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Houston eco-focused materials startup launches initiative in Arizona

With a new partnership, NanoTech is hoping to help cool off Arizona. Photo via nanotechmaterials.com

Home to a persistent dry heat, Arizona is a prime market for energy-reducing tools and technologies — and one Houston company is jumping on the opportunity.

NanoTech Materials, which created the Cool Roof Coat that can extend a building's roof lifespan and reduce energy costs by seven to 15 percent, has announced a joint campaign with Cool Roof Coating Systems, a subsidiary of Tesson Roofing. Cool Roof Coating Systems will provide the installation of NanoTech's product, which is available nationwide.

"NanoTech products are designed to provide extraordinary heat rejection, and the team at Tesson is among the very best in the roof restoration market, which made a joint initiative in the extreme heat and intense Arizona sun a natural fit," Mike Francis, CEO and founder at NanoTech Materials, says in a news release. "As a direct-to-installer product, we rely on collaboration with highly qualified contractors. I am delighted at the founding of Cool Roof Coating Systems to bring a new level of sustainability to Arizona.

"Our vision at NanoTech is to transform sustainability in the built environment, starting with one of the biggest energy drains and sources of carbon emissions, one roof at a time," he adds.

The elastic, polymeric roof remediation solution is able to cut internal temperatures by 25°F to 30°F, which can be responsible for cutting carbon emissions by 76 tons annually in a 25,000-square-foot building, according to the company.

"Put simply, the heat-rejection performance of NanoTech Cool Roof Coat is so compelling that Tesson decided to form an Arizona-based company to tackle one of the hottest markets in the U.S. directly," Brett Tesson, president at Cool Roof Coating Systems, says in the release. "During my two decades in the roofing industry, NanoTech Cool Roof Coat is by far the most game-changing product for the roof restoration business because it allows us to coat, waterproof and protect, while adding unprecedented savings in HVAC cooling for our customers."

Last summer, NanoTech announced an oversubscribed funding round that brought onboard a handful of new investors. The details of the round were not disclosed, but the round was raised to help the company continue to roll out its product nationally.

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A View From HETI

Yara North America is growing its Texas footprint. Photo courtesy Yara International

Yara North America, a subsidiary of Norwegian fertilizer and ammonia producer Yara International, has agreed to buy an ammonia production plant in Texas City for $1.3 billion.

The seller is GCA Holdings, an affiliate of Texas City-based chemical manufacturer Gulf Coast Ammonia, which is owned by private equity firms Lotus Infrastructure Partners and MB Energy.

The Texas City plant, with an eventual annual capacity of 1.3 million metric tons, is expected to start full production by the end of this year. Yara says the ammonia produced by the plant will serve its own fertilizer production system and its key customers.

During a recent call with analysts and investors, Magnus Ankarstrand, executive vice president and CFO of Yara International, said the plant holds the potential to become one of the company’s most profitable plants. The $1.3 billion purchase price, he added, “is a very attractive entry ticket to ammonia production in the U.S. at a very attractive cost.”

The Texas City plant will add to Yara’s holdings in the Lone Star State, as Yara is the majority owner of an ammonia, hydrogen and nitrogen production plant in Freeport.

Construction of the ammonia plant began in 2020, but technical and infrastructure issues delayed the project. On its website, Gulf Coast Ammonia says the plant represented a $600 million investment.

“Gulf Coast Ammonia is a world-class asset that required disciplined execution across development, financing, construction, and commercial structuring,” Philipp Pletka, managing director of Lotus Infrastructure Partners, says in a news release.

Trexlertown, Pennsylvania-based Air Products, which owns and operates the country’s largest hydrogen pipeline network, will continue to supply hydrogen and nitrogen for the plant under a long-term deal with Yara, according to the release.

However, the news comes two days after Yara International announced that it would no longer be purchasing ammonia assets in the Louisiana Clean Energy Complex (LCEC) from Air Products. In a separate release, Yara said it planned to reallocate funds toward "alternative mature U.S. ammonia investment opportunities with more competitive returns."

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