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Atlanta-based Green Boom, which sells eco-friendly absorbent products for cleaning up oil leaks and spills, has signed a deal to open a factory and distribution center in Qatar that will serve markets in the Middle East and beyond.
CEO Sudhir Sharma, a Ph.D. chemical engineer from Georgia Tech who co-founded the company in 2018, signed the deal with the Investment Promotion Agency Qatar during the Qatar Economic Forum in June.
According to the memorandum of understanding, the financial details of which were not disclosed, Green Boom will receive financial backing from the Qatari government for setting up a new facility that will hire and train about 100 workers. The company hopes to serve the Middle East, North Africa and India from the new location.
“Green Boom is excited to take this step towards creating a presence in the Middle East where our innovative products will make a meaningful impact in protecting the environment,” Dr. Sharma said in a statement.
He added that the support of the Qatar government and the IPA, led by Sheikh Ali Alwaleed Al-Thani, has been “crucial to our plans.”
For its part, Qatar is interested in helping grow the capabilities of its local workforce by bringing innovators like Green Boom, which says it offers an earth-friendly solution at a cost comparable to competitors.
“This partnership with Green Boom further cements Qatar’s growing reputation as a thriving and supportive international business hub and is a testament to the country’s unwavering commitment towards developing a sustainable, knowledge-based economy,” Mr. Al-Thani said in a news release.
Green Boom has been aggressively courting international growth, making a pitch at the launch of the German state of North Rhine Westphalia’s office in Atlanta in March and eyeing expansion into Nigeria, where its products have been approved by the Ministry of Petroleum. Green Boom is also a member of the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce of Georgia.
The company hopes to capitalize on the global zeitgeist around sustainability and has received certifications from the EU, U.S., Australia and other countries.
Current sorbents on the market, Dr. Sharma said, are made from polypropylene, the same type of plastic used in medical face masks. Once the oil is soaked up, the sorbents are placed in bags and sent to a landfill, where the oil degrades the plastic over time.
“So instead of actually solving the problem of the oil spill, it just gets moved from one site to another,” Dr. Sharma said during the NRW presentation in Atlanta.
Green Boom uses sorbents made from cotton and other natural byproducts. They’re contained in socks used to encircle spills, pillows for sopping them up and water-repellent containment booms, the company’s namesake floating barriers. A microbe can also be added that consumes any absorbed oil gradually.
“Instead of the oil being constantly trapped inside the plastic, the oil decomposes over time, and when the products are disposed of, they biodegrade over time, leaving no trace in the end,” he said.
Beyond large oil spills at sea, Dr. Sharma sees applications at products at ports, auto shops and across industrial applications where fuel is handled.
Atlanta and Doha, Qatar, have been linked with a nonstop flight since 2016, but most of the outbound business traffic from Atlanta tends to bypass the oil- and gas-rich nation en route to points further afield.
Learn more about Green Boom at www.greenboom.com.
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