September 28, 2026 (www.waternewswire.com) NEW ORLEANS, LA — Green Steel Environmental, a Boulder-based cleantech company, today announced it will showcase performance data from its first full-scale pilot at WEFTEC 2026, the water sector's largest annual technical conference and exhibition, September 28–30 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. At Booth #7946, the company's executives will be on hand to introduce Green Steel PSR(TM), a patented additive produced from upcycled steel slag that replaces hazardous treatment chemicals in wastewater and biogas operations.
Since its deployment in early June at the City of Boulder's Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF), Green Steel PSR(TM) has already made an impressive impact:
- 13,000 lbs of phosphate removed from wastewater
- 14 million SCF (standard cubic feet) of methane cleaned
- The equivalent of 81,000 pounds of hazardous chemicals displaced from local water systems
- 1.2 billion gallons of wastewater treated, in part
The technology has cleared EPA 503 (land application), EPA WET (effluent toxicity), and EPA TCLP (landfill) testing, and the underlying science was validated in a peer-reviewed article published in Water Environment Research, the journal of the Water Environment Federation, the organizer of WEFTEC.
"Wastewater plants have been stuck using the same corrosive, expensive chemicals for decades because there hasn't been a real alternative — until now. Our first full-scale deployment at Boulder's Water Resource Recovery Facility shows Green Steel PSR(TM) performing as the lab data predicted, and we're bringing that proof to WEFTEC so operators and engineers can see it for themselves." — Jon Teaford, CEO and Co-Founder, Green Steel Environmental
Boulder's 10-million-gallon-per-day plant, which serves more than 200,000 residents and commuter workers, faced a familiar convergence of pressures: tightening state phosphorus limits, a chloride discharge ceiling that capped further use of ferric chloride, a $12 million bio-P system that alone could not meet upcoming targets, and the ongoing hazardous-materials handling burden of ferric chloride itself. Green Steel PSR(TM) is sourced from a steel mill in Pueblo, Colorado — about 150 miles away — and introduced upstream of the plant's anaerobic digesters, exiting with the biosolids that are land-applied on local agricultural land.
"Steel slag is sitting in stockpiles at steel mills throughout the country, mostly used as a low-value roadway aggregate. What we discovered is that its chemistry is well suited to capturing phosphorus and sulfur in wastewater. Getting hazardous chemicals like ferric chloride out of wastewater treatment is a goal we can achieve with this product." — Prof. Mark Hernandez, Chief Scientific Advisor and Inventor of Green Steel PSR(TM)
Beyond municipal wastewater treatment, Green Steel Environmental is also evaluating Green Steel PSR(TM) with biogas and renewable natural gas producers, dairy farms, food processing plants, pulp and paper mills, and breweries and distilleries — any operation needing to control phosphorus and/or hydrogen sulfide.
The WEFTEC showcase follows a string of recent milestones for the company: Green Steel Environmental closed a $2.2 million seed round in January 2026, led by the Rockies Venture Club, Central Texas Angel Network, Cowtown Angels, and Baylor Angel Network, and was named a SXSW Pitch 2026 finalist in the Sustainability, AgTech & Food category.
Media and conference attendees are invited to visit Green Steel Environmental at Booth #7946 throughout WEFTEC 2026 for a walkthrough of how Green Steel PSR(TM) works, a firsthand look at the Boulder performance data, and interviews with company leadership.
About Green Steel Environmental
Green Steel Environmental is a Boulder, Colorado-based cleantech company that transforms upcycled steel slag into Green Steel PSR(TM), a patented additive that replaces hazardous chemicals in wastewater treatment and biogas production. Spun out of the University of Colorado's Embark Deep Tech Startup Creator, the company helps municipal and industrial facilities remove phosphorus and control hydrogen sulfide more safely, sustainably, and affordably than conventional chemical treatment. Learn more at greensteelenvironmental.com.
Media Contact
Ron Zighelboim +1 970.627.7118 pr@greensteelenvironmental.com greensteelenvironmental.com