Luke has been the driving force behind several high technology environmental companies since 1979.

He founded and served as chief executive officer of three companies involved in converting biomass to bio-fuels, fiber, feed and other high value products. In this capacity he has lead and directed the design, construction and operation of several plants which produced fuel ethanol from corn and industrial wastes, using novel fermentation techniques and high rate anaerobic digesters to treat the resulting effluent.

He helped develop technology which hydrolyzed wood wastes into fermentation feedstock and other high-tech materials such as epoxies, carbon fibers, and resins. To that end he co-founded the Bio-based Materials Center at Virginia Polytechnic Institute with Dr. Wolfgang Glasser.

Luke was founding member and served as President of the Virginia Ethanol Association for 8 years.
Luke served on the Grant Review Board for TVA’s South East Regional Biomass Program for several years. He also served on the Board of

Directors for the Renewable Fuels Association from 1985 – 1989
In 1991, Luke founded Pragmatic Environmental Solutions Company [PESCO] as an answer to the increasing demand for on-site, reasonably priced, skid mounted solvent and oil recycling systems. As president of PESCO he has led it from modest beginnings to a company with international recognition in the field of skid mounted oil and solvent recovery systems over a period of over 30 years. PESCO systems are recycling everything from acetone to xylene and motor oil, in locations ranging from Australia to Virginia.

In 1998, he co-founded VEDCO LLC, a company which recycles non-hazardous solvents such as various Glycols and NMP at its Roanoke, Virginia state of the art stainless steel distillation plant. This was sold in 2010.

PESCO has designed and built many Used Lube Oil Re-refineries which operate in several countries including the USA. Several of these plants are now owned by large waste management companies such as Safety-Kleen, Vertex, and Clean Harbors.

Luke has served on the board of the National Oil Recycling Association (NORA) and has developed a good reputation for troubleshooting and fixing Used Oil Re-refineries in the USA, Malaysia and Egypt.

Luke has also served as a consultant for several Used Oil related projects.

PESCO is now exploring technologies to recover valuable co-products from plastics and tires to make these technologies scalable and accessible to developing countries.

PESCO - Distillation Systems