Natural Gas-to-Liquid Fuels Startup Siluria Shows Off its Tech
Siluria CEO Ed Dineen on bringing his company’s innovative process to market.
On Thursday, energy startup Siluria debuted its innovative process for converting natural gas to gasoline.
The San Francisco-based startup hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its Hayward, Calif. research and development facility. Until now, Siluria has kept its unique technology closely under wraps.
CEO Ed Dineen says the event marks the beginning of the final step in Siluria’s march toward commercialization. Siluria is also working on opening a larger plant in LaPorte, Texas, to hopefully replicate its success on a grander scale.
“By early next year, we feel we’ll have verified all of the data that we would need to build a commercial facility,” says Dineen. From then, Dineen says it will take roughly two years to build a commercial plant and bring Siluria’s technology to consumers.
Dineen says the startup’s technology down the road could significantly reduce fuel costs at the pump.
“Natural gas is a resource that is in limited use, meaning we only burn it today,” says Dineen. “But we could use this technology to build it into more viable products like gasoline or diesel, so that should mean cost relief for the consumers.” Dineen says Siluria’s operating costs come in at about half of those of conventional oil companies.
Siluria has raised a total of $63 million in funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and ARCH Venture Partners, among others.