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Houston researchers make breakthrough on electricity-generating bacteria

new findings

A team of Rice researchers, including Caroline Ajo-Franklin and Biki Bapi Kundu, has uncovered how certain bacteria breathe by generating electricity. Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University.

New research from Rice University that merges biology with electrochemistry has uncovered new findings on how some bacteria generate electricity.

Led by Caroline Ajo-Franklin, a Rice professor of biosciences and the director of the Rice Synthetic Biology Institute, the team published its findings in the journal Cell in April. The report showed how some bacteria use compounds called naphthoquinones, rather than oxygen, to transfer electrons to external surfaces in a process known as extracellular respiration. In other words, the bacteria are exhale electricity as they breathe.

This process has been observed by scientists for years, but the Rice team's deeper understanding of its mechanism is a major breakthrough, with implications for the clean energy and industrial biotechnology sectors, according to the university.

“Our research not only solves a long-standing scientific mystery, but it also points to a new and potentially widespread survival strategy in nature,” Ajo-Franklin, said in a news release.

The Rice team worked with the University of California, San Diego's Palsson lab to simulate bacterial growth using advanced computer modeling. The simulations modeled oxygen-deprived environments that were rich in conductive surfaces, and found that bacteria could sustain themselves without oxygen. Next, they confirmed that the bacteria continued to grow and generate electricity when placed on conductive materials.

The team reports that the findings "lay the groundwork for future technologies that harness the unique capabilities" of these bacteria with "far-reaching practical implications." The team says the findings could lead to significant improvements in wastewater treatment and biomanufacturing. They could also allow for better bioelectronic sensors in oxygen-deprived environments, including deep-sea vents, the human gut and in deep space.

“Our work lays the foundation for harnessing carbon dioxide through renewable electricity, where bacteria function similarly to plants with sunlight in photosynthesis,” Ajo-Franklin added in the release. “It opens the door to building smarter, more sustainable technologies with biology at the core.”

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The opening of the pilot plant marks the debut of Cemvita’s eCO2 business as a wholly owned subsidiary. Photo courtesy of Cemvita

Fast-growing startup with carbon-free solution sets up pilot plant in Houston

big moves

Cleantech startup Cemvita has set up a pilot plant in its hometown of Houston to develop technology for converting carbon emissions as feedstock to make products like fertilizer, plastics, methane, and fuel.

The opening of the pilot plant marks the debut of Cemvita’s eCO2 business as a wholly owned subsidiary. The term eCO2 refers to equivalent carbon dioxide, or a way to measure a combination of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane.

With a capacity of more than 14,000 gallons, the plant is producing eCO2 oil, an alternative to soybean oil. The company already is shipping samples of eCO2 products to customers, including renewable-fuel companies and plastics manufacturers.

Cemvita says the biofuel industry is facing feedstock shortages and price fluctuations. Biofuel feedstocks produce starches or sugars that can be converted to produce ethanol, while others produce oil that can be used in biodiesel production, according to the Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE) program.

“Traditional biofuels, including renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel, have relied on oils derived from crops, such as soybean and corn, as well as recycled vegetable oils,” Cemvita says. “As demand grows for petroleum-free alternatives, feedstock is in short supply and must compete with food markets. Crops of soybeans, sugar, and corn use huge swaths of land, and the raw materials require extensive refining — two factors that impede the processes from being sustainable.”

By contrast, eCO2 plants like Cemvita’s can supply feedstock production with minimal land and electricity requirements, and without relying on hydrogen or sunlight, the company says. Furthermore, the output of eCO2 plants is designed to carbon-negative, not just carbon-neutral.

Cemvita’s eCO2 biomanufacturing platform uses engineered microbes that absorb and convert carbon dioxide into feedstocks and finished products.

“The energy transition requires completely new, cost-effective approaches for heavy industry,” Charlie Nelson, chief operating officer of Cemvita, says in a news release. “We built this next-generation pilot plant in response to strong demand from … partners who are actively seeking sustainable solutions to the … feedstock shortage.”

Brother-and-sister team Moji and Tara Karimi founded Cemvita in 2017.

Investors in Cemvita include Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, an investment arm of Houston-based Occidental Petroleum, as well as BHP Group, Mitsubishi, and United Airlines Ventures.

Oxy Low Carbon Ventures and United Airlines Ventures are financing Cemvita’s work on sustainable jet fuel. United Airlines operates a hub at George Bush Intercontinental Airport Houston.

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

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Solar manufacturer announces massive new facility in Houston area

coming soon

SEG Solar has announced plans to open a new 1.15 million-square-foot solar module facility in Tomball—its third in the Houston area.

The news comes just weeks after the Houston-based solar manufacturer announced its second facility, which will be located in Cypress. It’s expected to open in August.

The latest 4.6-gigawatt facility in Tomball will include an assembly factory and a warehouse. Construction is slated to wrap in March 2027, with commercial panel production planned to begin in May 2027. Once completed, the facility will bring SEG’s annual U.S. module manufacturing capacity to 10.6 gigawatts, according to a news release from the company, one of the largest totals in the country.

The facility will produce heterojunction technology (HJT) modules, which the company says will add to the number of n-type solar panels made in the U.S. HJT modules are known to be more durable and are well suited for hotter climates.

“Designed to support next-generation HJT technology and FEOC-compliant production, the facility ensures reliable, high-efficiency solar solutions,” Raymond Bailey, sales manager at SEG Solar, said in a LinkedIn post. “ Alongside upstream integration in Indonesia and potential U.S. cell manufacturing, we are strengthening supply chain resilience amid evolving trade policies.”

SEG opened its $60 million, 250,000-square-foot facility in Houston in 2024 to house its production workshops, raw material warehouses, administrative offices, finished goods warehouses, and supporting infrastructure. The continued expansion is part of SEG’s long-term goal of becoming one of the largest 100 percent U.S.-owned module manufacturers.

Houston chemical co. completes successful field trial of cleaner natural gas processing tech

successful trial

Houston-based Merichem Technologies has announced successful results from the field trial of its new hydrogen sulfide (H2S) removal technology in the Permian Basin.

The technology, known as ECOTREAT, removed more than 99 percent of hydrogen sulfide gas from natural gas streams, or “sour gas,” without producing solid waste during the month-long trial. It also showed sustained performance even when operating above the unit’s design capacity, according to a news release.

“The industry is continually seeking to reduce both the price and complexity of removing hydrogen sulfide from gas production, especially since oil production has shifted to increasingly sour sources, higher gas ratios, and higher water ratios,” Jeff Gomach, SVP, Merichem Technologies, said in a news release. “ECOTREAT met all its field trial objectives and provides a highly effective method for removing hydrogen sulfide to prevent equipment corrosion, ensure worker safety, meet environmental regulations, and maintain product quality for transport.

H2S found in natural gas can turn the gas toxic or hazardous and lead to corrosion in pipelines and processing equipment. However, standard H2S removal technologies create high levels of solid waste. ECOTREAT resolves many of those issues by using an aqueous-phase proprietary catalytic process that converts H2S into dissolved thiosulfate.

Next, Merichem says it plans to move the technology out of the pilot stage to full-scale commercialization.

Merichem, an 80-plus-year-old company, initially launched as a soap and industrial cleaning company. It eventually transitioned to focus on energy technology.

In 2024, Black Bay Energy acquired a portion of Merichem Process Technologies and Merichem Catalyst Products, which would become Merichem Technologies.

Cemvita reaches breakthrough in sustainable fuel feedstock production

clean fuels

Houston-based biotech company Cemvita announced that it recently reached a critical milestone in the development of its FermOil product, which can be used to create Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and other renewable fuels at industrial scale.

The company shared in a news release that it completed a 75,000-liter industrial fermentation run at Belgium's Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant.

The campaign achieved target technical metrics for the production of FermOil, Cemvita’s renewable natural oil (RNO). FermOil is produced from industrial crude glycerin, an industrial byproduct, as opposed to traditional sugar-based feedstocks used in many bio-oil fermentation processes. It's designed to be a drop-in feedstock for creating SAFs.

Cemvita had previously advanced its FermOil production process through multiple scale-up stages before successfully reaching the 75,000-liter demonstration campaign, according to the company.

“This is not just a fermentation milestone,” Moji Karimi, CEO at Cemvita, said in the release. “It is a blueprint for how existing industrial infrastructure can evolve into circular bioeconomy infrastructure. Every biodiesel plant generating crude glycerin is a potential platform for renewable natural oil production.”

The milestone also supports the deployment of Cemvita’s industrial biomanufacturing platform, FermWorks, which integrates with existing energy and industrial infrastructure to turn waste carbon streams into SAFs and other materials. According to the release, Cemvita plans to move forward with commercial deployment discussions with partners in Brazil, Europe and in the UK. Cemvita already has a partnership with the Brazilian sustainable research institution REMA.

“We are proud to support innovative companies like Cemvita in scaling breakthrough industrial biotechnology solutions,” Hendrik Waegeman, head of business operations at Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, added in the release. “Successfully operating at the 75,000-liter scale using a feedstock such as crude glycerin highlights both the maturity of the technology and the quality of the scale-up execution achieved by the Cemvita team.”

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