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2024 Pitching Startups
Alchemity
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The methane in natural gas is one of the largest contributors to climate change with 80 times the impact as CO2 on a per molecule basis. Alchemity’s technology converts methane into valuable liquid commodity chemicals with no greenhouse gas emissions thus providing a profitable solution to climate change.
Alchemity focuses on the $60 billion gas-to-liquids (GTL) processing market. The Alchemity reactor represents a step change in process intensification over the existing technology developed decades ago by combining catalysis and gas separation into a single step process, thereby eliminating much of the massive capital requirements to build new GTL plants. The reactor is more efficient and modular, enabling new GTL plants to be closer to end users.
CURRENT HIGHLIGHTS: Shell GameChanger—a program supporting early-stage ideas with the potential to impact the future of energy—selected Alchemity as one of the winners of the Chemicals Decarbonization Challenge 2021 to receive development funding over two years to demonstrate a single-step catalytic membrane reactor. Alchemity was founded by Eric Wachsman, Director of the Maryland Energy Innovation Institute, and William L. Crentz, Centennial Chair in Energy Research at the University of Maryland.
BrightWave
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The market for algae is currently $20 billion, with an expected annual growth rate of nearly 11%. The current algae market is largely based on its uses in animal and aquaculture feed, human food, organic farming, and fertilizer products. Because of this super plant's market potential, more capital is being invested in high-quality, low-cost algae production.
Even more exciting is algae's potential to fight food insecurity and climate change via applications such as CO2 removal, CO2 displacement in all types of manufacturing, and biofuels. These uses will enable wider adoption and larger markets of algae biomass.
BrightWave has developed and patented an innovative microalgae photobioreactor (PBR) that produces lab-quality biomass at an industrial scale with the smallest land footprint in the industry. The PBRs are internally illuminated and self-cleaning. They reduce downtime and contamination risk to practically zero. BrightWave's PBRs outperform existing algae cultivation platforms by a wide margin.
CURRENT HIGHLIGHTS: BrightWave's PBRs are being deployed into multiple industries – food, medical, wastewater treatment, sustainable aviation fuels, and even a carbon-negative cement manufacturing venture. The PBRs were tested and certified at the University of Maryland Institute for Marine and Environmental Technology.
Ionic Devices
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The battery value chain is expected to grow by 10 from 2020 to 2030 to an annual revenue of $410 billion. The expected growth has catalyzed an unprecedented level of investment in battery manufacturers (1).
To ensure these risky investments into Battery manufacturing succeed, Ionic Devices is commercializing a novel methodology to produce lithium-ion batteries by leveraging semiconductor manufacturing methods. These batteries have energy and power metrics that are orders of magnitude higher than conventional solid-state systems and are comparable to current market standards for liquid systems. Ionic Devices produce safe, solid batteries with 15-30X more energy at orders of magnitude higher power.
CURRENT HIGHLIGHTS: Thus far, 2 patents have been issued for this technology, and two other patent applications are in process. Keith Gregorczyk, Assistant Research Scientist of Materials Science and Engineering at the Institute for Research in Electronics & Applied Physics at the University of Maryland, led the project. Ionic Devices works result from 15 years of DOE-funded research with a developed prototype.
Living Canopies
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Urban areas become heat islands that experience higher temperatures because of the infrastructure built around them, absorbing and remitting the sun's heat. Because of heat recycling, daytime temperatures in urban areas can be 1–7°F higher than in outlying areas (1). When the Sun shines on traditional umbrellas with nylon canopies, the canopy can heat up to 120°F or more.
Living Canopies is a startup that is revolutionizing the way cities approach mobility. Their flagship product, the Cool Green Shelter for Transit Stops, is designed to address the growing need for public mobility options in cities and provide sustainable and equitable economic opportunities for all city residents. Living Canopies patent-protected design increases ridership, enhances customer experience, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions, making it a viable and attractive solution for cities and transit authorities. Their nnovative shelters also incorporate solar power, a living green roof, device charging, and rainwater harvesting technologies. The company's 5-year goal is to have enough Green Shelters deployed in the market, which will result in a GHG reduction of 8000 MT-CO2/y, 5.8 million new rides per year, storage of 9.3 million liters of stormwater per year, production of 2.5 GWh of solar electricity per year and a total cooling reduction of 1.3 million cooling degree-days. Living Canopies products will revolutionize how cities approach mobility.
CURRENT HIGHLIGHTS: Living Canopies is working with several city governments to support a better living environment for their citizens. The company was founded by Dave Tilly, an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland specializing in Ecological Technology Design.
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