GALVA, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Global Impact Innovation (GII) announced today that it has successfully repurposed its existing plant for producing Zein protein and now has been producing and delivering hand sanitizer at mass-scale in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since beginning production in mid-April 2020, GII has manufactured and delivered close to 100,000 gallons of sanitizer with a significant portion of its early product donated to hospitals, frontline workers, and vulnerable institutions such as homeless shelters. OSF Saint Luke Medical Center, Los Angeles homeless shelters and other local communities in Henry County, Illinois were among the first recipients of GII’s donation effort.
The production facility, based on the campus of the Big River Resources ethanol plant in Galva, Illinois, was designed to produce Zein protein from corn to address global challenges, such as plastic pollution on land and in oceans. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S., the shortage of basic self-care products such as sanitizers became clear, as did the country’s reliance on the halted global supply chain for replacement products. True to its mission of innovating for positive human impact, GII immediately took that as a duty call and jumped to repurpose the Galva plant to produce ethanol-based sanitizers on a large scale in order to make it available across the United States at an affordable price. It has just completed the additional upgrades to produce 150,000 gallons of sanitizer per week and continue to scale.
“We are immensely proud of this initiative that supports communities dealing with hand sanitizer supply shortages during the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Drs. Anil and Asha Oroskar, co-founders of GII. “We were able to re-tool our facilities in less than 30-days to enable a supply chain for ethanol-based hand sanitizer made in the United States, and this effort is supporting employment opportunities in our hard-hit rural communities.”
“We personally invested in this effort as a response to the shortages and price gouging, we saw occurring at the beginning of the pandemic. Harnessing this renewable resource that we already had at our disposal, we knew we could quickly meet a critical need that will only increase as the nation prepares to get back to work. An important outcome of investing in our own supply is that we can help the ethanol market in the Midwest come back to life,” added Paresh Ghelani, co-founder of GII.
While the immediate priority has been distribution to military, first responders, and hospitals, GII’s longer-term plan is to continue selling hand sanitizer in large quantities and at an affordable price to municipalities, educational institutions, manufacturing plants, and more. GII has scaled its delivery containers from its original 55-gallon drums to now include 275-gallon totes and truck tankers. It is committed to building relationships with partners, nonprofits, and customers that will continue long after the pandemic subsides.
About Global Impact Innovation
GII operates at the intersection of technology and social good. Its vision is to bring innovative products and solutions to address global problems such as sanitizer needs, environmental pollution, seawater desalination, biodegradable plastics, etc. through a suite of initiatives and by striving for technological breakthroughs. For more than 30 years, its founding partners have spent time innovating ways to address worldwide challenges. Leveraging past experiences, knowledge, bold thinking, and patented IP, GII has set a new target of bringing breakthrough innovations that will have a lasting positive impact on all of humanity and the world at large. For more information, visit: https://gii.llc/
