Alchemity, a UMD startup, is backed by Blackbird Laboratories, Chesapeake Bay Seed Capital Fund, Discovery Fund, District Angels, Maryland Momentum Fund, Maryland Energy Innovation Accelerator through the Climate Technology Founders Fund, Resilient Earth Capital, and TEDCO Seed Fund.

The company’s core technology, developed by Dr. Eric Wachsman, UMD Distinguished University Professor and Director of the Maryland Energy Innoavation Institute (MEI2), and recognized with a Shell GameChanger Award, was exclusively licensed to Alchemity from the University of Maryland and the University of Florida. Having already achieved technical validation, Alchemity is now advancing toward a pilot-scale demonstration of its sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) reactor—a critical milestone in commercializing its modular platform for converting waste and stranded gases, including methane and CO₂, into high-value fuels and chemicals. The company’s long-term vision is to provide distributed fuel security while achieving cost parity with conventional fuels.

Bio-methane emissions and the underutilization of renewable gas resources pose significant environmental and economic challenges. Traditional methods used to capture and process biogas and landfill gas are frequently cost-prohibitive, inefficient, and carbon-intensive. Alchemity uses a proprietary thermos-catalytic membrane reactor that enables a modular, single-step conversion process. Deployed directly at the point of gas production, this technology transforms waste or stranded bio-methane and CO2 into low-carbon fuels including SAF, renewable diesel, and other valuable products, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions while optimizing local resource utilization.

Alchemity recently graduated from the Creative Destruction Lab  and received a Build Our Future Grant Award from Maryland Department of Commerce. Alchemity is poised to deliver measurable environmental, economic, and financial impacts for the state of Maryland and beyond:

• Environmental benefits: By converting waste biogas into low-carbon fuels, the technology directly mitigates localized methane emissions. Each subsequent commercial-scale system is projected to avoid tens of thousands of tons of CO2 annually through active methane mitigation and the displacement of traditional fossil fuels.
   
• Economic and job growth: The expansion supports Maryland-based job creation across high-skilled sectors, including engineering, manufacturing, skid assembly, field operations, and project development. Early commercial growth is expected to create dozens of skilled jobs within the state.
   
• Financial Value Creation: The single-step waste gas to liquid fuel conversion process turns an environmental liability into a marketplace asset. By converting waste methane and CO2 streams into marketable fuels and chemicals, the technology introduces lucrative new revenue opportunities for Maryland farms, wastewater treatment facilities, and landfill operators.

As Alchemity advances toward commercialization, the company expects to deliver significant benefits across environmental, economic, and industrial sectors. By converting waste methane into low-carbon fuels, each commercial-scale system has the potential to prevent tens of thousands of tons of carbon emissions annually while creating skilled jobs in engineering, manufacturing, field operations, and project development. The technology also opens new revenue opportunities for farms, wastewater treatment facilities, and landfill operators by converting waste gas streams into marketable fuels and chemicals.

With growing demand for sustainable fuels and increasing pressure to reduce methane emissions, Alchemity is positioning itself at the intersection of climate impact, energy security, and economic growth.

Alchemity’s patented reactor, which utilizes technology developed by and licensed from UMCP, is the most recent success from the university’s patent portfolio. Together with other schools in the University System of Maryland, UMCP ranks eighth among U.S. public institutions for turning research and discoveries into patents, according to the National Academy of Inventors’ Top 100 Worldwide Universities Granted U.S. Utility Patents 2024 report.