# Rise Reforming

[Rise Reforming on Hacklab](https://hacklab.so/org/rise-reforming)

Startup · 3 people on Hacklab

## Links

- [Website](https://rise-reforming.com/home)
- [Y Combinator](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/rise-reforming)
- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/risereforming)

## About

<!-- hacklab:yc-profile -->

## YC company profile

We turn waste gases into supply-secure chemicals

Geopolitical conflicts and natural disasters frequently expose the vulnerability of the American chemical industry. The reason? Production is centralized and fossil fuel-dependent. The solution? Localized production using an undervalued resource: biogas. The US produces enough biogas to make over $20 bn/y worth of chemicals, but 60% is wasted in low-margin applications or flared altogether.

Rise Reforming is commercializing a modular process to transform this underutilized biogas on-site into cheap, supply-secure chemicals. Our beachhead market is dimethyl ether (DME), used as an aerosol propellant and a low-carbon fuel additive in propane. Our target market is methanol: an established billion $ chemical and the future of low-carbon shipping.

We're doing our pilot project at a Chicagoland wastewater plant. This will be the first wastewater biogas-to-methanol demo in the Americas.

We're hiring for a senior chemical process engineer. Apply here: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/rise-reforming/jobs/wJ9Q9nv-senior-chemical-process-engineer

- **YC batch:** Summer 2026
- **Founded:** 2024
- **Team size:** 4
- **Location:** Chicago, IL
- **Country:** US
- **Status:** Active
- **Industry:** Industrials
- **Stage:** Early
- **Tags:** Hard Tech, Smart Waste Management, Alternative Fuels, Renewable Energy, ClimateTech
- **YC partner:** Jared Friedman

## Founders

### George Rose — Founder/CEO

Co-founder and CEO at Rise Reforming (S26). Previously @ Nexamp, Highland Electric Fleets, Mantel Capture, GenH. Background in Molecular Engineering @ UChicago.

[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-rose25/)

### Lucas Zubillaga — Founder/CTO

Co-Founder & CTO at Rise Reforming (S26). Double B.Sc. in Molecular Engineering and Physics from the University of Chicago. Prev: nuclear waste management at Argonne National Laboratory, offshore wind at Avangrid/Iberdrola.

Led the design, procurement, construction, and operation of a bench-scale reforming unit with controls. 

Also have a Spotify playlist with 200k+ saves. Check it out at: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3rV2gyEKHxixpKa3IDQLvF?si=3458c33e03e84738&nd=1&dlsi=d0006826be884d

[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucaszubillagamaharg/)

### Jona van Oord — Founder/COO

Environmentalist turned engineer. Plan on spending the rest of my life building hardware to address the climate disaster :)

Co-Founder and COO @ Rise Reforming (S26), Molecular Engineering @ UChicago

[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonavanoord/)

[Source: Y Combinator](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/rise-reforming) · Retrieved 2026-11-02. Company information is self-reported on YC.

## Current staff

- [George Rose](https://hacklab.so/george-rose) — Founder/CEO (Present)
- [Jona van Oord](https://hacklab.so/jona-van-oord) — Founder/COO (Present)
- [Lucas Zubillaga](https://hacklab.so/lucas-zubillaga) — Founder/CTO (Present)