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Pipeline robotics: How this Houston startup is revolutionizing corrosion monitoring

Dianna Liu of ARIX Technologies joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to share her entrepreneurial journey — and why Houston was the right place to start her company. Photo courtesy of ARIX

After working for years in the downstream energy industry where safety and efficiency were top priorities, Dianna Liu thought there was a way technology could make a huge difference.

Despite loving her company and her job, she took a leap of faith to start a robotics company to create technology to more safely and efficiently monitor corrosion in pipelines. ARIX Technologies has developed software and hardware solutions for its customers with pipelines in downstream and beyond.

"Overall, this industry is an industry that really harps on doing things safely, doing things well, and having all the data to make really informed decisions," Liu says on the Houston Innovators Podcast. "Because these are huge companies with huge problems, it takes a lot of time to set up the right systems, adopt new things, and make changes."

But it's an industry Liu knows well, so she founded ARIX in 2017 and created a team of engineers to create the first iteration of the ARIX robot, which was at first made of wood, she says. Now, years later, the much-evolved robot moves up and down the exterior of the pipe, using its technology to scan the interior to evaluate corrosion. The technology works with ARIX's software to provide key data analysis.

With customers across the country and the world, ARIX has a strong foothold in downstream, but has garnered interest from other verticals as well — even working with NASA at one point, Liu says.

"Staying in downstream would be nice and safe for us, but we've been very lucky and have had customers in midstream, upstream, and even outside oil and gas and chemicals," she says. "We've gotten inquiries ranging from cosmetics plants to water or wastewater — essentially anything that's round or a pipe that can corrode, we can help with."

Liu, who goes into detail on the show about how critical establishing a positive company culture has been for ARIX, shares a bit about what it's been like growing her company in Houston.

"Houston being the Energy Capital of the World opens a lot of doors to both customers, investors, and employees in a way that's unparalleled. It is a great place to build a company because of that — you have all this expertise in this city and the surrounding areas that's hard to find elsewhere," she says. "Being such a hub — not only for energy, but in terms transportation — means it's easy for us to get to our customers from around the world."

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

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A View From HETI

Houston American Energy Corp. has acquired Abundia Global Impact Group, which converts plastic and certified biomass waste into high-quality renewable fuels. Photo via Getty Images.

Renewable energy company Houston American Energy Corp. (NYSE: HUSA) has acquired Abundia Global Impact Group, according to a news release.

Houston American reports that the acquisition will allow it to create a combined company focused on converting waste plastics into high-value, drop-in, low-carbon fuels and chemical products. It plans to move forward with Abundia’s plans for developing large-scale recycling projects, with a new facility previously announced for the Gulf Coast, located in Cedar Port Industrial Park, near the Baytown area of Houston.

New York-based Abundia used its proprietary pyrolysis process to convert plastic and certified biomass waste into high-quality renewable fuels. Its founder, Ed Gillespie, will serve as CEO of the combined company and will join HUSA’s board of directors. Peter Longo, who previously served as HUSA's CEO, will serve as chairman of the board. Lucie Harwood was named CFO and Joseph Gasik will serve as COO.

“The completion of this acquisition represents a pivotal transformation for HUSA,” Longo said in a news release. “Abundia has a commercially ready solution for converting waste into valuable fuels and chemicals, with a backlog of development opportunities utilizing proprietary technologies and key industry partnerships. This transaction gives HUSA shareholders a ready-made platform and project pipeline for future value generation as the fuel and chemical industries accelerate their adoption of low-carbon solutions and sustainable aviation fuel.”

The combined company plans to serve what it estimates is a multi-billion-dollar global demand for renewable fuels, Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and recycled chemical feedstocks, according to the news release.

“This is a landmark moment for Abundia and a major step forward for the renewable industry,” Gillespie added in the release. “Joining forces with HUSA and entering the public capital markets positions us to accelerate growth, scale our technology and expand our influence within the renewable and recycling industries. I am proud of the hard work and determination of both the AGIG and HUSA teams to finalize this transaction. We look forward to delivering shareholder value and critical technologies to reduce carbon emissions.”

Houston American Energy announced the deal in March. The company also closed a $4.42 million registered direct offering in January.

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