Houston's busiest Chick-fil-A flies solo with new driverless delivery

Chick-fil-A has partnered with Faction, a California-based company that develops autonomous fleets. Photo courtesy of Faction

This article was written by CultureMap Columnist Ken Hoffman and originally appeared on CultureMap's Hoffman's Houston editorial series.

Next time you order “curbside delivery” from the Chick-fil-A on Kirby Drive and the Southwest Freeway, one of the top performing Chick-fil-A’s in the country, don’t be surprised if your Spicy Chicken Sandwich and waffle fries are delivered by a driverless three-wheeled electric vehicle that looks like a cross between a Big Wheels kiddie car and the Mars Rover.

It’s a first in Houston. Chick-fil-A has partnered with Faction, a California-based company that develops autonomous (driverless) fleets. Earlier this week I met with Ain McKendrick, the founder and CEO of Faction, who explained how Chick-fil-A’s futuristic curbside delivery system works.

The key word is curbside. Unlike popular food deliverers like DoorDash and UberEats, Faction’s robotic vehicles don’t involve a human driver who will bring the food to your door, with the expectation of receiving a tip.

When a Faction vehicle delivers your food, you will get a text that the vehicle has arrived, and you’ll walk to the curb and pick up your food from the car that’s parked in front of your house. Throw some clothes on, please. The neighbors may see you.

When you order from the Kirby/Southwest Chick-fil-A on the Chick-fil-A app, and click on delivery, you’ll be given a choice of how you want your food brought to your house. You can still request DoorDash or another service. If you choose “curbside delivery,” watch for a Faction vehicle pulling up in front of your house. You’ll pop open the storage door, open the separate boxes that keep your sandwiches and fries toasty and your soft drinks cold, and run back into your house to dig in.

Right now, the Kirby/Southwest Freeway Chick-fil-A is using two Faction vehicles to supplement the regular delivery cars during crush time. Faction promises (they couch the claim by saying “estimates”) you’ll get your food within 30 minutes. Currently human “supervisors” are doing ride-alongs while the vehicles are mapping out the restaurant’s four-mile delivery area. Faction follows its vehicles’ progress on a video board at home base making sure each delivery goes right.

The electric vehicles are licensed and insured and can do 75 miles-per-hour on highways. But because of Houston’s notorious traffic, Faction has programmed the vehicles to stay on surface streets and below the speed limit. That’s how I get around, too. I got tired of that inexplicable traffic jam on the Southwest Freeway when it bends toward downtown.

McKendrick said the driverless vehicles will have memorized Houston streets well enough by August to operate without human supervisors.

Will customers be OK with their Chick-fil-A food delivered by driverless vehicles? So far it’s not a problem. In fact, McKendrick said some customers wait outside with their phone cameras ready so they can share photos of the delivery. Sharing their waffle fries is a different story.

I’m a skeptic when it comes to electric and driverless vehicles. I asked McKendrick …

What happens if a dog runs in front of a Faction vehicle? He said it will automatically stop for the pooch.

What if there’s a children’s birthday party on my block and there’s no parking space in front of my house? He said the vehicle will pull to the side and flash warning lights until the customer picks up their food.

So what’s in it for Chick-fil-A to partner with Faction? Kirby/Southwest Freeway Chick-fil-A owner Jesse Chaluh said it’s a more efficient way of offering delivery service to his customers. He thinks that his restaurant eventually will require five or more Faction vehicles to handle the demand.

While each vehicle currently delivers one order to one customer per run, eventually the technology will improve where each vehicle will be able to make several deliveries with each foray onto the streets of Houston.

ChewTyme has launched in Houston and Atlanta to approach the fast-growing food delivery industry in a new way. Photo via Getty Images

Houston entrepreneur launches platform for on-demand ordering with biz support for restaurateurs

it's chewtyme

While Ashley Loveless Cunningham has advised clients how to fix bad credit and build a healthy financial life for years, a look at her family’s own spending on food delivery came as a wake-up call.

Like a lot of busy households, they loved to order food through delivery apps, so much so that Cunningham realized it was time for a change. With the delivery charge and other fees that apps like DoorDash and GrubHub tack on, a food order can easily double in price. A $15 bowl from Chipotle that her son liked to order cost almost $40 by the time it got to the house — and that doesn’t even include a tip for the delivery driver.

“I thought, wait a minute. This is ridiculous,” she says.

She says she brainstormed, and began to look into ways to offer an alternative, not only for consumers, but for minority-owned restaurants that were struggling to keep their doors open.

So, Cunningham, whose business ventures include her financial literacy business New Credit Inc. and a perfume line, created her own app, ChewTyme.

The app launched in Houston and Atlanta last Friday, and has drawn over 3,000 consumer downloads, which Cunningham says is a “pretty good” start.

Cunningham, 40, a native of Mobile, Alabama, says she moved to Houston with her family ten months ago, drawn by the opportunity to grow their various businesses. And, the city’s vibrant food scene offered another avenue.

“Everybody moves here to open a restaurant,” she says of Houston.

Extra support on the side

Through restaurant owner clients of her credit counseling business, she learned that many were struggling to remain open. A lot of the business owners aren’t aware of the many options available to them, in business lines of credit, assuming their own personal financial credit is in good shape.

That’s where the business education side of the app comes in, where restaurateurs will gain access to “Business University,” financial guidance for their journey in the industry.

“I tell people, it’s not only about cash funding. There are other resources out there, things we need to thrive in the business space,” she says, adding that this includes mentorship and publicity services.

Many restaurant owners told her they partner with at least two or three food delivery apps already. But she thinks ChewTyme will stand out.

“A lot of people I’ve talked to, they just don’t know where to start,” she says. Her partnership with the restaurants would solve that issue, helping restaurateurs create a “full, state-of-the-art profile” that guides them every step of the way.

While she's yet to onboard her inaugural Houston restaurants, the app has begun to draw interest, Ashley says, especially from entrepreneurs who need a cheaper way to scale their business growth.

Cunningham says ChewTyme offers a competitive alternative to many third-party apps, which she says charge anywhere from a 20-22 percent commission on a restaurant’s delivery orders. The app will charge a 17 percent commission, with no monthly fee, and a flat $4.95 delivery rate to consumers, whom she plans to attract with discounts and promotions.

She hopes to initially sign up 25 restaurants in Houston and the same number in Atlanta, during the beta run of the app. As they work out the kinks, she feels confident in expansion.

Her biggest challenge moving forward is hiring quality drivers, she says.

“That really scares me. People who want to work, who have integrity. I’ve heard horror stories because people literally pick up their food and don’t deliver it,” she says.

ChewTyme is working with contracting partners who are conducting screening and background checks for potential drivers, and onboarding restaurant owners with follow-up. Interested restaurateurs or drivers can request more information on ChewTyme's website.

Tapping into a high-growth market

Third-party food delivery exploded in popularity during the pandemic, and a 2021 McKinsey report found that food delivery more than tripled since 2017. Post-pandemic, the on-demand services industry growth hasn't waned.

The Texas Restaurant Association fought for a law passed in 2021 to prevent third-party apps from adding restaurants to a delivery platform without a financial agreement or partnership, according to Christine Robbins, executive director of the association. But now that relationship seems to have settled into a profitable venture on both sides.

Taj Walker, of H-Town Restaurant Group, which owns Hugo’s, Xochi, and six other local restaurants, says the apps don’t typically charge a fee unless the restaurant takes part in an app’s ad promotion of their restaurant.

An app’s commission can range from 10 to 25 percent, he says, which their restaurants compensate for by charging 10 percent more on app orders than in-house food. The apps have become an important revenue stream for some H-Town’s more casual eateries, especially Urbe and Prego, which are popular among younger clientele, Walker says.

While Cunningham’s main goal is to uplift minority entrepreneurs and communities, the app will be available to any restaurateur who wants it.

Coming soon — autonomous food delivery on Uber Eats. Photo courtesy of Nuro and Uber

Tech company inks 10-year deal with Uber to provide self-driving delivery service in Houston

automatic autos

Houstonians will soon be able to get completely autonomous delivery of their dinners, groceries, and more thanks to a new 10-year partnership.

Uber Technologies, Inc. and Nuro have cut a deal that will provide autonomous, electric vehicles for food deliveries in Houston and Mountain View, California, beginning his fall, according to a news release. A Bay Area expansion will follow, but Houston's no stranger to Nuro-powered deliveries. California-based Nuro has launched five delivery pilot programs in Houston since 2019 with partners Kroger, Walmart, CVS, Domino's, and FedEx.

With this new partnership, users will have access to meals, groceries, and other goods available on the Uber Eats platform — as well as the opportunity to support local businesses.

“Nuro and Uber share a vision in which technology can make everyday life just a little bit easier,” says Noah Zych, global head of autonomous mobility and delivery at Uber, in the release. “Nuro’s distinctive autonomous vehicles are a great match for the Uber platform, and this partnership will bring a compelling combination of innovation alongside the convenience, affordability and reliability our customers and merchants have come to expect.”

Nuro, which recently closed a $600 million series D round just under a year ago, is reportedly the first company to operate fully autonomous vehicles in three states —Arizona, California, and Texas.

“Our partnership with Uber underscores Nuro’s track record of partnering with the world’s leading brands to make autonomous delivery a seamless experience,” says Cosimo Leipold, head of partnerships at Nuro, in the release. “With our unique autonomous delivery vehicles and Uber’s phenomenal scale and reach, we can expand food delivery options from your favorite local mom-and-pop restaurants all the way to nationwide chains.”

The company tapped Houston as its first full-scale operational city. Nuro previously told InnovationMap that was because the city offered a wide range of variation in the infrastructure across Houston's neighborhoods.

"Houston is our first full-scale operations city," Sola Lawal, product operations manager in Houston, told InnovationMap in January 2020. "All eyes at Nuro are focused on Houston."

Autonomous Uber Eats coming soon — thanks to Nuro. Photo courtesy of Nuro and Uber

Coco bites into Houston. Photo courtesy of Coco

California company rolls into Houston with robot food delivery in 15 minutes

the future is now

Heads up, Houston: the robots are coming.

Coco, the Los Angeles-based business that offers a remotely piloted delivery service, has hit the streets of Houston with its food-delivery bots as part of its expansion to targeted markets. Fueled by a recent funding round that garnered the company $56 million, Coco has already launched in Austin; its expansion plans also include rolling out bots in the Dallas and Miami markets soon.

Here in Houston, locals can look forward to delivery at restaurants including Brookstreet BBQ, Rustika Cafe, Ruggles Black, and Trendy Dumpling, according to the company.

Here’s how it works: Customers place a restaurant order like usual, then a Coco bot — operated by a “trained pilot” — drives to the restaurant to pick it up. The restaurant staff loads the bot as soon as the food is ready, and Coco arrives at the customer’s door within 15 minutes. Each bot is locked until it reaches the customer, so no one can tamper with your pizza or egg rolls.

The company claims that compared with traditional food-delivery methods, its bots decrease the time it takes food to reach the customer by 30 percent, and that the service has an on-time delivery rate of 97 percent.

Of course, Coco bots won’t be zipping up I-10 for a long-haul delivery; they’re meant to work at shorter distances and on mostly pedestrian paths. As the company’s website notes, “A surprisingly large portion of deliveries are done within less than 2 miles. We believe there is no reason to have a 3,000-pound car deliver a burrito over short distances.”

Coco claims to have transformed the food- and beverage-delivery landscape in its home market of LA, where, as of 2021, the company says it was successfully operating across all major Los Angeles neighborhoods.

It’s Coco’s trained pilots and commitment to “perfecting the last-mile delivery experience” that helps set it apart from competitors, according to the company and its partners.

Since the brand’s official launch in 2020, Coco claims to have experienced “unprecedented success” and has quickly overtaken brands that have been testing similar concepts for years. The company notes in press materials that Houston stood out to the brand as the perfect location to continue its rapid growth. “Coco ensures that the customer is at the forefront of their innovations and is excited to support the Houston community by partnering with local restaurants and businesses to provide a more reliable, and consumer-forward option for delivery,” Coco adds in a release.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

OrangeCrate provides a locally-owned option for delivery. Courtesy of OrangeCrate

New locally owned food delivery app rolls into Houston area

orange you glad?

A new delivery app aims to give diners a locally owned alternative to the big national names. Meet OrangeCrate, an app that does things a little differently.

Unlike the national brands, each OrangeCrate affiliate is locally owned and has a specific geographic territory. Franchisee Cody Lee has brought the company to two areas of Houston, Fort Bend County and the greater Memorial area. Lee launched in Fort Bend on June 1 and will bring Memorial online August 24.

"We're just like UberEats or DoorDash, but we're locally owned and locally operated, so I have a lot of control and flexibility versus some of the bigger name brands," Lee tells CultureMap.

That flexibility starts with the cost restaurants pay to use OrangeCrate. While national operators might charge as much as 30 percent to deliver a meal, Lee says OrangeCrate's fees are typically half that, usually between 10 and 15 percent.

Customer fees start at $2.99 and go up depending on how far away from the restaurant they live. Most orders also have a $10 minimum.

In terms of control, Lee trains each driver personally and monitors them when they're working. Unlike other services, drivers may only make one delivery at once, and they're only allowed to make OrangeCrate deliveries while they're on the company's schedule.

"I can chat with them and understand if there's an issue and minimize the impact to the customer," Lee says. "There's a lot of control where I can maintain a lot of variables to ensure the customer experience."

From a user's perspective, the experience will feel familiar. Order and pay via OrangeCrate's website and app. A driver — wearing masks and gloves, of course — will arrive with a bright orange bag containing the food order.

Lee says that so far his biggest challenge has been building awareness of the brand and convincing restaurateurs that he's a viable alternative to the more familiar names. From his perspective, restaurants that promote his company can save money on delivery fees and expand their reach, which is particularly important at a time when some people don't feel comfortable eating in restaurants.

"Most people know the bigger guys," Lee says. "It's important to hear Orange Crate, and that we're a local option; we're also a cheaper option. They get the same or better service for their customers."

In Fort Bend County, Lee has started with a roster of mostly national and regional chains like Chili's, 5 Guys, and Chuy's, but he says he's trying to add as many local restaurants as possible. In the Memorial area, he hopes to launch with between 50 and 60 establishments.

"My focus is on local restaurants and earning their business," Lee says. "I will only be adding local restaurants as we go forward."

So far, Lee has seen enough growth that he's optimistic about the service's future. He's got his eyes on Galveston and The Woodlands as potential market for expansive, with Inner Loop neighborhoods in his long term plans.

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

Native Houstonian Sola Lawal is looking into how AI and robotics can help increase access to fresh foods in local food deserts. Photo courtesy of Nuro

Autonomous vehicle delivery service is driving access to food in Houston’s vulnerable communities

Houston Innovators Podcast Episode 42

When Silicon Valley-based artificial intelligence and robotics company Nuro was looking for a city to roll out its autonomous vehicle delivery technology, Houston checked off all the boxes.

From being located in a state open to rolling out new AV regulations to Houston's diversity — both in its inhabitants to its roadways, the Bayou City stood out to Nuro, says Sola Lawal, product operations manager at Nuro.

"As a company, we tried to find a city that would allow us to test a number of different things to figure out what really works and who it works for," Lawal says on this week's episode of the Houston Innovators Podcast. "It's hard to find cities that are better than Houston at enabling that level of testing."

Since rolling out its first pilot program with Kroger in March 2019, launched three more across six of Houston's ZIP codes from Bellaire to the Heights, including pizza delivery from Domino's that was announced in June 2019, grocery delivery from Walmart that was revealed in December 2019, and pharmacy delivery that launched this summer.

Lately, Nuro's presence in Houston has expanded from these business development partnerships, and the tech company has started focusing on providing a service to the community.

"At the beginning of the pandemic, we started looking for ways we could contribute and help with the things we have — which includes a fleet of vehicles and product tools that allow that fleet to move around and do delivery."

This got Nuro in touch with the Houston Food Bank, and a partnership formed between the tech company and the nonprofit that has resulted in food deliveries across the city — including Third Ward and Acres Homes.

"That for us was eye opening as we went into those locations we started to understand and see that there really isn't any other grocery store that's in those areas," Lawal says. "It was a moment of reflection for us where we said, 'Hey, the AV works here. These are streets that are acceptable. What can we do?'"

In the future, Nuro, as Lawal explains, is moving forward these initiatives to use its AV technology to help increase access to fresh foods in Houston, as well as continuing developing the city as a leader in self-driving innovation.

"I think that autonomous vehicles are going to become an industry in the same way your standard vehicles are," Lawal says."One really strong way the Houston ecosystem and Nuro can partner is essentially building out the ancillary."

Lawal shares more about the future of AVs in Houston and the impact Nuro will continue to have on the city. Listen to the full interview below — or wherever you get your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.


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Houston schools shine on annual ranking of top institutions for 2025

best in class

Several Houston elementary and middle schools are at the top of the class when it comes to educating and preparing the next generation for a successful life and career, according to U.S. News & World Report's just-released list of 2025 Elementary and Middle Schools Rankings.

One such school – T.H. Rogers School in Houston ISD – is the No. 8 best middle school in Texas for 2025.

U.S. News ranked over 79,000 public schools on the state and district level using data from the U.S. Department of Education. Schools were analyzed based on their students' proficiencies in mathematics and reading/language arts on state assessments, and tie-breakers were decided based on student-teacher ratios.

Texas' best middle schools for 2025

Three Houston middle schools achieved spots among the top 10 best Texas middle schools for 2025, according to U.S. News.

T.H. Rogers School has a total enrollment of 1,063 students, with 87 percent of the student population scoring "at or above the proficient level" in mathematics, and 90 percent proficiency in reading. The school has a student-teacher ratio of 17:1, with 62 full-time teachers.

T.H. Rogers School also topped the district-wide list as the No. 1 best middle school in HISD.

Houston Gateway Academy - Coral Campus also ranked among the statewide top 10, coming in at No. 9 with a total enrollment of 914 students. U.S. News says 82 percent of HGA students are proficient in math, and 80 percent are proficient in reading.

"Houston Gateway Academy - Coral Campus did better in math and better in reading in this metric compared with students across the state," U.S. News said in the school's profile. "In Texas, 51 percent of students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 41 percent tested at or above that level for math."

Right behind HGA to round out the top 10 best Texas middle schools is Houston ISD's Briarmeadow Charter School. This middle school has 600 students, 69 percent of which are proficient in math and 74 percent are proficient reading.

Briarmeadow's student-teacher ratio is 16:1, which is better than the district-wide student-teacher ratio, and it employs 38 full-time teachers.

U.S. News also ranked Briarmeadow as the second best middle school in Houston ISD.

Six additional Houston-area schools ranked among the top 25 best middle schools in Texas, including:

  • No. 18 – Cornerstone Academy, Spring Branch ISD
  • No. 19 – Mandarin Immersion Magnet School, Houston ISD
  • No. 21 – Smith Middle School, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD
  • No. 22 – Seven Lakes Junior High, Katy ISD
  • No. 23 – Houston Gateway Academy
  • No. 25 – Beckendorff Junior High, Katy ISD

The best elementary schools in Texas

Jesus A. Kawas Elementary school in Laredo was crowned the No. 1 elementary school in Texas for 2025, while two Houston-area schools made it into the top 10.Tomball ISD's Creekside Forest Elementary in The Woodlands is the No. 7 best elementary school statewide, boasting 656 students, 42 full-time teachers, and one full-time counselor. Students at this school, which U.S. News designates is situated in a "fringe rural setting," scored 90 percent efficiency in math and 94 percent efficiency in reading.Following one spot behind Creekside Forest in the statewide ranking is Sugar Land's Commonwealth Elementary School in Fort Bend ISD, coming in at No. 8. Commonwealth has a student population of 954 with 55 full-time teachers, and two full-time counselors. The school's student-teacher ratio is 17:1, and 90 percent of students are proficient in math, and 94 percent in reading.U.S. News says student success at Commonwealth is significantly higher than the rest of Fort Bend ISD."In Fort Bend Independent School District, 59 percent of students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 47 percent tested at or above that level for math," U.S. News said in Commonwealth's profile. "Commonwealth Elementary [also] did better in math and better in reading in this metric compared with students across the state."Other Houston-area schools that were ranked among the 25 best in Texas are:
  • No. 13 – Bess Campbell Elementary, Sugar Land, Lamar CISD
  • No. 20 – West University Elementary, Houston ISD
  • No. 23 – T.H. Rogers School, Houston ISD
  • No. 25 – Griffin Elementary, Katy ISD

"The 2025 Best Elementary and Middle Schools rankings offer parents a way to evaluate how schools are providing a high-quality education and preparing students for future success," said LaMont Jones, Ed.D., the managing editor for Education at U.S. News. "The data empowers families and communities to advocate for their children’s education. Research continues to indicate that how students perform academically at these early grade levels is a big factor in their success in high school and beyond."

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

Rice University launches hub in India to drive education, tech innovation abroad

global mission

Rice University is launching Rice Global India, which is a strategic initiative to expand India’s rapidly growing education and technology sectors.

“India is a country of tremendous opportunity, one where we see the potential to make a meaningful impact through collaboration in research, innovation and education,” Rice President Reginald DesRoches says in a news release. “Our presence in India is a critical step in expanding our global reach, and we are excited to engage more with India’s academic leaders and industries to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.”

The new hub will be in the country’s third-largest city and the center of the country’s high-tech industry, Bengaluru, India, and will include collaborations with top-tier research and academic institutions.

Rice continues its collaborations with institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru. The partnerships are expected to advance research initiatives, student and faculty exchanges and collaborations in artificial intelligence, biotechnology and sustainable energy.

India was a prime spot for the location due to the energy, climate change, artificial intelligence and biotechnology studies that align with Rice’s research that is outlined in its strategic plan Momentous: Personalized Scale for Global Impact.

“India’s position as one of the world’s fastest-growing education and technology markets makes it a crucial partner for Rice’s global vision,” vice president for global at Rice Caroline Levander adds. “The U.S.-India relationship, underscored by initiatives like the U.S.-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology, provides fertile ground for educational, technological and research exchanges.”

On November 18, the university hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Bengaluru, India to help launch the project.

“This expansion reflects our commitment to fostering a more interconnected world where education and research transcend borders,” DesRoches says.

UH-backed project secures $3.6M to transform CO2 into sustainable fuel with cutting-edge tech

funds granted

A University of Houston-associated project was selected to receive $3.6 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy that aims to transform sustainable fuel production.

Nonprofit research institute SRI is leading the project “Printed Microreactor for Renewable Energy Enabled Fuel Production” or PRIME-Fuel, which will try to develop a modular microreactor technology that converts carbon dioxide into methanol using renewable energy sources with UH contributing research.

“Renewables-to-liquids fuel production has the potential to boost the utility of renewable energy all while helping to lay the groundwork for the Biden-Harris Administration’s goals of creating a clean energy economy,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm says in an ARPA-E news release.

The project is part of ARPA-E’s $41 million Grid-free Renewable Energy Enabling New Ways to Economical Liquids and Long-term Storage program (or GREENWELLS, for short) that also includes 14 projects to develop technologies that use renewable energy sources to produce sustainable liquid fuels and chemicals, which can be transported and stored similarly to gasoline or oil, according to a news release.

Vemuri Balakotaiah and Praveen Bollini, faculty members of the William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, are co-investigators on the project. Rahul Pandey, is a UH alum, and the senior scientist with SRI and principal investigator on the project.

Teams working on the project will develop systems that use electricity, carbon dioxide and water at renewable energy sites to produce renewable liquid renewable fuels that offer a clean alternative for sectors like transportation. Using cheaper electricity from sources like wind and solar can lower production costs, and create affordable and cleaner long-term energy storage solutions.

Researchers Rahul Pandey, senior scientist with SRI and principal investigator (left), and Praveen Bollini, a University of Houston chemical engineering faculty, are key contributors to the microreactor project. Photo via uh.edu

“As a proud UH graduate, I have always been aware of the strength of the chemical and biomolecular engineering program at UH and kept myself updated on its cutting-edge research,” Pandey says in a news release. “This project had very specific requirements, including expertise in modeling transients in microreactors and the development of high-performance catalysts. The department excelled in both areas. When I reached out to Dr. Bollini and Dr. Bala, they were eager to collaborate, and everything naturally progressed from there.”

The PRIME-Fuel project will use cutting-edge mathematical modeling and SRI’s proprietary Co-Extrusion printing technology to design and manufacture the microreactor with the ability to continue producing methanol even when the renewable energy supply dips as low as 5 percent capacity. Researchers will develop a microreactor prototype capable of producing 30 MJe/day of methanol while meeting energy efficiency and process yield targets over a three-year span. When scaled up to a 100 megawatts electricity capacity plant, it can be capable of producing 225 tons of methanol per day at a lower cost. The researchers predict five years as a “reasonable” timeline of when this can hit the market.

“What we are building here is a prototype or proof of concept for a platform technology, which has diverse applications in the entire energy and chemicals industry,” Pandey continues. “Right now, we are aiming to produce methanol, but this technology can actually be applied to a much broader set of energy carriers and chemicals.”

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This article originally ran on EnergyCapital.

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