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Resurgence Director Ozge Gunei Altai of the Polsky Center served as a judge for the regional Energy Tech UP competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Technology Transition in partnership with American Made Challenges.
A team from the University of Chicago and the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation will be participating in the upcoming national event, Energy Tech University Awards (Energy Tech UP).
Teams of finalists will compete for more than $400,000 in prize money at the Energy Thoughts Summit on April 15 in Austin, Texas.
One that is attracting attention is the University of Chicago, where Argonne researcher Amgad Elgowiny came together to major in molecular engineering after sharing a common interest in waste reprocessing after a lecture he gave. There are three undergraduate students.
George Rhodes, who has worked as an undergraduate researcher at the Patel Group, is joined by classmates Lucas Zubiraga-Maharg (BS '25), a former research assistant at the Gagliardi Group and intern at Argonne National Laboratory, and Jonah Van. Co-founded Rise Reforming with Mr. Auld (BS). '26.
The idea for the startup all started with an email from the university promoting the research of Kafel Yavuz, who is now one of Rise's advisors, specifically his novel “NiMoCat”, a catalyst for dry reforming. Although he was unable to speak, Mr. Rose reached out to Mr. Yauz about the technology and has since spent time “digging into” the reform process.
The initial goal was to use Yawes' breakthrough technology to transform landfill gas into valuable chemicals, but as Rose explains, “by fall, we hope to reform plastics.” It has become clear that it is technically and economically rational to ask questions.”
Currently, the technology focuses on converting plastic waste into carbon-negative dimethyl ether (cnDME). “This process gasifies the plastic waste, then dry-reforms the resulting hydrocarbon gas into syngas, which is then upgraded to our product cnDME,” Rose said. .
Rose's primary target market is renewable fuels, and when the product is blended with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), the lifecycle emissions of a 20/80 DME/LPG blend are 62% lower than pure LPG. He said it would be reduced. “Furthermore, given that this blend has an energy density comparable to diesel and gasoline, cnDME can play a major role in decarbonizing the transportation industry,” he added.
After competing in the national finals of EnergyTech UP, the team will focus on patenting and demonstrating the process at lab scale. It is hoped that a successful lab-scale demonstration will generate interest and the funding needed to build a pilot module.
Among the finalists selected to pitch next week is Blaze Power, a Cohort 1 participant at Resurgence, the Polsky Center's clean tech accelerator. The startup champions the power of lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) and iron-based cathodes to advance sustainability with next-generation battery materials.
“Of the 225 teams that participated in the regional tournament, 28 teams will advance to the national tournament. This is no small accomplishment. We are reserving two seats for this great opportunity,” said Polsky Center Resurrection Director. , said Ozge Gunei-Altai.
Guney-Altay was invited to serve as a judge for the EnergyTech UP regional competition representing the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Regional Competition was sponsored by Evergreen Climate Ventures. Evergreen Climate Ventures is an ecosystem partner that has supported Resurgence since before its launch last year.
“It was a great experience to hear the next generation of clean energy leaders talk about their passion projects,” Guney-Altay said.
EnergyTech UP is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Transition (OTT) in partnership with American-Made Challenges.
DOE's American-Made program accelerates clean energy innovation through awards, training, mentorship, and cross-sector collaboration. As part of this program, the Making Advanced Technology Commercialization Harmonized (Lab MATCH) award also recently announced Phase 1 winners, including Leaf Automation, a Cohort 3 participant in Transform, the Polsky Center's data science and AI accelerator Did.
Leaf Automation is developing the next generation of AI-powered CAD plugins to accelerate and optimize the design of commercial electrical and mechanical systems. For submissions to the award, a competition that matches U.S. national laboratory IP with startups aimed at commercialization, Leaf Automation listed IP from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). CEO and founder Evan Haug said the IP, which predicts the financial performance of a particular solar power system, will be used to build the startup's current solar power design automation software, Branch. It pointed out.
// Resurgence is affiliated with the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, and Transform is affiliated with the Data Science Institute and housed within the Polsky Center's new Deep Tech Ventures initiative. Deep Tech Ventures, an all-sector venture-backed initiative, is dedicated to transforming deep technology innovations into startups and bringing to market products and services that save lives and change the world.
