YC Companies/Summer 2026/Rise Reforming
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Rise Reforming

We turn waste gases into valuable supply-secure chemicals

Summer 2026Industrials / Industrials -> ClimateChicago, IL, USA4 employees
Hard Tech
Smart Waste Management
Alternative Fuels
Renewable Energy
ClimateTech

About

Geopolitical conflicts and natural disasters frequently expose the vulnerability of the American chemical industry. The reason? Production is centralized and fossil fuel-dependent. The solution? Localized production using an undervalued resource: biogas. The US produces enough biogas to make over $20 bn/y worth of chemicals, but 60% is wasted in low-margin applications or flared altogether. Rise Reforming is commercializing a modular process to transform this underutilized biogas on-site into cheap, supply-secure chemicals. Our beachhead market is dimethyl ether (DME), used as an aerosol propellant and a low-carbon fuel additive in propane. Our target market is methanol: an established billion $ chemical and the future of low-carbon shipping. We're doing our pilot project at a Chicagoland wastewater plant. This will be the first wastewater biogas-to-methanol demo in the Americas. We're hiring for a senior chemical process engineer. Apply here: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/rise-reforming/jobs/wJ9Q9nv-senior-chemical-process-engineer

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Founders (3)

George Rose
Co-Founder and CEO
Jona van Oord
Co-Founder & COO
Lucas Zubillaga
Co-Founder & CTO

Details

Status
Active
Stage
Early
Team Size
4
Regions
United States of America, America / Canada