News / Media
HOUSTON, Jan. 24, 2023—Syzygy Plasmonics, a deep decarbonization company, announced an agreement today with the nonprofit research institute RTI International to demonstrate sustainable fuel production at the RTI facility in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA. The new technology has the potential to help decarbonize transportation by converting two potent greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and methane, into low-carbon-intensity fuels that can be used to replace petroleum-based jet fuel, diesel, and gasoline. The pilot project is being sponsored by Equinor Ventures and Sumitomo Corporation of Americas.
Syzygy photoreactor used to test inexpensive catalysts in a lower-cost solution that may hold the key to the hydrogen economy. Photo courtesy of Brandon Martin, Rice University.
HOUSTON, Dec. 6, 2022—Scientists from Syzygy Plasmonics have engineered a new kind of reactor designed to work with earth-abundant, light-activated catalysts created by a joint team from Rice University's Laboratory for Nanophotonics, Syzygy Plasmonics, and Princeton University's Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. The reactors use light instead of heat from combustion to power chemical reactions and can produce clean-burning hydrogen fuel from ammonia. Click to read the full release…
Syzygy Plasmonics Raises $76 Million Series C Led by Carbon Direct Capital to Accelerate Delivery of Low-Carbon Hydrogen Technology
HOUSTON, Nov. 16, 2022—Syzygy Plasmonics, a deep-decarbonization company that is electrifying chemical manufacturing, today announced $76 million Series C financing led by Carbon Direct Capital with participation from Aramco Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, LOTTE CHEMICAL, and Toyota Ventures. Existing investors including EVOK Innovations, The Engine, Equinor Ventures, Goose Capital, Horizons Ventures, Pan American Energy, and Sumitomo Corporation of Americas also joined the round. Carbon Direct Capital will join the Syzygy board and serve as the Series C director. Click to read the full release…
Syzygy Launches CarbonModel.com, an Online Tool for Calculating Carbon Footprint and Levelized Cost of Hydrogen Production
HOUSTON, Oct. 10, 2022—Syzygy Plasmonics announced today that it launched CarbonModel.com, an online tool that organizations can use to calculate the carbon intensity of hydrogen and levelized cost of production. This free, opensource calculator enables users to quickly assess multiple hydrogen production pathways and acts as a first step in the user's journey from ideation to project execution. It focuses on cradle-to-gate greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions and simplifies early analysis of hydrogen production projects.
Syzygy ENTERS JOINT DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT WITH LOTTE CHEMICAL, LOTTE FINE CHEMICAL, AND SUMITOMO CORPORATION OF AMERICAS TO DELIVER FULLY ELECTRIC CHEMICAL REACTOR TECHNOLOGY IN THE RACE TO PRODUCE CLEAN HYDROGEN
HOUSTON, Texas, August 24, 2022—Syzygy Plasmonics, LOTTE Chemical and LOTTE Fine Chemical (LOTTE Chemical HQ), and Sumitomo Corporation of Americas (SCOA) announced a joint development agreement today to test a fully electric chemical reactor for clean hydrogen production. The reactor will be installed and brought online in the second half of 2023 at LOTTE Chemical HQ facilities in Ulsan, South Korea. The agreement is a clear identifier of LOTTE Chemical HQ and SCOA as early adopters of disruptive technology and reinforces their position as leading the effort to decarbonize Korea.
Syzygy Plasmonics Selects Pearland for New Headquarters, R&D and Manufacturing Facility
PEARLAND, Texas, May 16, 2022—Leadership from the City of Pearland and the Pearland Economic Development Corporation (PEDC) are pleased to announce that Syzygy Plasmonics has leased a 44,800 square-foot building in Pearland for its new headquarters, R&D, and manufacturing facility.
SYZYGY PLASMONICS NAMED MOST OUTSTANDING VENTURE AMONG COMMERCIaLIZATION STAGE STARTUPS AT THE 2022 NREL INDUSTRY GROWTH FORUM
HOUSTON, April 26, 2022—Syzygy Plasmonics was recently recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at their 2022 Industry Growth Forum (IGF), held April 12-14 in Denver, Colorado. Syzygy earned the outstanding venture award for startups in the commercialization stage.
Syzygy was among 40 finalists selected from over 150 applicants to pitch innovative technologies at the forum. Trevor Best, CEO of Syzygy Plasmonics, introduced the company's breakthrough photoreactor technology to attending investors, fellow innovators, and industry representatives.
Follow Along With Three Presenters in Pursuit of the 2022 Pitch Competition Win
April 21, 2022 | By Jeffrey Wolf | Communications Office | National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
Trevor Best, founder and CEO of Syzygy Plasmonics, hopes this year’s IGF will help with their series C fundraising. The company previously raised just under $40 million across multiple rounds, but this time the money will go toward a major step forward.
“We have developed our tech to a point that we are ready to enter the market,” Best said. “We’re also looking for field-trial participants. We have a very full pipeline, but we need more. Now is the time to talk to us, or you’re going to miss the boat.”
Syzygy Plasmonics Selected for CLeantech Group’s 2022 GLobal Cleantech 100 list of COmpanies committed to Taking Action on the Climate Crisis
January 13, 2022 —Syzygy Plasmonics has been named a 2022 Global Cleantech 100 Company by Cleantech Group. The 100 companies on the list represent the private, independent, and for-profit companies best positioned to contribute to a more digitized, decarbonized, and resource-efficient future. This is the 13th edition of the widely respected annual guide. This year's list includes innovators from 94 countries. The sectors covered include Agriculture & Food, Enabling Technologies, Energy & Power, Materials & Chemicals, Transportation & Logistics, and Resources & Environment.
Syzygy's platform technology is based on a field of science called photocatalysis, where the company is using light from LED's that are driven by renewable electricity to perform chemical reactions. This technology can electrify the production of many chemicals that form the foundation of human society, such as hydrogen, liquid fuels, fertilizer, and other chemical raw materials. By creating these commodities using renewable electricity, Syzygy strives to achieve its goal of preventing a gigaton of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere by 2040.
GROWING GREEN-TECH STARTUP to expand in Houston’s Newest Industrial INcubator
November 9, 2021 —A Houston-based startup developing technology to reduce emissions tied to chemical manufacturing is setting down roots in Houston’s East End at a new industrial incubator.
Syzygy Plasmonics signed a lease for 6,736 square feet in East End Maker Hub, the new 300,000-square-foot industrial incubator developed by Urban Partnerships CDC and TxRX Labs.
Syzygy expects to start building out its space at the East End Maker Hub in December.
SYZYGY PLASMONICS TAKES PRIZE AS TOP U.S. COMPANY AT INTERNATIONAL CLEAN ENERGY COMPETITION
November 4, 2021 — Syzygy Plasmonics won third-place and finished as the top U.S. company at the Clean Energy Pitch Start-Up Battle in Glasgow, Scotland, on November 2, 2021. The Houston-based startup's pioneering technology uses light to create hydrogen energy and everyday chemicals at dramatically lower costs and emissions.
"Syzygy Plasmonics is proud to bring a top prize from the Net Zero Technology Centre's COP26 pitch battle home to Houston and the United States. We are equally honored to stand with our peers–climate tech companies that are working to solve the world's immediate environmental challenges." said Syzygy CEO Trevor Best who represented the company in the competition.
3 Energy Transition Companies With Houston TieS pitch at International Conference
November 2, 2021 — It's all hands on deck for pioneering technology to advance the energy transition and climatetech, and three companies with a Houston presence just took the national stage to showcase their climate change solutions.
The United Nations' 2021 COP26, hosted by the Net Zero Technology Centre in Glasgow, featured 10 startup organizations from across the globe battling it out to be crowned the Clean Energy Startup Champion.
The Ion Houston nominated five startups to the competition, and three made it to the finals. Syzygy Plasmonics, which is developing a new type of photocatalytic chemical reactor to reduce both cost and emissions for major commodity chemicals, claimed third place in the competition.
SYZYGY PLASMONICS ATTRACTS GLOBAL INVESTORS, RAISES $23 MILLION SERIES B TO ELECTRIFY CHEMICAL MANUFACTURING
April 06, 2021 — Syzygy Plasmonics, a technology company developing the world’s highest performance photocatalyst for the industrial gas, chemical and energy industries, today announced a $23 million Series B financing led by Horizons Ventures with participation from new global investors including Equinor Ventures. Previous seed and Series A investors including The Engine, GOOSE Capital, and Evok Innovations also joined the round. The capital raised will fund product development, hiring and the commercialization of Syzygy’s photocatalytic reactor, which are key steps toward delivering on the company’s mission to reduce emissions using light to replace heat from fossil fuels in chemical manufacturing and production.
SYZYGY PLASMONICS CTO SUMAN KHATIWADA, SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN NAE'S 2020 US FRONTIERS OF ENGINEERING SYMPOSIUM
June 23, 2020 — 85 of the nation’s brightest early-career engineers have been selected to take part in the National Academy of Engineering’s (NAE) 26th annual US Frontiers of Engineering (USFOE) symposium. Engineers who are performing exceptional research and technical work in a variety of disciplines will come together for the two-and-a-half-day event. The participants -- from industry, academia, and government -- were nominated by fellow engineers or organizations.
LIGHT-ACTIVATED CATALYST MAKES SYNGAS GREENER
January 17, 2020 — Synthesis gas, or syngas, is a feedstock for multiple industrial processes, including the Haber-Bosch process for making ammonia. Syngas is a mixture of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen. Gasification plants, which make syngas from coal, natural gas, and other sources, use catalysts to break apart fuels at around 800 °C. Naomi Halas and coworkers at Rice University have now come up with a greener way to make syngas.
C&EN’s 2019 10 Start-Ups to Watch
November 11, 2019 — These young firms are working to improve the lives of individuals and communities as well as the health of the planet
10 most promising companies named at Rice’s Energy and Clean Technology Venture Forum
September 17, 2019 — The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship announced the 10 most promising companies at the 17th annual Energy and Clean Technology Venture Forum held Sept. 10-11 at Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business.
Syzygy Raises $5.8 Million to Develop Transformative Platform for Clean Chemical Manufacturing
August 19, 2019 — Syzygy Plasmonics, a technology company developing the world’s highest performance photocatalyst, today announced it has raised $5.8 million in Series A funding. The financing was co-led by The Engine and by The GOOSE Society of Texas. Previous investor Evok Innovations was also a major participant in the round. Other participants include angel investors from the Creative Destruction Lab program and the Houston area.
OTC Event Selects 10 Startups Worth Watching
May 06, 2019 — The results are in. Here are this year’s “Most Promising” startups as decided by upstream investors and oil company innovation teams
Early Stage Start-ups Awarded $300,000 at EarthX’s E-Capital Summit
May 06, 2019 — Capital Factory Triples Award Rather Than Cut Two Clean Tech Investment Challenge Finalists, Giving Syzygy Plasmonics, Semtive, and Evolve Energy $100,000 Each