Congratulations to OCOchem on being named a finalist for the

2026 Emerging Company Award 

OCOchem is commercializing patented, modular electrochemical technology that converts CO2, water, and renewable electricity into formate — an organic platform molecule replacing petrochemical-derived and problematic chemical feedstocks in fuels, chemicals, feed, and liquid hydrogen carriers, at a fraction of fossil-based costs. Its modular, load-following design enables rapid, cost-effective deployment at any industrial facility with CO2 emissions.

Formate is emerging as the key bridge molecule between atoms and energy: a next-generation abiotic feedstock for fermentation, a liquid syngas carrier, and a safer, more ecological replacement for chloride compounds and inorganic acids that damage freshwater and land.

Since opening its R&D lab in Richland, Washington in 2020, OCOchem has scaled its Carbon FluX Electrolyzer 1,500x to industrial scale (15,000 cm2 cells), quadrupled cathode performance, earned 19 patents, and built and commissioned a 60 ton/year pilot plant. OCOchem has signed a production partnership with Fortune 50 partner ADM to build its first commercial plant at the world's largest bioethanol refinery in Decatur, Illinois.

OCOchem was named 2026 CO2 Utilization Innovation of the Year by the Nova Institute and selected as one of 16 winners (from 660 applicants) in the 2026 Carbon X program — the only startup in the world honored in both.

Hear from the CEO and Co-Founder, Todd Brix. 

Tell us about your company and its mission. 

OCOchem's mission is to make useful chemicals more affordably from CO2 than from fossil fuels — essentially industrializing what plants already do, but with modern electrochemistry instead of photosynthesis. Every molecule we make this way doesn't just remove CO2; it displaces a fossil-made molecule and, with it, all the associated emissions embedded in extracting, processing, and transporting the fossil alternative.  Our motto is to “Use, not Waste, CO2”

What milestone or accomplishment are you most proud of so far?

  Our most significant accomplishment is designing, building, commissioning and operating our integrated pilot plant using 4 of the world’s largest 15,000cm2 Carbon FluX electrolyzer cells on April 8, 2025, as this massive achievement put together all process pieces, used industrial scale and sized components, was entirely modular and factory-fabricated and worked exceptionally well with in days of installation.  For this achievement, OCOchem was named as one of the Top 3 2026 CO2 Utilization Innovations of the Year by Nova Institute’s CO2 to Chemicals and Fuels, and was selected as one of 16 winners (from 660 applicants) in the 2026 Carbon X program — the only company in the world so honored in both global competitions.

What impact do you hope your company will have on the future of clean technology? 

OCOchem’s technology will enable communities and companies to make their own organic chemicals and fuels safely and more affordably from just from their own CO2, water and electricity without high temperature or pressure operations.  This enables the world to make shorter, more local, and more resilient supply chains, reduce the cost, emissions and traffic of moving bulk organic materials around, reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use, and  conserve and regenerate more land, water and wildlife resources which are otherwise needed to make biochemicals and biofuels

What are your goals or priorities for the next few years? 

OCOchem’s near term goal is to finish building and operating our first commercial plant at ADM’s Decatur bioproducts complex which will include multiple 50 Carbon FluX Electrolyzer cells.  By doing so we will have demonstrated the technology’s technical maturity, field-worthiness, and commercial promise to enable rapid scale-out across many more facilities in the USA and then all over the world.

Is there anything else you'd like the CleanTech Alliance community to know about your company? 

OCOchem is grateful for receiving important financial support from the Washington State Department of Commerce (Clean Energy Fund 4), The Centralia Coal Transition Fund (CCTF), the US Department of Energy, ARPA-E, and the US Army Research Office that helped OCOchem advance its mission and technology and attract much more private capital.   OCOchem was co-founded by a father-son chemical engineering team:  Terry Brix, a Montana-born 38-year green chemistry serial entrepreneur in the Pacific Northwest who founded 18 green chemistry companies and started his career at PNNL in Richland; and Todd Brix, his son, who was born in Richland, WA and raised in Washington state, graduated from the University of Washington in Chemical Engineering, and, before starting OCOchem in 2018, was a general manager at Microsoft as a leader in connecting smart devices to the cloud in IOT, Windows Embedded, app development and industrial automation.

Join us in celebrating OCOchem and the other finalists at the CleanTech Awards on December 10th in Downtown Seattle 

Register Here