Syzygy Plasmonics will develop a facility, known as NovaSAF 1, to convert biogas into sustainable aviation fuel in Uruguay. Photo courtesy of Syzygy
Houston-based Syzygy Plasmonics announced plans to develop what it calls the world's first electrified facility to convert biogas into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
The facility, known as NovaSAF 1, will be located in Durazno, Uruguay. It is expected to produce over 350,000 gallons of SAF annually, which would be considered “a breakthrough in cost-effective, scalable clean fuel,” according to the company.
"This is more than just a SAF plant; it's a new model for biogas economics," Trevor Best, CEO of Syzygy Plasmonics, said in a news release. "We're unlocking a global asset class of underutilized biogas sites and turning them into high-value clean fuel hubs without pipelines, costly gas separation, or subsidy dependence.”
The project is backed by long-term feedstock and site agreements with one of Uruguay's largest dairy and agri-energy operations, Estancias del Lago, while the permitting and equipment sourcing are ongoing alongside front-end engineering work led by Kent.
Syzygy says the project will result in a 50 percent higher SAF yield than conventional thermal biogas reforming pathways and will utilize both methane and CO2 naturally found in biogas as feedstocks, eliminating the need for expensive CO2 separation technologies and infrastructure. Additionally, the modular facility will be designed for easy replication in biogas-rich regions.
The new facility is expected to begin commercial operations in Q1 2027 and produce SAF with at least an 80 percent reduction in carbon intensity compared to Jet A fuel. The company says that once fully commercialized the facility will produce SAF at Jet-A fuel cost parity.
“We believe NovaSAF represents one of the few viable pathways to producing SAF at jet parity and successfully decarbonizing air travel,” Best added in the release.
Aglobal natural gas, LNG, hydrogen, low-carbon solutions, and climate technology convention is coming to Houston next month — but only one Houston startup is geared up for the event's new startup competition.
Gastech invited 20 promising companies for its inaugural Gastech Start-Up Competition, and 11 companies have signed on to participate so far. Houston-based Syzygy Plasmonics, which created and is scaling a sustainable photocatalytic reactor, is currently the only local company among the participants.
“Gastech's focus on creating a low-carbon, affordable energy future aligns perfectly with Syzygy's drive to produce low-carbon, low-cost hydrogen, liquid fuels, and syngas," Syzygy Plasmonics CEO Trevor Best says. "We can't wait to represent Houston as the only startup from the area to be included among the 11 finalists in the Gastech Climatetech Global Entrepreneur Competition.”
It's the first year Gastech, which was announced to be returning to Houston last year, is hosting the competition, which invited startups from the Gastech Hydrogen and Climatetech & AI hubs. The program will allow the participants to promote their projects, benchmark in a competitive setting, and receive critical feedback from experts.
The selected companies are innovating scalable solutions across technologies in climatetech, alternative fuels, industrial decarbonization, AI, hydrogen, and more. Each company will have five minutes to pitch and three minutes of feedback. The winner receives the Gastech 2024 Leading Start-up Trophy.
“We were very impressed by the ability of Syzygy to provide deep decarbonization technology which hit the mark on each of the requirements above – we hadn’t seen it before at Gastech and there is real potential to deliver at scale,” Simon Ford, vice president at Gastech, says.
The other selected and confirmed companies are:
General Galactic
Element One
Stars Technology
Modcon System
Fluid-7
Divigas
Gusty.ai
Omega Black
Kayrros
Mitis
The competition is in partnership with Houston Energy Transition Initiative and will take place beginning at 1:30 pm on Wednesday, September 18. Networking will follow the competition. Judges include Jane Stricker of the Houston Energy Transition Initiative, Mahdi Aladel and/or Bruce Niven of Aramco Ventures, and Daniel Palmer of Climate Investment.
Houston-based clean energy company Syzygy Plasmonics has successfully tested all-electric CO2-to-fuel production technology at RTI International’s facility at North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park.
Syzygy says the technology can significantly decarbonize transportation by converting two potent greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and methane, into low-carbon jet fuel, diesel, and gasoline.
Equinor Ventures and Sumitomo Corp. of Americas sponsored the pilot project.
“This project showcases our ability to fight climate change by converting harmful greenhouse gases into fuel,” Trevor Best, CEO of Syzygy, says in a news release.
“At scale,” he adds, “we’re talking about significantly reducing and potentially eliminating the carbon intensity of shipping, trucking, and aviation. This is a major step toward quickly and cost effectively cutting emissions from the heavy-duty transport sector.”
At commercial scale, a typical Syzygy plant will consume nearly 200,000 tons of CO2 per year, the equivalent of taking 45,000 cars off the road.
“The results of this demonstration are encouraging and represent an important milestone in our collaboration with Syzygy,” says Sameer Parvathikar, director of renewable energy and energy storage at RTI.
In addition to the CO2-to-fuel demonstration, Syzygy's Ammonia e-Cracking™ technology has completed over 2,000 hours of performance and optimization testing at its plant in Houston. Syzygy is finalizing a site and partners for a commercial CO2-to-fuel plant.
Syzygy is working to decarbonize the chemical industry, responsible for almost 20 percent of industrial CO2 emissions, by using light instead of combustion to drive chemical reactions.
Entrepreneurs from the Houston area have been named finalists for one of the region’s most prestigious business awards.
The 17 finalists are competing for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year 2024 Gulf South Award. The Gulf South region includes parts of Texas, along with Louisiana and Mississippi.
An independent panel of judges selected the 48 finalists. Contenders were evaluated based on their demonstration of building long-term value through factors such as entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth, and impact.
The Houston-area finalists are:
Shannon Payne, Allied Fire Protection, Pearland
Jay McEntire IV, Arva Intelligence, Houston
Andrew Levy, Avelo Airlines, Houston
Derek Maetzold, Castle Biosciences, Friendswood
Scott Aronstein, Connectivity Source, Houston
Joshua Weisman, Construction Concepts, Houston
Feras Moussa and Ben Suttles, Disrupt Equity, Houston
John Poindexter, J.B. Poindexter, Houston
James Ross, LJA Engineering, Houston
Asher Kazmann, Locke Solutions, Houston
Chad Millis, Millis, Missouri City
Mike Francis, NanoTech Materials, Houston
Stuart Hinchen and Peter Jenkins, Quva Pharma, Sugar Land
Trevor Best and Suman Khatiwada, Syzygy Plasmonics, Houston
Hal Brumfield, Tachus Fiber Internet, The Woodlands
Jared Boudreaux, Vector Controls and Automation Group, Pearland
Ting Qiao, Wan Bridge, Houston
“The finalists of this year are audacious entrepreneurs who are making a significant impact in their respective industries and communities,” says Anna Horndahl, an EY partner and co-director of the EOY Gulf South Program.
“These pioneers, chosen by an independent panel of judges, showcase relentless commitment to their businesses, customers and communities. We are thrilled to acknowledge their accomplishments,” adds Travis Garms, an EY partner and co-director of the EOY Gulf South Program.
Houston House at SXSW 2024 featured conversations about startup scaling, tips from CEOs, and more. Photo via Allie Danziger/LinkedIn
Houston innovators talked big topics at SXSW 2024 — from the startup scaling and converging industries to the future of work.
Houston House, which was put on by the Greater Houston Partnership on March 11, hosted four panels full of experts from Houston. If you missed the day-long activation, here are some highlights from the experts who each commented on the future of the Bayou City when it comes to startups, technology, innovation, and the next generation's workforce.
"When we think about Houston, we think about access to at-scale infrastructure, amenities, and workforce and talent pools."
— Remington Tonar, co-founder and chief growth officer at Cart.com, says about why the company chose to return its headquarters back to Houston last year. One of these amenities, Tonar explained, is Houston's global airports.
"If New York and Austin had a baby, it would be Houston, because you have friendly people with a big-city culture."
— Mitra Miller, vice president and board member of Houston Angel Network, says, adding that Houston has a cost efficiency to it, which should be at the forefront of founders' minds when considering where to locate.
"We are not only attracting global talents, we are also attracting global wealth and foreign investments because we are the rising city of the future. We are the global launch pad where you can scale internationally very quickly."
— Sunny Zhang, founder of TrueLeap, says adding how there's a redistribution of global workforce happening when you consider ongoing global affairs.
"We overwhelmingly as a company, and my co-founder would agree, knew we had to go the Houston path. And we started funneling a lot more resources here."
— Carolyn Rodz, co-founder and CEO of Hello Alice, says, explaining that the pandemic helped equalize the talent across the country, and this has been to the benefit of cities like Houston.
"Houston is here with arms open, welcoming people and actively recruiting."
— Sean Kelly, co-founder and CEO of Amperon, says, emphasizing how Texas has made moves to being business friendly. Amperon was founded in New York, before moving to Houston a couple years ago.
"There is a revolution starting to happen in Houston right now."
— Trevor Best, co-founder and CEO of Syzygy Plasmonics, says, first commenting on the momentum from Rice University, where his company's technology originates from. But, as he adds, when you compare the ecosystem when the startup was founded in 2019 to where it's at now, "there is so much more happening."
"Houston has a critical mass in terms of aerospace."
— Stephanie Munez Murphy of Aegus Aerospace says, saying specifically that NASA's Johnson Space Center holds some responsibility for that. "JSC is the home of opening up space commercialization."
"There's diversity in industries people are coming from, but also in terms of experience and expertise that (Houstonians) have."
— Robyn Cardwell of Omniscience says, adding that Houston's diversity goes further than just where people originate from. "Houston has all these pieces put together ... for growing and scaling organizations," she adds.
"I've worked with thousands of students in Houston who are actively looking to better themselves and grow their career post college or post high school and go into the workforce."
— Allie Danziger of Ascent Funding says, adding that Gen Z, which is already entering the workforce, is entrepreneurial and ready to change the world. "Seeing the energy of Houstonians is just thrilling," she adds.
"We're working together in the Houston community. ... There are so many opportunities to collaborate but we need conveners."
— Stacy Putman of INEOS says, adding that within industry there has been a lack of discussion and collaboration because of competition. But, as she's observing, that's changing thanks to conveners at colleges or at the Greater Houston Partnership.
"The opportunity for Houston is that everybody has to step up to be in some way, shape, or form helping us with this."
— Raj Salhotra of Momentum Education says about supporting the future workforce of Houston, including low-income household students.
Syzygy has completed more than 1,500 hours of testing of the cell to generate hydrogen from ammonia. Photo via Syzygy
Houston-based Syzygy Plasmonics is charging ahead with the world’s first light-powered reactor cell for industrial chemical reactions.
Syzygy says its Rigel reactor cell has met initial performance targets and is now available to order. The cell enables a customer to produce up to five tons of low-carbon hydrogen per day.
Syzygy has completed more than 1,500 hours of testing of the cell to generate hydrogen from ammonia. Testing of the ammonia e-cracking cell began in late 2023 and is still taking place.
The company hopes to capitalize on market demand in places like Asia and Europe. Syzygy says importers of liquified natural gas (LNG) in these places are being required to seek low-carbon alternatives, such as low-carbon ammonia. Some of this ammonia will be cracked to produce hydrogen for sectors like power generation and steel production.
Syzygy’s technology harnesses energy from high-efficiency artificial lighting to e-crack ammonia, eliminating the need for combustion. When powered by renewable electricity, Rigel cell stacks can deliver hydrogen from low-carbon ammonia.
“The testing at our Houston facility is going exceptionally well,” Syzygy CEO Trevor Best says in a news release.
The company is now ready to deliver projects capable of producing five tons of hydrogen per day. By 2025, Best says, 10-ton installations should come online. A year later, Syzygy expects to graduate to 100-ton projects.
Last year, Syzygy received a major boost when Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America invested in the company. The amount of the investment wasn’t disclosed.
Affluent Houston neighbor Bellaire is cashing in as the richest small town in Texas for 2025, according to new study from GoBankingRates.
The report, "The Richest Small Town in Every State," used data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey to determine the 50 richest small towns in America based on their median household income.
Of course, Houstonians realize that describing Bellaire as a "small town" is a bit of misnomer. Located less than 10 miles from downtown and fully surrounded by the City of Houston, Bellaire is a wealthy enclave that boasts a population of just over 17,000 residents. These affluent citizens earn a median $236,311 in income every year, which GoBankingRates says is the 11th highest household median income out of all 50 cities included in the report.
The average home in this city is worth over $1.12 million, but Bellaire's lavish residential reputation often attracts properties with multimillion-dollar price tags.
Bellaire also earned a shining 81 livability score for its top quality schools, health and safety, commute times, and more. The livability index, provided by Toronto, Canada-based data analytics and real estate platform AreaVibes, said Bellaire has "an abundance of exceptional local amenities."
"Among these are conveniently located grocery stores, charming coffee shops, diverse dining options and plenty of spacious parks," AreaVibes said. "These local amenities contribute significantly to its overall appeal, ensuring that [residents'] daily needs are met and offering ample opportunities for leisure and recreation."
Earlier in 2025, GoBankingRates ranked Bellaire as the No. 23 wealthiest suburb in America, and it's no stranger to being named on similar lists comparing the richest American cities.
Corrosion is not something most people think about, but for Houston's industrial backbone pipelines, refineries, chemical plants, and water infrastructure, it is a silent and costly threat. Replacing damaged steel and overusing chemicals adds hundreds of millions of tons of carbon emissions every year. Despite the scale of the problem, corrosion detection has barely changed in decades.
In a recent episode of the Energy Tech Startups Podcast, Anwar Sadek, founder and CEO of Corrolytics, explained why the traditional approach is not working and how his team is delivering real-time visibility into one of the most overlooked challenges in the energy transition.
From Lab Insight to Industrial Breakthrough
Anwar began as a researcher studying how metals degrade and how microbes accelerate corrosion. He quickly noticed a major gap. Companies could detect the presence of microorganisms, but they could not tell whether those microbes were actually causing corrosion or how quickly the damage was happening. Most tests required shipping samples to a lab and waiting months for results, long after conditions inside the asset had changed.
That gap inspired Corrolytics' breakthrough. The company developed a portable, real-time electrochemical test that measures microbial corrosion activity directly from fluid samples. No invasive probes. No complex lab work. Just the immediate data operators can act on.
“It is like switching from film to digital photography,” Anwar says. “What used to take months now takes a couple of hours.”
Why Corrosion Matters in Houston's Energy Transition
Houston's energy transition is a blend of innovation and practicality. While the world builds new low-carbon systems, the region still depends on existing industrial infrastructure. Keeping those assets safe, efficient, and emission-conscious is essential.
This is where Corrolytics fits in. Every leak prevented, every pipeline protected, and every unnecessary gallon of biocide avoided reduces emissions and improves operational safety. The company is already seeing interest across oil and gas, petrochemicals, water and wastewater treatment, HVAC, industrial cooling, and biofuels. If fluids move through metal, microbial corrosion can occur, and Corrolytics can detect it.
Because microbes evolve quickly, slow testing methods simply cannot keep up. “By the time a company gets lab results, the environment has changed completely,” Anwar explains. “You cannot manage what you cannot measure.”
A Scientist Steps Into the CEO Role
Anwar did not plan to become a CEO. But through the National Science Foundation's ICorps program, he interviewed more than 300 industry stakeholders. Over 95 percent cited microbial corrosion as a major issue with no effective tool to address it. That validation pushed him to transform his research into a product.
Since then, Corrolytics has moved from prototype to real-world pilots in Brazil and Houston, with early partners already using the technology and some preparing to invest. Along the way, Anwar learned to lead teams, speak the language of industry, and guide the company through challenges. “When things go wrong, and they do, it is the CEO's job to steady the team,” he says.
Why Houston
Relocating to Houston accelerated everything. Customers, partners, advisors, and manufacturing talent are all here. For industrial and energy tech startups, Houston offers an ecosystem built for scale.
What's Next
Corrolytics is preparing for broader pilots, commercial partnerships, and team growth as it continues its fundraising efforts. For anyone focused on asset integrity, emissions reduction, or industrial innovation, this is a company to watch.
Energy Tech Startups Podcast is hosted by Jason Ethier and Nada Ahmed. It delves into Houston's pivotal role in the energy transition, spotlighting entrepreneurs and industry leaders shaping a low-carbon future.
Fifty-one scientists and professors from Houston-area universities and institutions were named among the most cited in the world for their research in medicine, materials sciences and an array of other fields.
The Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers considers researchers who have authored multiple "Highly Cited Papers" that rank in the top 1percent by citations for their fields in the Web of Science Core Collection. The final list is then determined by other quantitative and qualitative measures by Clarivate's judges to recognize "researchers whose exceptional and community-wide contributions shape the future of science, technology and academia globally."
This year, 6,868 individual researchers from 60 different countries were named to the list. About 38 percent of the researchers are based in the U.S., with China following in second place at about 20 percent.
However, the Chinese Academy of Sciences brought in the most entries, with 258 researchers recognized. Harvard University with 170 researchers and Stanford University with 141 rounded out the top 3.
Looking more locally, the University of Texas at Austin landed among the top 50 institutions for the first time this year, tying for 46th place with the Mayo Clinic and University of Minnesota Twin Cities, each with 27 researchers recognized.
Houston once again had a strong showing on the list, with MD Anderson leading the pack. Below is a list of the Houston-area highly cited researchers and their fields.
UT MD Anderson Cancer Center
Ajani Jaffer (Cross-Field)
James P. Allison (Cross-Field)
Maria E. Cabanillas (Cross-Field)
Boyi Gan (Molecular Biology and Genetics)
Maura L. Gillison (Cross-Field)
David Hong (Cross-Field)
Scott E. Kopetz (Clinical Medicine)
Pranavi Koppula (Cross-Field)
Guang Lei (Cross-Field)
Sattva S. Neelapu (Cross-Field)
Padmanee Sharma (Molecular Biology and Genetics)
Vivek Subbiah (Clinical Medicine)
Jennifer A. Wargo (Molecular Biology and Genetics)
William G. Wierda (Clinical Medicine)
Ignacio I. Wistuba (Clinical Medicine)
Yilei Zhang (Cross-Field)
Li Zhuang (Cross-Field)
Rice University
Pulickel M. Ajayan (Materials Science)
Pedro J. J. Alvarez (Environment and Ecology)
Neva C. Durand (Cross-Field)
Menachem Elimelech (Chemistry and Environment and Ecology)
