Chemicals made on site

Stop shipping chemicals.
Ship the plant.

Small electrochemical plants that make chemicals on purpose, on site.

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The problem

The chemical supply chain was built for cheap.
Now it isn’t certain.

Chemicals are made in a few giant plants, far from where they are used. When freight, energy or trade shifts, buyers have no alternative. A new plant takes ten years to build.

3xOcean freight, in a year
+76%Oil, December 2025 to May 2026
4-year highSupply chain stress, in one quarter
10 yearsTo build a conventional chemical plant

Sources: Drewry World Container Index, U.S. EIA, New York Fed Global Supply Chain Pressure Index, Oil and Gas Journal.

The solution

A chemical plant in a container,
where the feedstock and the buyer already are.

  • 01

    Room temperature, water-based, electricity is the only utility.

  • 02

    One standard design. A bigger site gets more units, not a bigger plant.

  • 03

    Runs on low-value local feedstock.

A single UpcycleX container unit with one side open, showing the process vessels and piping inside
The unitOne standard container, installed at an existing site.
Who it is for

Made where it is used.

Chemical distributors

A local source for what you sell.

The products you sell, made near you, without ocean freight or long lead times.

PET recyclers

More from the PET you already have.

Turn PET into chemicals with a market of their own, at your site.

Buy the product or host a unit. We work both ways.

Technology

One cell. Room temperature.
No precious metals.

Our electrochemical cell turns low-value feedstock into industrial chemicals, in water, at ambient temperature and pressure. The catalyst uses no platinum, iridium or gold. Identical cells are stacked to build a unit, so a larger plant is more of the same cell.

Electricity is the only utility
Runs on low-value local feedstock
Scales by adding cells
Electricity Feedstock Chemicals Hydrogen ONE CELL · IDENTICAL CELLS ARE STACKED
Room temperature · no precious metals
Team

An MIT and Harvard team.

Wanghee Lee

Wanghee Lee, Ph.D.

Founder and CEO

Former MIT postdoc. The technology grew out of his Ph.D. work.

Junyeob Moon

Junyeob Moon

Co-Founder and CSO

Leads the chemistry, catalyst and separations. Harvard Ph.D. candidate in electrodialysis and separations.

Insu Hwang

Insu Hwang, Ph.D.

Founding Engineer

Electrochemical engineer.

Kyumin Lee

Kyumin Lee

Founding Scientist

Harvard Ph.D. candidate in electrochemistry.

Advisors
  • Zachary SchifferHarvard SEAS
  • J.D. LindebergRRS
  • Scott HineCapital Biotics
  • Raj KasulaAxcel AgriNutrition
  • Jinsu HongPurdue
Contact

Chemicals made on site.

For partnerships, pilots and careers.

Cambridge, Massachusetts