8 June, 2026 16:31:04 IST 
US non-profit research institute, RTI International, and North Carolina-based bioprocessing company, CarbonBridge, have signed a memorandum of understanding to demonstrate CarbonBridge’s stackable bioreactor system, which converts gases such as methane and carbon dioxide into chemicals and fuels using microbes.
The demonstrations will be conducted at RTI’s ‘Pilot Xcelerator’ (RPX) energy innovation facility in Research Triangle Park (North Carolina). RTI will design, build, and operate automated technology validations using scalable architectures, with testing periods planned for 2027. The initial focus will be methanol production from methane, generating third-party performance data to support scale-up and commercialisation decisions.
“This collaboration is a great example of how RTI helps partners move promising technologies from concept to commercialisation,” said RTI’s Sameer Parvathikar, Program Director of RPX.
Mr. Manu Pillai, co–founder and CEO of CarbonBridge, added, “As we look to scale and prove out our technology, it is extremely important to partner with the right people. Our technology is highly innovative — combining biology, material science, fluid engineering, and software architecture — to truly accomplish a bioindustrial revolution with the support of RTI and all their resources. This pilot will pave the way for scaleups at farms and wastewater plants, in addition to future demonstrations of other microbe-enabled gas-to-value pathways.”
CarbonBridge is an awardee under the US Department of Energy’s ARPA-E programme.
