Baton Rouge-based climate tech startup Encore CO2 announced it was recently awarded a Small Business Innovative Research SBIR grant from the National Science Foundation.
The $275,000 grant will support electrolytic conversion of carbon dioxide, or CO2.
The company’s electrolyzer technology transforms CO2 and water into ethanol or vinegar.
Ethanol can be used for fuels, disinfectants and other products, including liquor. Vinegar can be used as a feedstock for microorganisms that further convert it into proteins or medicines. Many global emissions are associated with food production and pharmaceutical manufacturing.
“Food and medicine are essential for life, but we can do better when it comes to how we produce them,” says Encore co-founder William McGehee.
Encore’s technology stems from research conducted at LSU. Carbon dioxide conversion, or utilization, aims to recycle CO2 and use it as a feedstock for making other carbon-based products. Utilization is an alternative to underground sequestration and can use CO2 captured directly from the air.
Encore intends to introduce new products like the Electra brand of hard seltzers within the next year with funds from the grant. The seltzers are an example of a sustainable product made from CO2. McGehee believes that proteins and medicines are not far behind.
McGehee co-founded Encore CO in 2022 and has owned Doug Olinde Event Rentals since 2017, according to his LinkedIn profile. McGehee owned Tin Roof Brewing Co. until he and fellow owners Chris Boyce and Cammy McGehee relinquished ownership and put the business up for sale in October. William McGehee was a Business Report “Forty Under 40” honoree in 2018.
