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| | Sandia National Laboratories | Agus R. Poerwoprajitno | Senior Member of Technical Staff |
Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC)
|
Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
| Topic Area 1 | My background is in AI-driven chemical and materials synthesis, characterization, and catalysis, with a focus on accelerating materials discovery and process optimization. I use AI and machine learning approaches to guide experimental design, optimize synthesis conditions, and identify structure–property relationships in complex chemical and materials systems. My work spans flow and microfluidic synthesis platforms as well as automated robotic systems, enabling high-throughput experimentation and more efficient exploration of synthesis parameter spaces. I also have expertise in scaling up materials synthesis from small-scale discovery to larger-scale production while maintaining control over material properties and performance.
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=CDE5cE8AAAAJ&hl=en |
| NM |
| | Omnibus IP Holdings LLC | jerry moerbe | sole member - owner |
Small Business
|
Bioenergy
| Scale-up and Process Intensification for Alternative Waste Feedstocks | Omnibus IP Holdings, LLC specializes in the advanced engineering, design, and deployment of proprietary Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) and high-efficiency thermal cascade infrastructure. Our core technology integrates behind-the-meter (BTM) kinetic power generation (aeroderivative microturbines) with Agitated Thin Film Dryer (ATFD) thermal cascades. This creates a completely autarkic, closed-loop system capable of processing highly complex alternative waste feedstocks, including hypersaline brines and high-PPM hydrogen sulfide (H2S) sour water.
Our process intensification architecture directly addresses the critical energy-water nexus bottlenecks inherent in scaling up emerging chemical technologies. By utilizing waste heat from our BTM turbines to drive the ZLD thermal cascade, we eliminate reliance on municipal grid interconnects and local water aquifers. We effectively transform legacy industrial wastewater and complex chemical brines into absolute dry solids and highly purified, reusable water.
Omnibus is currently advancing our pre-pilot architectures to full pilot and demonstration scales. We are seeking to team with Tier-1 EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) firms, academic research institutions, and commercial deployment partners (specifically in Direct Lithium Extraction, advanced manufacturing, and alternative fuels) to validate our process intensification metrics and scale our modular systems for immediate industrial deployment.
Specific capabilities include:
Proprietary ZLD and ATFD thermal cascade integration.
High-shear acoustic manifold processing for H2S mitigation.
Off-grid, dispatchable power generation mapping.
Process intensification for alternative feedstock refinement and dry-solids extraction. |
| TX |
| | TideWrack Systems, LLC | Thomas Ball | Founder & CEO |
Small Business
|
Bioenergy
| Sargassum and marine biomass pretreatment, contaminant reduction, fractionation, and waste-feedstock valorization | TideWrack Systems, LLC is an early-stage U.S. small business developing modular process technology to convert problematic marine biomass into standardized intermediate feedstocks for downstream chemical and biological conversion. Our initial feedstock is beach-cast Sargassum, a highly variable waste biomass containing salts, sand, arsenic and other contaminants that complicate conventional valorization.
TideWrack is developing an integrated pretreatment and fractionation platform designed for deployment near biomass collection sites. The process is intended to reduce contaminants and feedstock variability while recovering carbohydrate-rich, alginate-rich and other biomass fractions suitable for subsequent conversion into higher-value chemicals, materials and bioproducts. The company has completed an initial bench-scale processing campaign, submitted treated and untreated samples for independent analytical testing, and filed a U.S. provisional patent covering aspects of the system and process.
TideWrack is interested in ASPECT partnerships involving alternative and waste feedstocks, biomass pretreatment and fractionation, fermentation, enzymatic or microbial conversion, chemical conversion, separations, process intensification, pilot-scale engineering, techno-economic analysis and life-cycle assessment. We are particularly interested in teams developing pathways from heterogeneous waste biomass to foundational molecules, chemical intermediates, biomaterials or other high-value products.
TideWrack can contribute feedstock sourcing and characterization, pretreatment and contaminant-reduction process development, modular system integration, marine biomass handling, bench-scale experimental data, commercialization strategy and potential coastal deployment pathways. We are collaborating with academic researchers with expertise in seaweed chemistry, alginate processing, biomass fractionation, microbial and enzymatic conversion, fermentation and biomass valorization.
We are seeking complementary universities, national laboratories, engineering organizations, chemical and biomanufacturing companies, offtakers and scale-up partners interested in integrating standardized marine biomass intermediates into emerging chemical-production pathways. |
| NY |
| | Nexceris | Neil Kidner | Chief Product Officer |
Small Business
|
Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
| Topic Area 1 or 2 | Nexceris is an advanced ceramics and catalyst manufacturer transforming breakthrough technologies into commercially viable solutions for our clients. We accelerate product advancement for developers by bridging the gap from lab to launch on ceramic materials and catalyst manufacturing. Leveraging our expertise in catalyst forming, coating, and powder scale-up from grams to metric-ton volumes, we help de-risk the path towards commercialization through technical and manufacturing collaboration.
We offer the following:
1. 56,000 square-foot manufacturing and testing facility.
2. 30+ years of technical leadership in ceramic technology.
3. End-to-end manufacturing capabilities from concept to commercialization,
4. Dedicated catalyst team led by Ph.D. scientists.
5. Flexible catalyst manufacturing.
6. Scaled custom catalyst synthesis (extrudates, tablets, coatings).
7. Catalyst and reactor modeling, development and testing to support system development. |
| OH |
| | Agile BioFoundry | Katy Christiansen | Principal Investigator |
Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC)
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Bioenergy
| | The Agile BioFoundry is a consortium of seven U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories that operate as a distributed biofoundry in collaboration with industry and academia. Funded by DOE’s Alternative Fuels and Feedstocks Office (AFFO), formerly known as the Bioenergy Technologies Office, our work supports AFFO’s goals to advance the industrial production of fuels and chemicals.
The Agile BioFoundry accelerates the development, integration, and scale-up of biological engineering tools and technologies, transforming promising biosynthetic pathways into reliable, industrial-ready production systems for bioproducts. |
| CA |
| | c16 biosciences | Shwn Szyjka | Head of R&D |
Small Business
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Bioenergy
| | C16 Biosciences engineers non-model oleaginous yeasts, including Rhodotorula / Rhodosporidium toruloides, to produce specialty lipids and fats and oils through fermentation. Our R&D team covers the full path from strain engineering to fermentation and downstream process development, and we currently manufacture at 50 kL commercial scale.
Our core strength is engineering yeast lipid metabolism to hit specific targets: defined chain lengths, unsaturation profiles, and other oleochemical building blocks. We do this by modifying native and heterologous lipid biosynthesis pathways. We also have real experience getting these strains to run well on alternative, non-food feedstocks, including organic acids and other waste or byproduct carbon streams, which we think lines up well with ASPECT's interest in flexible feedstock strategies for fuels and chemicals.
Scale-up is where a lot of good lab biology fails and it's an area we've put a lot of effort into. We've taken strains from shake flasks through bench bioreactors all the way to our existing 50 kL commercial fermentation, while holding onto yield and productivity along the way. On the downstream side, we handle lipid extraction, purification, and characterization for specialty oleochemical products.
We'd like to join an ASPECT teaming project as a technical partner, contributing strain engineering, fermentation scale-up, and downstream process expertise, particularly on projects converting alternative carbon feedstocks into fuel-relevant lipids or oleochemical intermediates. We're open to working alongside catalysis, feedstock supply, and TEA/LCA partners to put together a complete value chain proposal. |
| NY |
| | Johnson Matthey | Scott Cauffman | Development Manager |
Large Business
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Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
| | Johnson Matthey (JM) brings more than 200 years of experience in transforming scientific innovation into commercially successful technologies. Built on a foundation of world-class materials science, JM has extensive expertise in the development of advanced functional materials, coatings, catalysts, electrochemical components, and engineered systems. The company combines deep scientific knowledge with robust engineering capabilities spanning process design, modeling, simulation, advanced analytics, and technology optimization.
JM's integrated approach enables rapid progression from concept development and laboratory validation through pilot-scale demonstration and full-scale manufacturing. The company has a long history of successfully scaling complex technologies by leveraging multidisciplinary teams of scientists, engineers, modelers, and manufacturing specialists. This includes expertise in materials characterization, coating technologies, reaction and process engineering, digital tools, data-driven development, and advanced manufacturing techniques.
With global R&D, engineering, and production capabilities, Johnson Matthey is uniquely positioned to support the development, scale-up, and commercialization of innovative technologies. The company’s proven track record of combining scientific innovation with industrial execution makes JM a strong partner for accelerating the deployment of next-generation technologies that strengthen domestic manufacturing, improve competitiveness, and create long-term economic value. |
| PA |
| | Global Algae innovations | David Hazlebeck | CEO |
Small Business
|
Bioenergy
| Topic Area 1 or 2 | Global Algae has developed a full suite of technology for open raceway micro algae cultivation, harvesting, and processing.
We can to provide raw algal biomass or components of the biomass like algal oil.
We are also interested in partners who convert of fatty acids or vegetable oil to products. |
| CA |
| | Precision Combusiton, Inc. | Jeffrey G. Weissman | Senior Principal Scientist |
Small Business
|
Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
| Topic Area 1 | Precision Combustion, Inc. (PCI) offers bench-scale to pilot scale chemical reactor and systems in-house design, build and operations with full turn-key systems capabilities. Our unique proprietary compact modular reactor designs and systems are known for:
- High intensity, short contact time capabilities;
- Reduction or elimination of thermal gradients and hotspots;
- Significantly enhanced rates of thermal and mass transport;
- Excellent mixing in laminar flow regimes with elimination of flow stratification or streamlining;
- Controlled temperature behavior in endothermic or exothermic operations;
- Employ a wide range of catalyst compositions on structured supports;
- Improve energy and operational efficiencies.
These advantages lead to improved reactant conversions and product selectivities for a wide range of reaction classes including: selective alkene or alkyne hydrogenations, phenyl or pyridyl alkylations, C3-C8 paraffin alkylations and partial oxidations.
PCI commercial-intent reactors and systems include forward/reverse water gas shift and fuel flexible liquid or gas fed steam or autothermal reforming. We offer solid-oxide electrolytic production of carbon monoxide, CO, and hydrogen, H2, as single or mixed product streams.
In Topic Area 1 our focus will be on 1b, Bench Scale and Unit Operation Pre-Piloting, for reactions and pilot system development for production of chemicals from alternate feedstocks. This will include production of:
- Foundational chemicals including hydrogen, carbon monoxide, ethylene and benzene
- Intermediate chemicals including propylene, butene and other alkenes
- Final products including alkyl substituted benzene or phenyls, and bio-derived substituted alkanes and aromatics.
As part of this effort we expect to develop multiple pilot-scale level processes that integrate into a fully contained chemical refinery to produce a range bio-based C2-C20 chemicals and fuels.
We seek partners for: industrial applications, economic analysis, catalyst characterization and process integration for pilot to commercial scale multiple unit operations.
We will partner as prime or sub for development of catalysts, catalytic or non-catalytic processes, bench-scale to pilot scale reactors and systems, and supporting services including process modeling, reactive computational fluid dynamics modeling, and testing. |
| CT |
| | Ohio University | David Quiroz | Assistant Professor |
Academic
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Bioenergy
| | Dr. David Quiroz is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Ohio University. His research applies process modeling with concurrent techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) to accelerate technology development and scale-up. He has prior experience evaluating the economic viability and environmental impacts of biorefining, algal biotechnology, and waste-to-energy systems.
Interested in providing integrated process modeling, TEA, and LCA support for ASPECT Topic Area 1 or 2 project teams, helping evaluate proposed conversion pathways against conventional benchmarks and identify key cost and environmental performance drivers to inform scale-up decisions.
Capabilities: life cycle assessment databases (ecoinvent, GREET); LCA software (SimaPro, openLCA); process modeling and simulation software (Aspen Plus, IDAES); custom techno-economic and dynamic process models developed in Python/MATLAB; GIS and prospective TEA/LCA methods. |
| OH |
| | Tern Industries LLC dba Mixing Tanks USA | Thad Fisco | CEO |
Small Business
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Bioenergy
| Topic 1b; Topic 2a; Topic 2b | Tern Industries LLC, doing business as Mixing Tanks USA, together with its affiliated U.S. manufacturing operation Portland Kettle Works, designs, fabricates, integrates, and commissions modular process equipment for emerging chemical, biotechnology, alternative-feedstock, and advanced-material manufacturing applications.
We are seeking to participate as the industrial equipment, process-skid integration, and pre-pilot manufacturing partner for ASPECT Topic Areas 1b, 2a, and 2b. Our role is to help technology developers move from laboratory apparatus to operable, instrumented pre-pilot equipment.
Capabilities include custom stainless-steel process vessels; agitated and high-shear mixing systems; heated and cooled reactors; sanitary and industrial piping; pumps; load cells; temperature, pressure, flow, and level instrumentation; automated controls; VFDs; control panels; modular skid fabrication; utility integration; FAT/SAT documentation; and installation and commissioning support.
Our OPTIMIZED™ modular-skid approach consolidates vessels, pumps, mixers, instrumentation, controls, piping, and utility interfaces into factory-built systems intended to reduce field installation time and scale-up risk. We can support equipment definition, preliminary layouts, P&IDs, equipment sizing, detailed mechanical design, fabrication, controls integration, factory acceptance testing, installation planning, commissioning, and operating-data collection.
We are interested in partnering with technology developers, universities, national laboratories, feedstock owners, chemical manufacturers, process-engineering firms, and pilot facilities developing conventional or bio-advantaged chemicals from domestic alternative and waste feedstocks. We are available as a for-profit industry subrecipient, equipment-development partner, system integrator, or commercial equipment supplier. |
| UT |
| | Oxylus Energy | Conor Rooney | CTO and Cofounder |
Small Business
|
Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
| 2 | Oxylus Energy converts captured CO2, water, and renewable power into green methanol at fossil-competitive cost. Our proprietary electrolyzer turns CO2 into carbon monoxide, then into methanol, using about a third less hydrogen than conventional routes and following intermittent renewable energy loads. We will apply to topic area 2a or 2b and we're seeking teaming partners with concentrated and/or biogenic CO2 streams (industrial or waste sources) as well as offtakers who want green CO, syngas, or methanol for fuels and chemicals. |
| CT |
| | University of Virginia | William Epling | Professor |
Academic
|
| Area 1, Bench (catalyst deactivation research) | Our area of specialization is in understanding how and when catalysts deactivate, such that those conditions can be minimized or regeneration strategies explored. We perform sulfur poisoning and thermal degradation studies regularly. We explore how these impact/change the catalyst surface and structure. The sulfur poisoning studies in particular will be relevant to exploring new catalysts for biomass upgrading, and stranded or waste gas valorization. |
| VA |
| | Southwest Research Institute | Eloy Flores III | Director R&D |
Non-Profit
|
Bioenergy
| Scale up and Process Integration Testing | At Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) we are R&D problem solvers providing independent, premier services to government and industry clients. Our multidisciplinary nature allows us to rapidly assemble diverse teams to tackle problems from multiple directions. We develop innovative solutions that advance the state of the art and improve human health and safety. SwRI is an independent non-profit research institute focusing on applied R&D. We have over 3,000 staff members, 1,500-acres of land, and more than 300 laboratories with millions of square footage of lab and office space.
The Chemical Engineering Department has extensive experience in developing and scaling a variety of chemical processes and transformational energy technologies. Bridging the gap between fundamental research and commercial adoption aligns with our focus on applied research. We can accommodate projects from lab to demonstration scale and have experience with high pressures, high temperatures, and hazardous materials. We are interested in participating in potential projects as a partner and can help with technical expertise in design, fabrication, construction, and operation of novel processes and technologies, utilizing existing sites and utilities that takes advantage of existing cooling towers, electricity (all phases), nitrogen, flares, a thermal oxider, and scrubbers. This enables us to offer our clients shortened project timelines without sacrificing quality. |
| TX |
| | Washington State University | Guiyan Zang | Associate Professor |
Academic
|
Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
| TEA and LCA | Guiyan Zang is an associate professor at Washington State University, who has worked for Argonne Nationnal Laboratory and MIT before to lead group conducting work on process scale up, Techno-economic analysis (TEA), life cycle analysis (LCA), and supply chain analysis. She is open for collaboration on the accelerating scale-up and pre-piloting of emerging chemical technology to help the group design industrial-scale processes, evaluate cost, emissions, and supply chain optimization |
| WA |
| | Liberate Minerals Limited | Richard Simons | Chief Executive Officer |
Small Business
|
Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
| Critical Mineral Processing | Liberate has developed a globally unique, 21st century mineral processing and refining technology specifically focussed on critical minerals and rare earths. Our solution, the "Resource Maximisation Process" (RMP) is a sustainable, cost effective, multi-commodity chemical refining solution. The RMP enables critical mineral and rare earth ores to be refined in the country in which they are mined.
Our multi-commodity hydrometallurgical process is delivering lithium carbonate, high purity silica, rubidium, caesium, tantalum, niobium and aluminum compounds all from the one source of spodumene concentrate and tailings. In addition, the process can also deliver high purity natural graphite and rare earth compounds from relevant ores.
We have tested the process with over a dozen miners from Australia, Saudi Arabia and now expanding into North America, producing multiple high value compounds from a single source of concentrate or tailings.
The RMP processing technology has a broad application and we are now beginning to test on beryl, germanium and vanadium ores and waste material.
We are interested to partner with miners, processors, refiners who have ore bodies, concentrates, process tailings or other waste material that contains high value critical minerals.
Liberate is a member of the Defense Industrial Base Consortium |
| New South Wales |
| | Los Alamos National Laboratory | Xiaokun (Claire) Yang | Scientist |
Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC)
|
Bioenergy
| | Chemical engineer with more than 16 years of experience in catalytic materials design, synthesis, and application, including over 13 years of expertise in liquid-phase biomass conversion to hydrocarbon fuels and value-added chemicals, such as surfactants, resins, polymer monomers, organic acids, and other specialty products.
I lead a multidisciplinary team across the full research and development lifecycle, from catalyst design and bench-scale experimentation to batch and continuous-flow process intensification, scale-up, and techno-economic assessment.
Our laboratory capabilities include batch and flow reactors, catalyst synthesis equipment, product characterization and property-testing instruments, and automated robotic platforms. We collaborate extensively with industry, universities, and other national laboratories and are passionate about addressing technical barriers, accelerating process development, and advancing promising technologies toward commercialization. |
| NM |
| | Liberty Ion LLC | Evan M. Erickson | Ceo & Founder |
Small Business
|
Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
| | Let Liberty Ion handle your grant application for you! Liberty Ion helps applicants draft grant proposals from start to finish, including building the right team, shaping a strong project narrative, developing a credible and competitive budget, calculating fringe and indirect rates, aligning key personnel, and handling the required application paperwork.
The firm’s founder is a chemistry PhD that previously founded and funded a battery cathode manufacturing company as CEO through DOE and DOD grants & a Series A fundraise, leading the company for nearly five years, bringing direct experience in material production, scale-up, and commercialization. Today, Liberty Ion works with technology companies to secure nondilutive funding, strengthen market positioning, and move projects towards completion. We have fundamental technical experience in chemicals, fuel cells, electrocatalysis, lithium-ion batteries, materials science along with the practicality of having founded and successfully exited a technology company, with a suite of proposal writers, project managers and technical experts to help get your proposal across the finish line in as painless way as possible. Let Liberty Ion take care of the annoying grant writing for you, so your team can focus on mission! Schedule a free, no obligation meeting today to discuss how Liberty Ion can help you: https://calendly.com/d/cyhh-k3f-xw9/liberty-ion-introduction |
| TX |
| | Ecovaleric | Roberta Leão | ceo |
Small Business
|
Bioenergy
| | Ecovaleric is developing an electrified manufacturing platform for domestic production of biomass-derived foundational chemicals and high-value chemical intermediates. The company’s electrochemical process intensifies chemical manufacturing by converting renewable feedstocks into strategic chemicals with improved production efficiency, lower manufacturing costs, and reduced environmental impacts. Its first product, gamma-valerolactone (GVL), is a bio-advantaged dipolar aprotic solvent and versatile platform chemical that can replace imported petrochemical solvents while serving as a precursor to advanced materials, polymers, fuels, and specialty chemicals. Ecovaleric’s modular manufacturing technology strengthens U.S. chemical supply chains by enabling scalable, distributed production of strategically important chemicals from domestic biomass resources. |
| CO |
| | Saint-Gobain NorPro | Marissa Reigel | Director of R&D |
Large Business
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Bioenergy
| catalyst carriers | Saint-Gobain NorPro specializes in engineering catalyst carriers that enable a variety of applications including biofuels and other chemical processes. We are the largest supplier of merchant catalyst carriers in the world. It’s not products, but solutions, that our customers have come to expect. We have a profound understanding of catalysis and catalytic applications and a definitive knowledge of catalyst carriers. We deliver products that deliver improved Catalysts with ever improved Selectivity, Activity and Extended Life.
We have a co-development model with our partners/customers that allows tailoring of surface area, porosity, surface acidity, and mechanical properties. While our products are generally loaded with a catalyst, our products can be used as the catalyst itself depending on surface chemistry and other properties. We have hydrothermally stable carriers that are essential for many bioenergy processes.
We can make alumina, zirconia, silica, and many other ceramic carriers in a variety of shapes and sizes for static bed, fluidized bed, or other reactor types. If a unique ceramic is needed, we can discuss how we can shape it for the specific need. In addition to the catalyst carriers, we provide filtration media to clean the feed stream as well as inert bed support and bed topping media. |
| OH |
| | Shale Land and Mineral LLC | David P. Cercone | Professional Geologist / NOFO Advisor |
Individual
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Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
| Rare Earth Elements and Critical Minerals | DOE NOFO Expert: I am a Pennsylvania licensed geologist that has worked in a myriad of industries/roles including academia (Penn State), coal mining (CONSOL Energy), oil and gas (CNX Gas) and most recently the US DOE as a Federal Project Manager (Retired). I have been a coal mine hydrogeologist and developed new and innovative water control systems underground and at refuse disposal areas. Due to restrictions imposed on recent retirees from government service, I am only allowed to work in an advisory capacity on NOFO applications. I wish to assist applicants for Federal Financial Assistance by reviewing applications and advising them on the complete NOFO process so that technologies that I feel are going to advance American interests succeed in the scoring process. I have been involved in every technical aspect of the NOFO process that was in place during my federal employment including concept development, merit review chairperson, scoring evaluator and award negotiations. I am available to advise your organization in many of the aspects of preparing an application package as long as it is compliant with my status as a federal retiree.
My company is fully registered as a US DOE eligible applicant.
If your organization has never submitted an application, there are several steps that need to be taken well ahead of the submission deadline. Time must be allocated to these pre-application steps so that when final application documents are to be uploaded there are no surprises to the applicant or the DOE. Heed the advice of DOE that final application documents should be uploaded well in advance of the submittal date and time. There is a hard, clock-determined rigid shutoff time for uploading final documents. In the best-case scenario expect an upload time of 40 minutes for your documents. |
| PA |
| | University of Connecticut | Jeffrey McCutcheon | Professor |
Academic
|
Bioenergy
| Separations | Membrane separations (Gas, liquid, ions) - The Connecticut Center for Applied Separations Technology offers comprehensive membrane testing and characterization capabilities for liquid, gas, and electro membrane processes. |
| CT |
| | Biosortia, Inc | Ross Youngs | CEO |
Small Business
|
Bioenergy
| Topic Area 1 (Bench-Scale Process Intensification) | Organization Profile-Biosortia is an advanced biotechnology company operating a proprietary Microbiome Mining factory capable of processing complex, wild microbial and algal biomass into high-value chemical products. Backed by previous ARPA-E validation ($6M award) for our aquatic harvesting technology, Biosortia has established a zero-input, environmentally remediating supply chain. We specialize in isolating bulk commodities and ultra-rare specialty chemicals from domestic eutrophic waters, transforming ecological liabilities into secure alternative feedstocks for U.S. chemical manufacturing.
Core Capabilities & Technology Biosortia’s core innovation lies in our physical, multi-level extraction and high-resolution fractionation platform. Currently operating at a physical baseline of 1 kg dry weight per 20-day cycle, our facility processes wild biomass harvested from inland Ohio lakes and the Great Lakes. Our unit operations execute sequential liquid-liquid and mechanical separations to resolve complex biological matrices into three distinct product streams: bulk industrial lipids, functional proteins, and highly complex small molecules.
Crucially, Biosortia employs a techno-economic "value plug" model to overcome the "valley of death" in bio-commodity scale-up. Because bulk lipid extraction is economically prohibitive at early bench scales (~$100k/ton), we leverage our high-resolution pipeline to isolate and commercialize ultra-rare small molecules as highly characterized analytical standards and research data. This high-margin revenue subsidizes the processing of bulk biomass, providing immediate commercial viability while unit operations are intensified to drive down overall per-ton processing costs.
ASPECT Topic Area 1 (Bench-Scale Process Intensification). We offer our physical extraction pipeline and direct feedstock access as a foundational baseline for engineering partners to optimize, automate, and scale. Our milestone is to reduce current processing costs by >50%, bridging the gap toward continuous pre-piloting.
Teaming Opportunities What Biosortia Provides to a Team: A continuous, zero-input domestic alternative feedstock (wild eutrophic microbial biomass) that actively remediates U.S. waterways; a functional bench-scale multi-level extraction and fractionation facility ready for process intensification; a validated commercialization pathway that immediately monetizes high-value rare molecules to subsidize bulk commodity production. |
| OH |
| | Johnston Engineering | Andy Johnston | President, Principal Engineer |
Small Business
|
Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
| Topic Areas 1 and 2 | Johnston Engineering (JE) is a mechanical engineering firm specializing in mechanical design, analysis, integration, build, and testing of first-of-a-kind systems, equipment, and machines. In operation since 2015, JE brings over 300 years of combined experience across 20 engineers with specialized expertise in product development and advanced engineering solutions. Our experience spans multiple industries, with a primary focus on energy and clean technology, including projects in carbon capture, hydrogen, nuclear, and energy storage. In addition, we support work in circular materials, chemicals and refining, industrial machinery and equipment, aerospace, consumer electronics, and biotechnology.
Johnston Engineering's advantage is an “Analysis-Driven Design” approach, meaning that we have a closely integrated mechanical design with physics-based simulations of thermal, structural, and fluid-flow analysis to optimize and validate designs before anything gets built – ensuring product performance and avoiding part failures. Utilizing SolidWorks 3D CAD and ANSYS analysis software, we excel in component modeling, analysis, and system integration. Our expertise includes performing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Thermal and Structural Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to simulate the performance of mechanical hardware systems, considering forces, pressures, torques, temperature, and flow geometry. We then iterate design and analysis simulations until desired performance outcomes are achieved leading to successful hardware development and testing.
Johnston Engineering President, Andy Johnston, P.E., leads the team and provides subject matter expertise in structural, thermal, and fluid analysis with over 20 years of experience in clean energy, military, and aerospace research, design, analysis, build, and testing of first-of-a-kind systems. Johnston Engineering has completed over 150 projects, designing custom components and full systems, including containerized Direct Air Capture (DAC) and Point Source Carbon Capture systems, hydrogen systems, advanced nuclear, circular materials, and Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES). Our clients include National Labs as well as small and large companies working on research, development and commercialization of their innovative technologies. |
| WA |
| | Czero | Guy Babbitt | CEO |
Small Business
|
Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
| | Czero is a hardtech systems integrator providing advanced engineering services and contract R&D for complex energy technologies. Founded in 2007, we have completed 450+ projects spanning mechanical design, modeling & simulation, control systems and software, prototype fabrication, and structured testing—bringing integrated, end-to-end execution from concept through validated hardware. Czero has been involved in over a dozen ARPA-E projects.
Interest in DOE ASPECT Program:
We are interested in taking a support role in projects developing emerging chemical production technologies through analysis-led engineering, design, prototype development, and systems integration. We have a long track record of supporting a wide variety of technologies in the energy space, including chemical reactors and electrochemical systems, through the core technical capabilities listed below. Czero often takes responsibility for balance of plant, allowing the prime to focus on their core chemistry or process expertise.
Core Technical Capabilities
Modeling & Simulation: Physics-based and multi-physics simulation, including MATLAB/Simulink dynamic system modeling; process modeling; reacting flow and mass transfer modeling; FEA; CFD; thermodynamic analysis; heat transfer; and custom tool development.
Control Systems: Embedded and industrial controls; model-based control design; hardware integration; instrumentation, sensor integration, and data acquisition; real-time implementation and hardware-in-the-loop.
Prototype Build & Test: In-house machining and fabrication to build reactor and process prototypes and test hardware; controls panel build capability; custom test system design; instrumentation; structured test protocols with clear documentation.
Systems Integration: Cross-disciplinary coordination across mechanical, electrical, controls, and test domains, including balance-of-plant integration for reactor and stack-based systems.
Collaboration Model: We support teams, scaling from discrete workscopes (modeling, controls, test system design) to integrated full scale design-build-test programs with close collaboration across partner organizations. |
| CO |
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