and other companies came along and had a need for sustainable protein.” Pond saw this as an opportunity to use CO2 emissions to grow algae in a tank which can replace acres of farmland with crops. Since algae is a superfood with 66% protein, a little bit of it can go a long way in an animal's diet just like humans. Pond is also looking into countries like Ethiopia in Africa where there is a problem with micro-nutrition. Since algae can be grown on-site at a factory with CO2 in Africa they have set their goals for the future on growing algae all over the world.

Overall impact

Pond Technologies Inc was founded in 2010 by Steve Martin who was an innovator in developing algae technology that could replace and dispose of fossil fuels. His technology opened the eyes of many investors and Cleantech executives which led to the company listing publicly on the Toronto Stock Venture Exchange in 2018. Pond is one of the first companies on earth to commercialize a scalable Carbon Capture & Utilization technology that can be deployed at existing industry sites. As of March 2020, the company is now currently led by CEO Grant Smith who has helped the company expand further into different markets utilizing the power of algae’s benefits, creating and founding the divisions of Pond Carbon, Pond Naturals, and Pond Biotech.

The initial focus of Pond was to replace biofuels with algae as a source of power instead of using oil. This can be seen reflected in the company’s original name Pond Biofuels. As the company continued to grow, algae research also continued expanding where the Pond team figured out algae has more benefits than just consuming carbon dioxide and replacing fossil fuels as fuel, but it actually has a load of health benefits for animals and humans which opened a completely new market for Pond to tap into. This allowed Pond to create a new division known as Pond Naturals founded by Grant Smith. The combination of Pond Carbon, Pond Biotech and Pond Naturals is now what makes Pond complete while they strive to innovate and support the CCU, health and wellness industries through the power of algae.

Business benefit

Pond Technologies is first and foremost a cleantech company. They sell their photobioreactor systems to factories that harness their carbon emissions and use them to grow algae. PondTech’s secondary company, Pond Naturals, is considered an agTech company because they process and sell the algae for human food, health supplements, pharmaceutical active ingredients and animal and fish feed. PondTech is also publicly traded through the Toronto Stock Exchange which makes the company transparent, accountable to their shareholders, and has financially kick-started PondTech’s business ventures.

PondTech is a carbon capture utilization business (CCU). Carbon capture is a growing business and will be a multibillion-dollar industry within the next ten years due to the increased pressure that governments have put on businesses to reduce their carbon emissions or to be carbon neutral. PondTech is unique because it is considered a carbon capture utilization business (CCU). A CCU first captures the carbon emissions, then uses those emissions to create a product that is useful, in this case, algae. The algae that are grown from the carbon emissions are valuable because it is very high in protein and is useful food for animals and humans. The algae are sold as a dense source of protein and other essential nutrients.

PondTech’s innovation helps businesses reach carbon emission government standards and helps them improve their image and reputation which can be used in branding and marketing.

Social and environmental benefit

Carbon emissions and specifically carbon dioxide are the leading human-induced cause of global warming and other associated climate change. Carbon dioxide lives up in the atmosphere and builds up for centuries, eventually warming the earth causing catastrophes such as the sea level rising. Many companies attempt to limit their carbon output by acting as a carbon capture storage company, or CCS. The risk these companies run is the potential leakage of carbon out into the air which in turn would result in the business having to pay for this output of carbon. Pond acts in a different way by practicing carbon capture utilization, or CCU. This is a method by which the carbon that is captured is not stored somewhere but instead utilized to create other products that eliminate the carbon overall.

Pond’s tanks that grow natural algae eliminate any output of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, limiting the impact the partnering company has on the environment. This links to the UN's SDG goal #13, climate action https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal13. As well, Pond utilizes the algae that they grow from the presence of carbon dioxide to benefit society and the environment. Some of the algae is put into soil on polluted or dead land to help the land grow healthy once again. Pond also uses the algae to create pills that are extremely high in protein and are major benefits for human health due to the protein and other health positives. These pills help contribute to goal #12 sustainable production and consumption https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal12. Finally, Pond is also looking into working with fish farms to provide them with the algae as this is what wild fish such as salmon eat. These fish eat the algae in the wild as it is high in oil and protein which naturally turns salmon the pink colour that naturally occurs from consuming algae in the ocean. This final goal links to goal #14 life below water, https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal14

Interview

Grant Smith, President & CEO