Microwave Proppant converts low-value Permian field gas into ultra-lightweight carbon proppant and clean hydrogen — using microwave methane pyrolysis instead of combustion.
One feedstock, two revenue streams, zero process CO₂. We turn a basin-wide gas-takeaway problem into completion-grade proppant that keeps more fracture area open.
Associated gas — the "field gas" produced alongside oil — has outgrown regional pipeline takeaway. At the Waha hub, prices have repeatedly gone negative for record stretches: producers pay to get rid of gas, or flare it. Microwave Proppant places a reactor at the source and turns that liability into product.
Pipeline constraints have driven Permian gas below zero for record runs in 2026. Stranded molecules are a cost, not an asset — until they're converted on site.
Gas that can't be sold is often flared, wasting energy and drawing regulatory and ESG scrutiny across the basin.
The same operators completing wells need proppant. We convert their stranded gas into a completion input they can pump — closing the loop in-basin.
Permian gas has traded at negative prices for record consecutive-day stretches in 2026 amid pipeline bottlenecks. Feedstock that costs less than nothing is the foundation of our economics.
Built on microwave methane-pyrolysis technology pioneered by Aurora Hydrogen, our reactors use microwave energy to directly heat a fluidized bed of carbon particles. Methane flowed through the bed splits on the hot particle surfaces into hydrogen gas and solid carbon — with no combustion and no CO₂ from the reaction itself.
Stranded associated gas is taken at the wellsite or gathering point — no long-haul pipeline required.
Microwaves heat the carbon particles directly — efficient, electrified, and firing only where energy is needed.
Methane splits on hot particle surfaces. Fresh carbon deposits on existing particles, growing them to sand size.
Clean H₂ leaves as a zero-emission fuel — or feeds enhanced oil recovery and energy storage in depleted reservoirs.
Sand-sized carbon particles are handled like sand and pumped as ultra-lightweight proppant on new completions.
Conventional methane pyrolysis and steam-methane reforming rely on burning fuel and are CO₂-intensive. Microwave energy heats the carbon bed directly and electrically, avoiding combustion and keeping the carbon product clean and sand-sized rather than a fine, hard-to-handle powder.
Because the carbon grows to particles 100–1,000× larger than carbon black, it can be loaded, trucked, and pumped with the same equipment the industry already uses for aggregate and frac sand — no exotic handling infrastructure.
Every unit of field gas we process yields two saleable outputs. The solid carbon becomes ultra-lightweight proppant; the hydrogen becomes a clean fuel or an enhanced-oil-recovery agent.
A low-density, chemically inert proppant in the spirit of ExxonMobil's petcoke-derived proppant — but made from stranded field gas.
Produced without CO₂ from the reaction — a flexible molecule with two clear routes to value.
Peer-reviewed research on lightweight proppants in unconventional development points to a consistent theme: lower density means better transport, wider propped area, and more productive fractures. We deliver that performance from a feedstock our customers are currently paying to dispose of.
"Lightweight proppants in unconventional oil and natural gas development: A review" — Sustainable Materials and Technologies (2022).
"Hydrogen foam flooding for integrated oil recovery and clean energy storage in depleted reservoirs" — Journal of Cleaner Production (2024).
We site conversion where the gas is stranded and the wells are being completed — so molecules never have to leave the basin to create value.
Take low-value associated gas at the wellsite or gathering point in the Permian & Delaware.
Microwave pyrolysis splits methane into solid carbon and hydrogen — no combustion.
Ultra-lightweight carbon proppant delivered to completions; hydrogen to fuel or EOR.
Better-propped fractures and hydrogen EOR lift recovery — reinforcing the loop.
We're engaging Permian & Delaware operators for gas supply and proppant offtake, service companies for completions collaboration, and partners and investors backing on-site field-gas valorization.
General: info@microwaveproppant.com
Partnerships & offtake: partners@microwaveproppant.com
Phone: (000) 000-0000 · Midland, TX