Alchemity Receives Build our Future Award from Governor Moore

(Maryland Energy Innovation Institute) On June 8, 2026, Governor Wes Moore announced that the Maryland Department of Commerce has awarded 11 grants totaling nearly $7 million through the Build Our Future Grant Program. The recipients represent projects that will support innovation infrastructure development in eligible technology sectors.

In his press release, Governor Moore said, “Building a stronger, more competitive Maryland economy requires strategic investment in the businesses and industries that will drive growth in the coming years. Once again, we’re deploying Build Our Future grants to support advances in clean energy, biotechnology, medtech, aerospace, robotics and more. This is an important part of how Maryland will win the decade.”

The Build Our Future Grant Program, part of the Governor’s Innovation Economy Infrastructure Act of 2023 provides grants of up to $2 million to private companies, nonprofit entities, local governments, as well as colleges and universities. Eligible industry sectors include advanced manufacturing, aerospace, agriculture, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, blue technology, cybersecurity, defense, energy and sustainability, life sciences, quantum, and sensors and robotics.

Alchemity, a Maryland Energy Innovation Institute (MEI2) startup, is receiving $200K to support system development to transform waste biogas (methane and CO2) into sustainable liquid fuels while demonstrating emissions reductions, fuel quality, and operational reliability. The fundamental core technology developed by MEI2 Director Eric Wachsman at the University of Maryland and the University of Florida was licensed by Alchemity and is now being independently scaled into a modular reactor system. The modular reactor system allows for distributed conversion of waste or stranded gas into drop-in liquid fuels and commodity chemicals via a single process step at price parity, and without CO2 emission.

Taking a breakthrough technology from the lab to the marketplace is one of the most challenging undertakings in industry. It requires far more than scientific innovation—it demands the right team, engineering expertise, commercialization experience, and determination to scale a promising concept into a real-world solution. Alchemity assembled an experienced team to transform a promising membrane reactor technology from decades of academic research and validation into a scalable commercial solution while refining the core technology and its performance, scaling while designing for manufacturability, and preparing it for market deployment. “The Build Our Future Grant is helping accelerate that journey, bringing us closer to deploying our first demonstration unit and commercializing a transformative platform for low-cost distributed fuel production,” said Dr. Emir Dogdibegovic, Alchemity’s CTO and CCO.

Building a stronger, more competitive Maryland economy requires strategic investment in the businesses and industries that will drive growth in the coming years.

Since launching the program, the Maryland Department of Commerce has awarded 32 recipients with nearly $23 million in Build Our Future grant funding. Previous MEI2 companies to receive a Build Our Future award include ION Storage Systems, InventWood and Liatris.

Wachsman noted, “The Build Our Future grant program provides critical innovation infrastructure funding that has helped multiple MEI2 companies to build and grow in Maryland. I’m thankful to the Governor for his vision on this not only in my role at director of MEI2 but as a company founder receiving these awards.”

Excerpt from Maryland Clean Energy Center: The Maryland Energy Innovation Accelerator (MEIA), a program of the Maryland Clean Energy Center, today (July 10, 2026) announced a $100,000 investment from the Climate Technology Founders Fund into Alchemity. This funding will support the deployment and operation of a pilot-scale clean energy system in Maryland, representing a pivotal milestone in the commercialization of Alchemity’s modular technology designed to convert waste methane into high-value renewable fuels and chemicals.

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 addresses these barriers using a proprietary ceramic membrane reactor that enables a modular, single-step conversion process. Deployed directly at the point of gas production, this technology transforms waste methane into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), renewable diesel, and other valuable products, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions while optimizing local resource utilization.

“MEIA is making the commitment to invest in Alchemity as they take this critical step toward commercial scale,” said Ben Margolis, Director of MEIA. “By launching this pilot clean energy system in Maryland, Alchemity is proving that we can transform an environmental liability like waste methane into an economic asset for our farms and landfills. This project perfectly aligns with our mission to back investible, high-impact climate tech companies that generate skilled local jobs while accelerating Maryland’s transition to a clean energy economy.”

“This investment allows Alchemity to validate technical performance at a meaningful scale and reduce commercialization risk by increasing the technology readiness and gathering crucial system operational data,” said Emir Dogdibegovic, Co-Founder and CEO. “We thank the investors for their support and looking forward to putting our heads down and executing on the proposed efforts”, he added.

The project is poised to deliver measurable environmental, economic, and financial impacts for Maryland:

This pilot deployment underscores the commitment of MEIA to fostering cutting-edge climate tech breakthroughs that advance Maryland’s positioning as a leader in the clean energy economy. READ MORE