Company Overview

Birchtech is a specialty activated carbon technology company with novel, more sustainable and affordable approaches for mercury emission control and potable water treatment.

Our Mission

Innovate for a Healthier Planet

Birchtech is keenly focused in supporting growing challenges faced by utilities in critical infrastructure. Our mission is to ensure that cleaner air and water purification is both affordable and sustainable for power and water utilities. Leveraging 169 years of collective environmental technology expertise, we are bringing our legacy of success in activated carbon technologies into the water sector.

“We are going to do for water what we have done for air.”
- Richard MacPherson, Birchtech Founder & CEO

Key Milestones in Our Journey

Discover our journey marked by major milestones and groundbreaking innovations since early 2000s.

2008-2017
2018
2019-2025
2023-2024
Present

2008-2017

Our Beginnings, First Decade

  • SEA® technologies were initially developed in a collaborative project between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the University of North Dakota (UND) at the Energy Environmental Research Center (EERC) and have been further developed by Birchtech since 2008. From government and academia involvement, the SEA technologies became globally recognized as a “BACT” (Best Available Control Technology) for mercury emissions capture. 

  • Company Founder, Richard MacPherson, through an affiliation with the UND, obtained the licensing rights to commercialize the SEA technologies and Midwest Energy Emissions Corp (known as ME₂C) was born in 2008.
  • In 2012, ME₂C completed a raise with Oppenheimer and became publicly listed on the OTCQB under “MEEC”.
  • The Company achieved early commercialization of the SEA technologies, performed numerous in-field demonstrations with major power plants across the U.S., and achieved significant growth.
  • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) federal mandate enforcing the reduction of certain harmful emissions, including mercury, took effect in 2016 under the MATS (Mercury Emissions Toxic Air Standard) ruling. As a result, our customer base grew significantly across the U.S. power sector, reaching $32M by 2017. This growth led to the construction of a second manufacturing center in Texarkana to support the expected continued increase in customer growth.
  • With over $65M invested in SEA technologies since 2008, the patent portfolio was fully acquired from the EERC in 2017. However, by 2018, the company’s revenues began a sharp decline due to widespread infringement of these patented technologies.

2018

Launch of ME2C Environmental & Emerging Technologies

  • From more than a decade of working with coal-fired power plants, the Company realized that the cleanup of coal ash (coal waste created by coal-fired power plants) would become a critical challenge for the industry due to the significant cost and vast amounts of coal ash to be disposed. ME₂C estimated that roughly 1,100 coal ash ponds existed across the U.S. Not only were these ponds heavy with contaminants, but it has also been known for some time that coal ash is rich in critical minerals and rare earth elements. However, this rich source has remained untapped due to the industry’s inability to efficiently and cost-effectively extract REEs from coal ash and acid mine drainage. In 2018, initiated the development of new technologies focused on rare earth element extraction in an effort to provide an affordable, environmentally friendly approach to remove REEs and offset the cost of coal ash cleanup. By 2024, R&D lab tests have yielded positive results and development remains in progress pending the inception of in-field trials.
  • To better align ME₂C’s public perception of the Company’s expansion into new environmental technologies, ME₂C rebranded to “ME₂C Environmental”.

2019-2025

Protecting our Patented Technologies

  • Due to the continued patent infringement, a patent infringement lawsuit against was initiated against 43 defendants, which included four major utilities and numerous refined coal companies, to protect its intellectual property and shareholder value.  The legal outreach effort that began in 2019 continues today with additional lawsuits and power utilities named as defendants.  From the initial lawsuit filed in 2019, Resolutions were reached between 2020-2024 with major defendants, including all four utilities who entered license and/or supply agreements, and settlements with AJG, DTE, and Alistar entities.

  • Prior to the jury trial that was held in March 2024, the Company began a strategic legal outreach effort managed by its law firm, Caldwell Cassady Curry, LLP, and gained eight new business agreements from IP outreach with major U.S. utilities from 2020 through early 2021. From 2020 through 2022, the Company maintained a 50% YoY growth rate in recurring revenue from IP enforcement successes and increased demand from coal-fired power. The Company turned profitable, with positive cash flow and year-end revenues exceeding $21.6M in 2022.
  • In early 2024, the company was awarded $57 Million in a unanimous jury verdict with a finding of willful infringement and an injunction prohibiting the defendants from further acts of infringement.
  • The final judgment ruling from the U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge remains pending and expected in early 2025

2023-2024

Expansion Into New Markets & Technologies, Financial Improvements

  • With numerous long-term shareholders based in Canada, the Company began a strategic initiative to further expand its shareholder base in the Canadian market, which was enabled by a new public listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange Venture Board (TSXV) under the ticker “MEEC” The Toronto Stock Exchange listing allows for larger trading activity by investors across North America and other countries, such as Europe and Asia who are unable to access the OTCQB exchange.
  • In 2023, a new activated carbon technology for the removal of PFAS ('forever chemicals') from potable water was entered into development, becoming a major focus for the company’s near-term growth strategies.
  • In 2024, the WE₂C Environmental division was announced, along with the appointment of Dr. David Mazyck as Division Director and Dennis Baranik as National Director of Sales, to support the commercialization of the company’s emerging potable water treatment technologies.
  • U.S. EPA issues new PFAS and PFOS limits in 2024 with implementation starting in 2027.
  • In early 2024, the Company improved its financial profile with the repayment of a substantial portion of unsecured debt with its principal financial partner and restructured the remaining unsecured obligations including the reduction in the non-recourse profit share held by the lender from $17.7 million to $7.9 million and provided the Company the exclusive right to facilitate the sale of all or a portion of the remaining balance of common stock held by the lender and is entitled to receive certain dollar-for-dollar credits from these sales.
  • In July 2024, exactly five years after filing its initial lawsuit against 43 defendants, the Company announced three new lawsuits filed with a total of 14 defendants collectively. The lawsuits were filed in Arizona, Missouri, and Iowa.
  • In Fall 2024, the original company name, Midwest Energy Emissions Corp, rebranded to “Birchtech Corp.” to better reflect the Company’s diversified technology portfolio in specialty activated carbons.
  
  • Concurrent with the Birchtech’s uplisting onto the Toronto Stock Exchange main board from the “Venture”, the new ticker, “BCHT”, was announced replacing “MEEC”.  
In late 2024, Birchtech gained a new license agreement with a defendant in the Arizona lawsuit filed earlier that year.
  • Prior to 2025, the three separate lawsuits were consolidated into a single lawsuit filed in Iowa against remaining defendants.  The defendants in the Arizona lawsuit both reached license agreements and were removed as defendants.
  • Birchtech has gained a total of 10 license agreements, some including supply agreements, with major power utilities due to IP outreach efforts that began in 2019.

Present

Present Growth Strategies

  • Birchtech continues its outreach effort seeking positive business agreements with U.S. utilities using the patented SEA® technology without a license. It is believed that nearly 40% of the U.S. coal-fired sector rely on the SEA technology to reduce mercury emissions. The company continues to enforce the protection of their patented technologies across the U.S. coal fleet and expects to obtain new additional licenses and/or supply agreements, increasing the Company’s market share across the U.S. coal-fired fleet, through the next year.
  • Birchtech is actively working to increase shareholder value with a listing on a major exchange expected in 2025
  • Birchtech’s disruptive technologies for water treatment remain in progress with new activated carbon products for potable water treatment  expected to be commercially available during late 2025.

Core Values

Innovation

Driving progress with creative, highly effective, & sustainable technologies.

Integrity

Adhering to the highest ethical & transparent practices.

Sustainability

Dedicated to ecological stewardship and a sustainable future.

Excellence

Commitment to superior quality and innovative outcomes.

Collaboration

Gaining market share through thoughtful teamwork and strategic partnerships.

Evolving with Purpose

Birchtech, formerly known as Midwest Energy Emissions Corp, started with a focused mission to reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants using an innovative sorbent technology that now sets the global standard as the 'best available control technology' (BACT). Our evolution to Birchtech signifies a critical expansion, embracing a wide range of environmental technologies, particularly in water purification. This development underscores our commitment to tackling a variety of environmental challenges with cutting-edge solutions.

Evolving with Purpose

Birchtech, formerly known as Midwest Energy Emissions Corp, started with a focused mission to reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants using an innovative sorbent technology that now sets the global standard as the 'best available control technology' (BACT). Our evolution to Birchtech signifies a critical expansion, embracing a wide range of environmental technologies, particularly in water purification. This development underscores our commitment to tackling a variety of environmental challenges with cutting-edge solutions.

Get In Touch

Contact us and let's collaborate for a better tomorrow.

Birchtech Corp. is dedicated to advancing environmental technologies through innovative solutions in air and water purification. We lead with a commitment to continuous development and refinement of our patented technologies, driving industry advancements and setting new standards for a cleaner, safer future.

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