From CO₂ to Carbon Fiber: Baton Rouge Startup Breaks Petrochemical Chain

BATON ROUGE, La. — Shifting a technical innovation out of the lab and onto a commercial stage requires rigorous market validation. Baton Rouge startup Renovigo LLC is tackling this challenge head-on by aiming to upend the carbon fiber industry and end its historical reliance on volatile oil and natural gas feedstocks.

Renovigo’s proprietary process utilizes carbon dioxide emissions, water, ammonia, and electricity to synthesize acrylonitrile, a critical chemical intermediate used in carbon fiber, plastics, and synthetic rubber. By replacing decades-old petroleum methods, Renovigo creates unprecedented price and supply stability. Even better, the carbon-negative process sequesters five tons of CO₂ for every single ton of acrylonitrile produced.

This infrastructure-scale environmental impact recently helped Renovigo secure a $200,000 proof-of-concept grant from the Future Use of Energy in Louisiana (FUEL) program, an LSU-led partnership focused on global energy innovation.

The Journey to a Scalable Process
CEO Jeremiah Piper’s fascination with carbon fiber began in 2018 during a prosthetic design class at Louisiana Tech University. Intrigued by why this high-strength material remained prohibitively expensive, he traced the global supply chain back to a built-in propylene shortage.

Determined to fix the bottleneck, Piper spent months analyzing over 100 industry reports. A breakthrough came when Dr. John Pojman, the former Chairman of the LSU Chemistry Department, introduced him to electrochemical reduction, providing the scientific foundation to launch Renovigo in 2021.

To turn his research into a scalable industrial engineering model, Piper utilized LinkedIn to build an expert team: Chief Operating Officer David Turner, chemical industry consultant Roy Anderman Jr., and Chief Science Officer Molly Adams, who mapped the chemical processes using specialized engineering software.

De-Risking Deep Tech with LSU and the LSBDC
To transition from a brilliant technical concept to a viable commercial business, Piper turned to LSU Innovation Park’s EDA BRIDGE program. Under the mentorship of Jason Boudreaux, associate director of entrepreneurial services, Piper connected with vital resources at the Louisiana Small Business Development Center (LSBDC) at LSU.

The program’s rigorous focus on customer discovery proved essential for navigating a market dominated by multibillion-dollar corporations. Boudreaux and financial mentor Roy Anderman Jr. helped Renovigo develop its first techno-economic analysis (TEA), combining technical modeling and financial projections to prove to early-stage investors that the technology is highly economical.

“The LSBDC and LSU Innovation Park have been integral to getting us this far,” Piper emphasized.

“Renovigo is exactly the kind of deep technology we exist to support,” Boudreaux said. “Sequestering five tons of CO₂ per ton of product is a fundamental reimagining of an industrial process. Programs like the EDA BRIDGE customer discovery framework and the LSBDC exist to de-risk these transformative ventures so they don’t die in the lab.”

Piper also worked with pitch coach Abbey Kish through EDA BRIDGE funding to successfully translate his technical presentation into a compelling, investor-ready business case.

Scaling Toward a Pilot Plant
Renovigo is currently finalizing its design specifications for a pilot facility, which is estimated to cost approximately $10 million to construct, supported by the initial $200,000 FUEL grant. Concurrently, the company is raising a seed round of $2 million to $4 million to produce laboratory-scale acrylonitrile samples for prospective industry partners.

While a commercial, full-scale facility will take a few years to realize at an estimated cost of $200 million, the validation and institutional support Renovigo has received have accelerated its momentum.

“The interest we’ve drawn has helped us clearly define our next steps,” Piper said. “We’re already capturing serious attention from potential investors and strategic partners far and wide.”