A small crowd, including representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy, gathered on a wide stretch of lawn on the CU Boulder campus to witness a one-of-kind technology demonstration-a laser device that could soon transform the oil and gas industry in the American West and keep potent greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere.
The event Friday morning marked a major milestone for LongPath Technologies, a Boulder-based company that was co-founded in 2018 by researchers from CU Boulder. This week, the DOE Loan Programs Office (LPO) finalized a $162.4 million loan package to LongPath.
It's the ultimate sentinel for the West: LongPath's laser-based quantum devices scan oil and gas facilities in real time, searching for small quantities of methane, the main component of natural gas, leaking into the air. Methane is a greenhouse gas that traps around 80 times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. When the device detects a leak, it automatically alerts the operator of the infrastructure so that they can fix the issue as quickly as possible.
Greg Rieker unveils a methane detection node made by LongPath Technologies. (Credit: Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder)
CU Boulder engineering professor Greg Rieker, CTO and co-founder of LongPath, explained that the technology is a win-win for Colorado and beyond. It will save companies money and help them to stop potentially harmful methane leaks.
"LongPath's current network has mitigated 4 billion cubic feet of emissions so far in 2024," said Rieker, professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering. "At full expansion under the DOE LPO loan, the number will be 80 times larger. It's a good feeling that this technology can help industry and our atmosphere at the same time."
Far-reaching technology
Among the dignitaries joining Rieker for the event were Jigar Shah, director of the DOE Loan Programs Office; Luis Ortiz, deputy director of the DOE Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E); Ian Dickinson, CEO of LongPath; and Massimo Ruzzene, vice chancellor for Research and Innovation and dean of the institutes at CU Boulder.
From Business Field on campus, Rieker revealed one of LongPath's methane detection nodes, which company engineers had installed that morning. This metal tower reaches more than 20 feet tall and is powered by a solar panel. Its laser beams can monitor the air over 1.6 miles-nearly to the Flatiron Mountains that were visible in the distance.
LongPath currently operates a network of such detectors covering nearly 350,000 acres in Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and several other states. With the new loan from the DOE, the company hopes to expand that network and ultimately eliminate greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to six million tons of carbon dioxide.
"The Department of Energy has been extraordinary at seeding grants to researchers for many decades to come with these great technologies. But in order to really have an impact you need to see the technology deployed at scale," Shah said. "With our loan, we're going to go from 1,000 square miles or less of coverage to over 20,000 square miles of coverage, which means that this will really be a mainstream solution for the oil and gas industry to help meet their low-leak methane commitments."
Out of Boulder
LongPath's journey is a uniquely Colorado story-and one that traces back to the 1990s and JILA, a joint research institute between CU Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Jan Hall, a physicist at JILA, and his colleagues initially developed frequency combs lasers to measure the extremely fast behavior of atoms. Traditional lasers typically shoot out beams of light in just one color, like red or green. But these powerful lasers can emit millions of colors of infrared radiation at the same time. Hall would later go on to win a Nobel Prize for his work in 2005.
Rieker, who began his career at NIST in 2012, joined a growing number of scientists who realized that frequency combs could also do a lot more. His research, for example, showed that this technology can identify molecules of methane in the air at concentrations of just a few parts per billion-a level of precision far beyond what other existing tools can accomplish.
Jigar Shah speaks to a crowd on the CU Boulder campus. (Credit: Patrick Campbell/CU Boulder)
To bring these lasers into the real world, the co-founders of LongPath, Rieker, Sean Coburn, Caroline Alden and Robbie Wright, raised a grant from the Department of Energy's ARPA-E agency and collaborated with Venture Partners at CU Boulder. Venture Partners assists researchers at the university in "translating their groundbreaking discoveries into new solutions, businesses and partnerships."
In its early days, LongPath's staff worked out of a rented space in the basement of the Engineering Center on campus.
"Bringing a fundamentally disruptive technology like the frequency comb to an impactful, real-world application demonstrates incredible commitment, creativity and drive," said Bryn Rees, associate vice chancellor for research and innovation and managing director of Venture Partners. "The team at Longpath Technologies has exhibited all those traits and has realized the potential to curb emissions and create economic growth. Professor Rieker and his team leveraged many of the entrepreneurial resources that make CU Boulder a destination of choice for translating discoveries into innovation."
LongPath expanded beyond ARPA-E support to raise a $30 million Series A from investors, including the Buff Gold Venture fund. With these funds, the company has created a solar-powered version of the methane detecting system that is easy to install and costs less than the original model. The company opened field offices in Colorado and Texas that have allowed the monitoring network to expand rapidly.
Quantum Colorado
LongPath's success also reflects Colorado's growing prowess in creating the quantum technologies of the future-devices that hinge on the physics of small objects like atoms or electrons.
In 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce named Elevate Quantum-a coalition of 120 organizations across the Mountain West, with CU Boulder as a prime contributor-as an official tech hub for quantum information technology. Since then, the coalition has secured more than $120 million in federal and state funding to expand the region's quantum industry.
"When Colorado companies secure federal funding, it accelerates their work to deploy new technologies and strengthens our economy by supporting key industries while creating new jobs," said Eve Lieberman, executive director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT). "We have been proud to support LongPath's growth and are thrilled to see the company achieve this critical milestone."
