TLGN Invents the Synthetic Stomach

ORCA in Tulsa World

ORCA in Tulsa World | Totally Green

By ROBERT EVATT World Staff Writer
Published: 12/14/2011 2:21 AM
Last Modified: 12/14/2011 2:21 AM

Humans pretty much mastered digestion a long time ago. But it took Tulsa-based Totally Green Inc. to make a better synthetic stomach.

And it’s in demand. Right now, the 12 employees of Totally Green have deployed about 45 Orca Green Food Digesters at test sites across the country.

Tom Self, chairman of Totally Green, said those numbers could increase dramatically now that the company is moving from the testing phase into sales.

“In 18 months, we could have 500 employees,” he said. “We’re anticipating ramping up big time.”

That would build a lot of big square machines that swiftly break down food waste into “gray water,” or liquid compost, that can be flushed directly into sewer lines.

The Orca machines are already getting a workout in some notable places - the BOK Center, the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa, St. Francis Health System, Reasor’s supermarkets, Costco warehouse clubs, a Royal Caribbean Cruise ship and Fort Hood, Texas.

Although each Orca uses a combination of water and a mechanical agitator to facilitate the process, the real work is done by countless microorganisms that find a home on small “biochips” mixed with the waste. Depending on the machine’s size, it can digest 600, 1,200 or 2,400 pounds of waste per day.

All food is technically biodegradable, but Rob Phillips, CEO of Totally Green, said the manner in which food breaks down makes all the difference, particularly in whether or not oxygen is involved.

“When organic food is taken to a landfill and buried, it converts to methane when it breaks down,” he said.

The labor, energy and cost involved in hauling food waste to a landfill are also big hurdles, and new Environmental Protection Agency rules prohibit organizations from simply dumping untreated food waste into sewers.

Phillips said renting or buying an Orca can help large organizations save money in the long run.

“Our customers not only get good PR, they get a good return on their investment by not having to haul off the food waste,” he said.

Not that the technology is an automatic seller. Self said Orca used to be an Atlanta company that was licensing machines made in South Korea, but they didn’t function well.

“The concept was there, but the machine didn’t work,” he said.

Self, Phillips and other partners purchased the company in July 2010 and spent the next nine months trying to create a large-scale food composter of their own.

The machines are currently manufactured off-site at Self’s other business, Air Cooled Exchangers, but Self said Totally Green plans to establish a new Tulsa area facility exclusively dedicated to construction soon.

Totally Green’s Orca seems to be a success, at least based on the reception so far. Self said the company is in talks with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to help the grocer compost its unsold food, and an unfolding deal with Royal Caribbean - it plans to install multiple devices ship by ship - has drawn the attention of other cruise lines.

Then there’s the U.S. armed forces and its multitudes of facilities, Self said.

“Based on what they’ve seen at Fort Hood, they’re talking about putting these in every military installation in the world,” he said.