Inertial, a participant in Cohort 2 of Resurgence, has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant to further develop its carbon capture technology as it prepares for a pre-seed funding round. The startup’s innovative process captures water and carbon dioxide from industrial exhaust using supersonic inertial separation to freeze these elements out of the gases. This scalable technology is designed to handle large volumes of exhaust from power plants, effectively capturing significant amounts of CO2 and water.
Alec Houpt, the founder and CEO of Inertial, highlighted that the STTR award underscores the credibility of their scientific innovation, having passed multiple reviews by the NSF. This non-dilutive funding will advance their supersonic approach to capturing water and carbon dioxide. The STTR program fosters the commercialization of technologies through collaboration between small businesses and research institutions. Inertial’s grant was awarded in partnership with the University of Notre Dame, Houpt’s graduate school alma mater.
The funds will optimize the axisymmetric nozzle and separation process through an iterative design-build-test methodology. The grant is shared equally between Inertial and the university, providing access to Notre Dame’s advanced experimental facilities. Since joining the Resurgence program, Inertial has integrated into Chicago’s cleantech ecosystem, establishing its headquarters at mHUB in Fulton Market, contracting Cooley LLP for legal needs, filing a provisional patent, and participating as a finalist in the West Gate LEEP program at the National Renewable Energy Lab.
Building on this momentum, Inertial is launching a pre-seed SAFE round to prepare for potential Phase II NSF funding and to secure a pilot partner for real-world demonstration of its technology.
