P2 Science Wins $2.8 Million ARPA-E Grant to Accelerate AI-Driven Catalyst Discovery

New updates have been reported about P2 Science.

P2 Science has secured $2.8 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E CATALCHEM-E program to accelerate development of industrial catalysts for fuels and chemicals using AI and high-throughput experimentation. The award positions P2 at the center of an initiative that aims to compress catalyst development timelines from roughly a decade to about one year by integrating machine learning, robotics, and automated discovery workflows.

Under the HEAT FACTORY project, P2 will focus on catalysts that convert plant-based feedstocks, including oils and resins from pine trees and citrus waste, into high-performance liquid fuels compatible with existing engines, notably in aviation. The company plans to deploy an automated system that can rapidly screen thousands of catalyst candidates under milder, more efficient reaction conditions, targeting pathways that support scalable, low-carbon fuels and chemicals.

P2 will contribute its expertise in process-intensified conversion of renewable feedstocks and proprietary catalytic processes, while collaborating with The Matter Lab on AI- and ML-driven materials discovery and with The National Labs of the Rockies on advanced computational reaction modeling. This combination is expected to yield a step-change in the speed and quality of catalyst validation for biorenewable transformations, with direct implications for future commercial product pipelines in fuels and specialty chemicals.

Co-founder and President Patrick Foley stated that efficient, low-energy conversion of renewable feedstocks has historically been complex and slow, and argued that AI-guided, autonomous experimentation can fundamentally reset this paradigm. For P2, the project not only brings non-dilutive federal capital but also deepens its technology stack in data-driven R&D, which could enhance margins and shorten time-to-market for future offerings in personal care, flavor and fragrance, and performance materials.

Strategically, this award aligns P2 with federal decarbonization objectives and could strengthen its positioning as a partner for brands and industrial customers seeking low-carbon, bio-based inputs. If successful, HEAT FACTORY’s techniques and catalysts may be leveraged beyond fuels into broader specialty chemical applications, expanding P2’s addressable market and supporting long-term growth as demand for sustainable feedstocks and emissions reductions intensifies toward 2050 targets.