Houston-area energy tech startup wins DOE competition's $100,000 prize

1st place

Hertha Metals, based in Conroe, won first place at the 2024 Summer Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Startup Pitch Competition. Photo via DOE

Four startups from across the country won over $160,000 in cash prizes from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Transitions earlier this month, and a Houston-area company claimed the top prize.

Hertha Metals, based in Conroe, won first place at the 2024 Summer Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Startup Pitch Competition. The program honors and supports clean energy innovators nominated by clean technology business incubators.

“The EPIC Pitch Competition is a unique opportunity for start ups to highlight their technology, get on the main stage, and receive direct funding,” DOE Chief Commercialization Officer and Director of OTT Vanessa Chan says in a news release. “The startup pitch winners have honed their entrepreneurial skills and demonstrated a critical understanding of their technological impacts, targeted markets, and scalable strategies.”

Focused on environmentally responsible steel, Hertha Metals won the $100,000 prize. The company's steelmaking process reduces emissions by 95 percent, per the news release, while remaining financially accessible. Hertha Metals was nominated by Greentown Labs, which won $25,000 for its nomination.

The program's other 2024 winners included:

Daytona Beach, Florida-based Sensatek Propulsion Technology Inc., which won second place and $40,000 and was nominated by mHUB Innovation Center
Arlington, Virginia-based Torev Motors, which won third place and $20,000 and was nominated by Dominion Energy Innovation Center
Fort Collins, Colorado-based NitroCat Energies, which won the a $5,000 Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Prize and was nominated by Colorado State University

Hertha Metals was founded by Laureen Meroueh, a mechanical engineer and materials scientist, in 2022. A Greentown Houston member, the company is also currently in the inaugural cohort of the Breakthrough Energy Innovator Fellows.

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Houston company completes orphan well decommission project in the Gulf

temporary abandonment

Houston-based Promethean Energy announced this month that it has successfully decommissioned offshore orphaned wells in the Matagorda Island lease area.

Around this time last year, the company shared that it would work on the temporary abandonment of nine orphan wells on behalf of the Department of Interior's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, or BSEE, in the area. Promethean is known for decommissioning mature assets in a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable manner.

“Our team is incredibly proud to have completed this critical work efficiently, safely, and ahead of budget,” Steve Louis, SVP of decommissioning at Promethean Energy, said in a news release. “By integrating our expertise, technologies and strategic partnerships, we have demonstrated that decommissioning can be both cost-effective and environmentally responsible.”

The company plans to use the Matagora Island project as a replicable model to guide similar projects worldwide. The project used comprehensive drone inspections, visual intelligence tools for safety preparations and detailed well diagnostics to plug the wells.

Next up, Promethean is looking to decommission more of the estimated 14,000 unplugged wells in the Gulf.

"Building on our strong execution performance, our strategy is to continue identifying synergies with other asset owners, fostering collaboration, and developing sustainable decommissioning campaigns that drive efficiency across the industry," Ernest Hui, chief strategy officer of Promethean Energy, added in the release.

Oxy opens energy-focused innovation center in Midtown Houston

moving in

Houston-based Occidental officially opened its new Oxy Innovation Center with a ribbon cutting at the Ion last month.

The opening reflects Oxy and the Ion's "shared commitment to advancing technology and accelerating a lower-carbon future," according to an announcement from the Ion.

Oxy, which was named a corporate partner of the Ion in 2023, now has nearly 6,500 square feet on the fourth floor of the Ion. Rice University and the Rice Real Estate Company announced the lease of the additional space last year, along with agreements with Fathom Fund and Activate.

At the time, the leases brought the Ion's occupancy up to 90 percent.

Additionally, New York-based Industrious plans to launch its coworking space at the Ion on May 8. The company was tapped as the new operator of the Ion’s 86,000-square-foot coworking space in Midtown in January.

Dallas-based Common Desk previously operated the space, which was expanded by 50 percent in 2023 to 86,000 square feet.

CBRE agreed to acquire Industrious in a deal valued at $400 million earlier this year. Industrious also operates another local coworking space is at 1301 McKinney St.

Industrious will host a launch party celebrating the new location Thursday, May 8. Find more information here.

Oxy Innovation Center. Photo via LinkedIn.

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This story originally appeared on our sister site, InnovationMap.com.

Houston climatech company signs on to massive carbon capture project in Malaysia

big deal

Houston-based CO2 utilization company HYCO1 has signed a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia LNG Sdn. Bhd., a subsidiary of Petronas, for a carbon capture project in Malaysia, which includes potential utilization and conversion of 1 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.

The project will be located in Bintulu in Sarawak, Malaysia, where Malaysia LNG is based, according to a news release. Malaysia LNG will supply HYCO1 with an initial 1 million tons per year of raw CO2 for 20 years starting no later than 2030. The CCU plant is expected to be completed by 2029.

"This is very exciting for all stakeholders, including HYCO1, MLNG, and Petronas, and will benefit all Malaysians," HYCO1 CEO Gregory Carr said in the release. "We approached Petronas and MLNG in the hopes of helping them solve their decarbonization needs, and we feel honored to collaborate with MLNG to meet their Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050.”

The project will convert CO2 into industrial-grade syngas (a versatile mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen) using HYCO1’s proprietary CUBE Technology. According to the company, its CUBE technology converts nearly 100 percent of CO2 feed at commercial scale.

“Our revolutionary process and catalyst are game changers in decarbonization because not only do we prevent CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere, but we transform it into highly valuable and usable downstream products,” Carr added in the release.

As part of the MoU, the companies will conduct a feasibility study evaluating design alternatives to produce low-carbon syngas.

The companies say the project is expected to “become one of the largest CO2 utilization projects in history.”

HYCO1 also recently announced that it is providing syngas technology to UBE Corp.'s new EV electrolyte plant in New Orleans. Read more here.

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