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February 15, 2021 | Tom Ballard

Two of three participants in inaugural Halliburton Labs program have Tennessee ties

Two companies with ties to the Volunteer State are among the three selected to participate in the inaugural program offered by Halliburton Labs of Houston, TX.

Franklin-based Enexor BioEnergy and Momentum Technologies Inc., a licensee of technology from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), join OCO Inc. in the first cohort of the program that is part of global energy giant Halliburton Company. The three share a common purpose: advancing cleaner, more affordable energy, and that is clearly aligned well with the goals of the Halliburton Labs initiative.

“For decades, Halliburton has scaled engineered solutions for the global energy industry,” according to a statement on the website. “Simply put, we know that energy requires scale. We recognize that a clean energy future requires many new innovations at scale. That is why we are helping entrepreneurs solve the scientific, technical, and logistical challenges to drive cleaner, affordable energy in the 21st century.”

The focus of the program is on companies working on a disruptive technologies that are nearly market ready, funded (or fundraising), and have a strong team.

In the case of Enexor, the start-up has developed a patented bioenergy system that converts almost any organic, plastic or biomass waste, in any combination, into affordable, renewable power and thermal energy and provides the solution onsite. It was founded by Lee Jestings, and its Senior Vice President is Robert Grajewski, inaugural Executive Director of The Wond’ry at Vanderbilt University.

Dallas-based Momentum Technologies works with lithium battery recyclers and manufacturers to recover critical materials from waste for reuse. ORNL announced three licensing agreements with Momentum – this one in September 2016, a second one nine months later, and the most recent one last October.

OCO Inc., located in the Seattle, WA region, is focused on transforming transforms carbon dioxide, water, and zero carbon electricity into a hydrogen-rich platform chemical that can be used to make a wide variety of zero-carbon chemicals, materials, and fuels.

Halliburton Labs is a collaborative environment where entrepreneurs, academics, investors and industrial labs join to advance cleaner, affordable energy. Applications are now being accepted for the next cohort; they close in late April.


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