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A Houston based clean chemical and clean energy company in tandem with 2 highly recognized Rice University researchers are developing a new generation of chemical reactors and helping to diversify the Greater Houston economy.
Houston-based Syzygy Plasmonics has raised $5.8 million for its technology to create an environmentally friendly chemical reactor that could, one day, replace those used at refineries and chemical plants.
“This reactor is fundamentally different,” CEO Trevor Best said. “It's super science.”
Chemical reactors are the containers in which chemicals get combined and turned into new products. Most chemical reactors do this at very high temperatures and pressure levels. Syzygy uses LED lights.
Syzygy's chemical reactor will use LED lights to turn water and methane into hydrogen. As such, it operates at about 400 degrees Fahrenheit and a normal atmospheric pressure of 14.7 psi — more similar to a household oven than a refinery.
And because it doesn't require massive amounts of heat, the Syzygy chemical reactor can run off renewable energy sources such as wind or solar power (traditional reactors can't use these renewable sources and still reach their high temperatures in a cost effective way). This reduces emissions by 40 percent to 50 percent compared to the current method for producing hydrogen, Best said.
But for Syzygy, the most exciting potential is creating hydrogen as a fuel for vehicles. Best expects this to become the company’s first commercial market as auto companies invest in developing hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Pictured, from left to right, Syzygy Plasmonics CEO Trevor Best, Technical Adviser and Rice University Professor Naomi Halas, Technical Adviser and Rice University Professor Peter Nordlander and Chief Technology Officer Suman Khatiwada.
Photo: Syzygy Plasmonics https://www.houstonchronicle.com/tec...tent=headlines
A rendering of Syzygy's planned photocatalytic chemical reactor.
COURTESY: SYZYGY
Syzygy Plasmonics signs pilot agreement with North Carolina research nonprofit
A Houston-based chemicals tech startup has signed an agreement to demonstrate its technology at North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, continuing a trajectory toward commercialization of its clean fuels technology.
Syzygy Plasmonics announced an agreement with the nonprofit RTI International to launch a pilot project for its decarbonization technology on Jan. 24. The 6-month test period will be used in analyses leading to Syzygy’s first commercial e-fuels plant.
Syzygy, which spun out of Rice University, is developing a photocatalytic chemical-reactor platform technology for users in the industrial gas, chemical and energy sectors. Although reactors generally rely on fossil fuels to trigger the chemical reactions necessary to produce plastics, fuels, fertilizers, hydrogen and other chemicals, Syzygy’s photocatalytic reactor instead relies on the light from LEDs.
The pilot will involve an electrified reactor that converts two greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide and methane – into low carbon-intensity fuels such as methanol, Syzygy said. RTI’s contribution to the pilot comes in the form of its synthesis unit, which would be used to produce a variety of fuel grades.
The pilot follows a path to commercial scaling that Syzygy has been moving toward in recent years. The company secured a $76 million Series C round led by Carbon Direct Capital in November 2022, its largest funding round to date. In May 2022, Syzygy moved its headquarters to a 44,800-square-foot building off the Sam Houston Parkway in Pearland, which the company also uses as a research, development and manufacturing site.
Previous Syzygy fund raises include a $23 million Series B round, led by Hong Kong-based Horizons Ventures, in 2021, and a $5.8 million Series A raise in 2019.
The pilot follows a path to commercial scaling that Syzygy has been moving toward in recent years. The company secured a $76 million Series C round led by Carbon Direct Capital in November 2022, its largest funding round to date. In May 2022, Syzygy moved its headquarters to a 44,800-square-foot building off the Sam Houston Parkway in Pearland, which the company also uses as a research, development and manufacturing site.
Previous Syzygy fund raises include a $23 million Series B round, led by Hong Kong-based Horizons Ventures, in 2021, and a $5.8 million Series A raise in 2019.
But the Stafford location was/is a chip site no? The old TI site in NW HOU was electronic manufacturing (TI exited computer/electronic manufacturing altogether since then) no? Which would eventually lead to Compaq. I wonder if all the electronic manufacturing sites that currently stand in that area derived from Compaq and the old TI NW HOU site.
But the Stafford location was/is a chip site no? The old TI site in NW HOU was electronic manufacturing (TI exited computer/electronic manufacturing altogether since then) no? Which would eventually lead to Compaq. I wonder if all the electronic manufacturing sites that currently stand in that area derived from Compaq and the old TI NW HOU site.
It’s very likely. Back in the day Compaq had 5 manufacturing buildings: PCAs, laptops, desktops, servers, and HPC. They partnered with Foxconn and Inventec and then eventually outsourced.
If memory serves the old TI site became a Compaq NA Sales site. Manufacturing was always on the main campus off HWY 249.
It’s very likely. Back in the day Compaq had 5 manufacturing buildings: PCAs, laptops, desktops, servers, and HPC. They partnered with Foxconn and Inventec and then eventually outsourced.
If memory serves the old TI site became a Compaq NA Sales site. Manufacturing was always on the main campus off HWY 249.
Surprising that there’s still a decent amount of that manufacturing still there considering how much electronics got outsourced to Asia
But the Stafford location was/is a chip site no? The old TI site in NW HOU was electronic manufacturing (TI exited computer/electronic manufacturing altogether since then) no? Which would eventually lead to Compaq. I wonder if all the electronic manufacturing sites that currently stand in that area derived from Compaq and the old TI NW HOU site.
A Japanese Tech takeover of a local Tech company and 2 biotech stories make up today's potpourri of economic diversity for the Greater Houston economy.
Japanese software giant Yokogawa Electric acquires Stafford tech co. Fluence Analytics
Local tech company Fluence Analytics has been acquired less than two years after moving its headquarters to the Houston area.
On Feb. 2., Japanese software giant Yokogawa Electric announced it had acquired the Stafford-based company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed in the announcement, but Fluence Analytics will change its name to Yokogawa Fluence Analytics.
The new Yokogawa Fluence Analytics name is the second rebrand for the company, which was known as Advanced Polymer Monitoring Technologies until 2017. Fluence licensed its technology from Tulane University in New Orleans and moved its headquarters to Stafford in 2021. The company now has 25 employees in Houston, according to the Yokogawa announcement.
Yokogawa Corp. of America bases its North American headquarters at 12530 W. Airport Blvd. in Sugar Land. The company also has an office in The Woodlands as well as locations in Georgia, Utah, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Canada and Mexico.
MD Anderson Cancer Center partners with biotech co. to improve cancer immunotherapy response.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is partnering with a California biotech company to produce bacterial communities that can improve outcomes for cancer patients who do not respond to traditional therapy.
Under the new partnership, MD Anderson’s microbiome platform, Platform for Innovative Microbiome and Translational Research (PRIME-TR), will work with San Francisco-based Federation Bio’s anaerobic co-culture technology (ACT), which is used to create communities of microbes at scale.
The research center will also be gaining additional lab space to collaborate with other Houston-area research entities. Nobel Laureate James Allison, MD Anderson's chair of immunology, will lead a research hub named after himself targeting immunotherapy.
MD Anderson is one of three Texas Medical Center institutions — including Texas A&M University and the University of Texas Health Science Center Houston — taking over 24,000 square feet of overlapping lab and office space in the TMC Helix Park’s main building, which is set to open in late 2023.
Based on its 27,082 admissions in 2022, MD Anderson is No. 5 on the HBJ's 2022 Largest Houston-Area Hospitals List. Reports released by both national and local entities in 2022 named Houston among the top markets in the country for life sciences research.
Houston biotech FibroBiologics turns to online crowdfunding after considering IPO, SPAC options
A Houston biotech company that had previously been looking into going public traditionally is now turning to a crowdfunding platform to raise capital.
FibroBiologics, a clinical-stage firm developing therapies for chronic diseases using fibroblast cells, launched a campaign on the equity crowdfunding platform StartEngine in January 2023. Chairman and CEO Pete O’Heeron said the decision to use crowdfunding came after FibroBiologics was unable to find a favorable deal with a special purpose acquisition company or launch an initial public offering.
According to the offering page on StartEngine, FibroBiologics had 48 investors raising over $1 million by Feb. 1 at noon. That makes FibroBiologics the fastest-rising biotech offering on StartEngine since the platform launched in 2015, according to the Houston-based company. FibroBiologics will accept investments between $498.55 and nearly $5 million, per the StartEngine page.
FibroBiologics had been looking into going public as early as April 2022, the Houston Business Journal previously reported. The company secured a capital commitment of up to $100 million with GEM Global Yield LLC SCS, a private investment group with locations in New York and Paris.
FibroBiologics holds more than 150 patents in the U.S. and internationally for a variety of applications for fibroblasts, including therapies for degenerative disc disease, multiple sclerosis and cancer. The company has received Investigational New Drug (IND) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its degenerative disc disease therapy, CybroCell, and O'Heeron said the IND study would be completed after the company raises its funds.
To add to this, this Houston has the potential to be the leader in the emerging so called “industrial tech” and Sugar Land/Stafford gets a lot of the slice in the regional pie. Schlumnerger is there after all. As far as I’ve seen, it’s always been a big field here, but it’s been in high demand since 2021 or so. I suppose this is part of the reason Houston had showed good numbers in 2022 growth in tech jobs (ive been critical of this statistic but it still shows good information of demand for software jobs). If Houston will become the biopharma hub it decides to be, the big industry software scene will work to its benefit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack Lance
A Japanese Tech takeover of a local Tech company and 2 biotech stories make up today's potpourri of economic diversity for the Greater Houston economy.
Japanese software giant Yokogawa Electric acquires Stafford tech co. Fluence Analytics
Local tech company Fluence Analytics has been acquired less than two years after moving its headquarters to the Houston area.
On Feb. 2., Japanese software giant Yokogawa Electric announced it had acquired the Stafford-based company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed in the announcement, but Fluence Analytics will change its name to Yokogawa Fluence Analytics.
The new Yokogawa Fluence Analytics name is the second rebrand for the company, which was known as Advanced Polymer Monitoring Technologies until 2017. Fluence licensed its technology from Tulane University in New Orleans and moved its headquarters to Stafford in 2021. The company now has 25 employees in Houston, according to the Yokogawa announcement.
Yokogawa Corp. of America bases its North American headquarters at 12530 W. Airport Blvd. in Sugar Land. The company also has an office in The Woodlands as well as locations in Georgia, Utah, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Canada and Mexico.
This post contains 2 stories about Houston economic diversity drivers. First an update of the widening of the Houston ship channel a huge economic driver and a small Katy company that is transitioning from a medical device/oil and gas company to concentrating on the medical device business and becoming one of the fastest growing companies in the Greater Houston economy.
First
Project 11, the Houston Ship Channel’s massive expansion project, is right on track, according to officials with the Port of Houston.
Houston-based Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp. (Nasdaq: GLDD) completed the first dredging project, Segment 1A, which runs from Bolivar Roads to Redfish, the port announced Feb. 6. During last year’s State of the Port event, Lori Brownell, director of channel improvement at Port Houston, predicted this would be done by January, making the current progress on schedule and on budget.
“The completion of segment 1A is a great step forward to sustain the busiest waterway in the nation,” said Roger Guenther, executive director at Port Houston. “It moves Port Houston one step closer to handling unrestricted two-way traffic of larger vessels for the benefit of all stakeholders.”
Later this year, construction of Long Bird island is expected to be completed. This will include various land elevations, shore protection, oyster wave trips and a lagoon. Segment 1B, which spans the Redfish to Bayport portion of the channel, is also undergoing dredging and is expected to be completed in 2024.
The Port of Houston, which was established in 1914, is one of the city’s main economic drivers, with 17% of the region’s economy tied to exports. The port's economic impact is $339 billion across Texas and $802 billion nationwide, and it's responsible for 1.35 million jobs in Texas and 3.2 million jobs nationwide, according to Port Houston data.
Velentium Inc. exits oil and gas market with sale of division
Katy-based medical device engineering firm Velentium Inc. is exiting the oil and gas market with the sale of its Velentium Solutions division.
The company sold the oil and gas division to Houston-based engineering and consulting firm ADV Integrity, Velentium said Feb. 1. Velentium Solutions focused on high-pressure, high-temperature test systems and automated monitoring for oil and gas, hydraulics and pneumatics applications. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“While the oil and gas side of Velentium has historically been healthy and attractive, our strategic plan calls for us to further shift our attention to medical devices,” Purvis said in the announcement. “As we make this pivot, we wanted to do right by our oil and gas clients and felt that they would be better served by an organization dedicated to their needs.”
Velentium is one of the fastest-growing companies in the Houston area. It was No. 40 on the Houston Business Journal’s 2022 Fast 100 List, which ranks companies by two-year revenue growth. Velentium reported $19.45 million in revenue for fiscal year 2021, a 113.46% increase from 2019.
Additionally, the company was one of more than 80 Houston-based businesses to be featured on the 2022 Inc. 5000.
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