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David McCutchen has a penchant for innovation.

His interest in visual arts landed him in Southern California鈥檚 film industry, where he developed and patented specialized video optic.

He moved to Oregon in the 1990s to work on a wraparound video system that would eventually be used by Google to launch street views on map access programs.

To most people, breakthrough video technology would have seemed to be a stable platform to build on, but McCutchen had other ideas.

鈥淚鈥檝e long had a passion for environmental concerns,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd I had some basic concepts on pollution separation 鈥� taking unwanted stuff from what you want.鈥�

In 1995, he completed initial work on radial counterflow separation devices designed to purify air and water, leaving a concentrated stream of pollutants that can be addressed more easily.聽Two counter-rotating discs create thousands of tiny vortexes when gas or fluid passes between them.聽Heavier particles are slung to the perimeter and lighter ones are drawn to the center.

鈥淧ollution is heavier than air, and our system separates gas and solids in one pass,鈥� McCutchen explained.聽The process works the same in fluid dynamics.

With the technology in place to clean air or water, McCutchen founded Vorsana Inc. in 2008 with his brother Wilmot.

It became clear that the system could be modified to meet the specific needs of a range of industries, such as petrochemical and agricultural. The technology also had the potential to be used for humanitarian applications like drinking water in third world countries or disaster areas.

鈥淚magine a portable unit that could be flown to an area hit by an earthquake or a hurricane, and all services were damaged or corrupted,鈥� McCutchen said.聽鈥淭his system could produce drinking water and save lives.鈥�

McCutchen and his brother think the technology they created could literally strike gold in areas like Nevada, where fine grains of the mineral are mixed with soil in the ground. Processes for extracting gold from soil have been around since the 1950s, though barely profitable owing to the difficulties of getting an ounce of gold out of tons of dirt and sand. Their system could change that, McCutchen said.

Looking ahead, McCutchen said Vorsana will continue to test and develop the technology through partnerships with universities and industry groups.聽As national and world markets continue to see a growing need for dealing with pollution, Vorsana鈥檚 viability also will grow.

鈥淭his isn鈥檛 the only solution to these problems, but it鈥檚 a really effective one,鈥� McCutchen said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 new technology and sometimes it takes a while for it to see widespread use.鈥�