Energy Tech Venture Forum - Meet the Disruptors

/

A Houston cleantech startup that just signed a major deal in South Korea is among 10 businesses named the “most promising” companies at the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entreprenership’s recent Energy Tech Venture Forum in Houston.

The startup, Syzygy Plasmonics, is commercializing a deep-decarbonization platform designed to clean up the emissions-heavy chemical industry. The platform, based on technology pioneered at Rice’s Laboratory for Nanophotonics, harnesses energy from LED light to generate chemical reactions.

Syzygy Plasmonics’ win at the Energy Tech Venture Forum came less than a week before the startup announced it’s part of a new partnership developing an all-electric chemical reactor for production of clean hydrogen in South Korea. Syzygy’s partners in the venture are sister companies LOTTE Chemical and LOTTE Fine Chemical, both based in South Korea, and Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo Corporation of Americas. Sumitomo is among Syzygy’s investors.

The Syzygy reactor will be installed at LOTTE Fine Chemical facilities in Ulsan, South Korea. This represents the first time Syzygy’s technology will be used in a commercial setting.

“Simply improving existing tech isn’t enough to reach the world’s decarbonization goals. Stopping climate change will require industries to reimagine what is possible,” says Trevor Best, co-founder and CEO of Syzygy.

Syzygy was one of 10 startups that were crowned “most promising” by investors gathered at the Energy Tech Venture Forum. The nine others are:

  • Calgary, Canada-based Arolytics, which takes advantage of methane emissions data to support cost savings, regulatory compliance, and effective emissions-reduction strategies.

  • Pueblo, Colorado-based Atargis Energy, whose hydrofoil-based converter technology can supply affordable grid-level electricity derived from ocean waves. Atargis is a participant in the Rice Alliance’s Clean Energy Accelerator.

  • Newport, Delaware-based Compact Membrane Systems, whose technology enables capital-intensive industrial operations to reduce risk, increase yield, lower costs, and run in a greener, more efficient way.

  • Ithaca, New York-based Dimensional Energy, whose technology uses carbon dioxide to produce a low-price oil substitute for carbon-intensive industries such as the aviation sector. Investors in Dimensional Energy include United Airlines, which has agreed to buy 300 million gallons of fuel from the startup.

  • Calgary, Canada-based Kanin Energy, which focuses on transforming industrial waste heat into emissions-free power without the need for capital from host facilities.

  • San Francisco-based Orbital Sidekick, which uses satellites to provide intelligence from anywhere on the planet to help organizations meet goals for sustainability, security, and ESG (environmental, social, and governance). Dallas-based Energy Transfer recently tapped Orbital Sidekick to monitor corporate assets in the Permian Basin, an oil and gas production area encompassing 55 counties in Texas and New Mexico.

  • Columbus, Ohio-based Power to Hydrogen, whose fuel cell technology converts electricity and water into high-purity hydrogen and oxygen and, when needed, back to power.

  • Menlo Park, California-based Quino Energy, which produces flow battery systems with over eight hours of storage that are cheaper and safer than lithium-ion batteries. Quino is participating in the Rice Allliance’s Clean Energy Accelerator.

  • Richland, Washington-based STARS Technology, which makes compact generators powered by hydrogen that’s extracted from water and methane.

At this year’s forum, more than 60 companies pitched their ideas to representatives of major energy players like Shell Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, and ExxonMobil.