Emvolon is a spin-off from MIT that is dedicated to transforming engines from conventional vehicles into mini chemical plants to convert otherwise wasted resources into low-carbon fuels and chemicals. Specifically, the company is focused on flare avoidance.

Traditional gas-to-liquids plants rely on centralized, high-capex infrastructure. Emvolon’s modular units (40-ft containers) enable on-site conversion where methane is wasted, avoiding pipeline costs and unlocking stranded resources. Its methanol is a drop-in fuel for shipping.

Essentially, Emvolon converts standard diesel engines from cars and trucks into small compressors and chemical reactors by placing a catalyst in-cylinder.

At the core of Emvolon’s system is an off-the-shelf automotive engine that runs “fuel rich” with a higher ratio of fuel to air than what is needed for complete combustion. Instead of burning the methane in the gas to carbon dioxide and water, they partially burn it, or partially oxidize it, to carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which are the building blocks to synthesize a variety of chemicals.

The hydrogen and carbon monoxide are intermediate products used to synthesize different chemicals through further reactions. Those processing steps take place right next to the engine, which makes its own power. Each of Emvolon’s standalone systems fits within a 40-ft shipping container and can produce about 8 tons of methanol per day from 300,000 standard cubic feet of methane gas.

The Emvolon platform brings the manufacturing to the resource and adapts to it. The engine takes waste gas (flaring mainly, flare avoidance, but it can also target Biogas and probably LFG) to produce Syngas. This part of the technology has a TRL6, has been proven at scale and is ready for deployment to do chemical synthesis or power generation.

Emvolon has already built a system capable of producing up to six barrels of methanol a day in its 5,000 square-foot headquarters in Woburn, Massachusetts and is piloting in the field with Montauk in a landfill site.

• Build-Own-Operate (BOO) / Joint Ventures: partners with gas suppliers and commodity traders for offtake

• Service model

• Engine-Based Reactors: Repurposed automotive engines act as partial oxidation reactors, cutting CAPEX vs. custom chemical plants

• Self-Powered Systems: Generates own heat/power, eliminating external utilities

• Fuel Flexibility: Handles variable methane sources (landfill gas, flares, biogas) with tolerance for CO₂/N₂ impurities

• Flare gas mitigation: on-site conversion of stranded/flared gas into syngas/methanol, avoiding flaring
• Waste gas monetization
• Integration with hard-to-abate sectors, like shipping