Innovations in Sustainability
Why ‘Microbial Area Kleaners’ Can Help Save Our Seas EMT CEO Randall Mount addresses the benefits of MAKs.
According to NOAA, restaurant closures heavily impacted the seafood industry, social distancing protocols, and the need for safety measures. Reports from the NW Seaport Alliance revealed that the industry is responsible for $1.4 billion in total business output, with over 11,300 jobs and 300 commercial fishing vessels.
Photo courtesy of Starbound
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a third of the commercial fishing industry’s revenue vanished, subjecting the entire industry to vulnerabilities for which it simply couldn’t prepare.
The Starbound is a 300-foot fishing vessel with a breadth of 48 feet, owned and operated by Aleutian Spray Fisheries.
Microbial Area Kleaners Can Help Protect Crews On Board Restrictions are finally starting to loosen after vaccinations have become publicly available. Several industry vessels, such as the Starbound and other ships at the Port of Seattle, are turning to new technology as a method of protection for crews onboard: Microbial Area Kleaners, or MAK systems. The technology belongs to Extreme Microbial Technologies (EMT), which uses hydrogen peroxide plasma. The plasma eliminates viruses and other air and surface contaminants, especially in close-quarter living spaces like fishing boats. “The Starbound, like most commercial fishing boats, has a quarantine room, sanitation procedures, and even UV lights in the HVAC system,” explained Starbound’s Captain and Managing Partner Karl Bratvold. The issue of sanitization, according to Bratvold, became even more critical during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2016, Bratvold oversaw and directed a $45 million project to rebuild the Aleutian Spray Fisheries C/P Starbound. It extended the vessel’s length to 300 feet while adding a new fish meal plant, factory, propulsion system, and
32
SUSTAINABILITY TODAY | SUMMER 2021
electronics. For 24-years, Bratvold captained Starbound and is now serving as its Managing Partner. Wanting greater control over the health of his crew, Bratvold began to research solutions. He quickly realized he needed a more “active” technology, unlike the “passive” technology of UV lights, which led to the creation of EMT. Since the company installed MAK systems in December, the overall health of the Starbound crew is substantially better. “There has not been so much as a single case of the common cold on board. It’s been really incredible,” Bratvold told our flagship publication, Innovation & Tech Today. “People are just amazed.”
“Consequently, the adoption of MAK technology grew incredibly quickly, which uses Hydrogen Peroxide Plasma to significantly reduce microbes such as molds, bacteria, and viruses including COVID-19” in an indoor environment.” In using hydrogen peroxide plasma, MAK systems seek out and eliminate pathogens 24/7 in any indoor environment and are validated to reduce the concentration of microbes indoors by 99% or more.
Mount says that this type of technology is “especially effective in the close quarters of a ship.” Passive Technologies Only Facilitate Today’s Newest Viruses “Cutting-edge MAK technology is recognized as a gamechanger for its active approach,” Mount explains. Unlike traditional passive technology, MAK’s use of hydrogen peroxide plasma makes it cutting-edge. The systems require very little routine maintenance and are customizable for any size indoor environment.
“Viruses and other contaminants have always been a concern for commercial fishing boats, which require crews to live together in close quarters for weeks or even months at a time,” said Randall Mount, CEO at EMT. “Illness can spread like wildfire on a boat and can be crippling to operations.”
“Filters and ultraviolet light are old-school technologies; these passive solutions require the microbes to find their way to the technology, instead of the other way around. Standard HEPA filters and UV systems can only trap or kill the microbes that encounter the filter material or the light waves emanating from the bulb in the ductwork. Even then, many microbes are too small to be trapped and pass through, or they are moving so quickly the UV light does not have time to adequately expose the organism to the harmful UV rays.”
He emphasized the need to find better ways to protect crew member health now more than ever since COVID-19 has continued to be part of our daily life.
This technology, according to Mount, is publicly available to consumers and is often used in single-family homes and individual living spaces, in addition to a variety of
