Found Industries, an MIT spinout, has opened its new headquarters and Found Metals Process Development Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The facility will advance the company's work on recovering critical minerals, including gallium, from industrial waste streams. The company initially focused on energy technology through Found Energy, developing processes to activate aluminium for hydrogen generation. Found Metals was established to address supply chain vulnerabilities for materials used in semiconductors, defence systems and advanced manufacturing. Found is developing domestic gallium refining processes through the US Department of Energy's TRACE-Ga programme. The company also receives support from the Department of Defense and Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, alongside private investment. The process development centre will help Found scale laboratory technologies to industrial systems, working with existing industrial feedstocks and partners. Found maintains a Boston presence for its energy projects whilst expanding its metals processing capabilities.

PLC Construction powers Found Energy's aluminum-fuel reactor pilot. LIBERTY, Texas, 2026-07-27 - /EPR Network/ - PLC Construction, a full-service engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company, today announced the successful delivery of the automation, controls and electrical systems behind Found Energy's Corvo project, an aluminum-water reactor pilot in Charlestown, Massachusetts that produces clean hydrogen and thermal energy with zero point-source emissions. The engagement showcases PLC's Pilot to Production service, which turns first-of-their-kind concepts into working, scalable systems. Found Energy's Corvo platform releases the energy stored in aluminum by reacting it with water, an approach that could help power the roughly 30% of industrial energy demand that is difficult or uneconomic to electrify. As the pilot's automation and electrical partner, PLC translated an evolving, research-driven process into a flexible control system built to adapt as testing advanced. The April 2025 - August 2025 pilot demanded a single, unified control architecture capable of coordinating VFD-driven motors, EtherCAT-controlled servo motors, valves, sensors and instrumentation under one deterministic platform. A central challenge was the aluminum fuel-feed mechanism, which required precise 12-degree indexing and configurable metering followed by a timed transfer via a mechanical arm. PLC selected a Beckhoff PLC with EtherCAT integration to coordinate high-precision motion alongside conventional I/O, and developed Ignition-based touchscreen HMI screens for startup, operation, monitoring and troubleshooting. Working in close coordination with Found Energy, PLC executed PLC and EtherCAT configuration, automation logic, electrical and control-panel design, field-device integration, HMI deployment and commissioning support - delivering a fully test-ready system on an accelerated schedule while preserving the flexibility to support future process changes and scale-up. "Corvo is exactly the kind of project our Pilot to Production team was built for," said Dan Eaves, Director of Engineering Services at PLC Construction. "Found Energy brought us a bold, unproven process, and our job was to deliver a control system flexible enough to evolve with their research while keeping operation safe and repeatable. Turning a first-of-its-kind idea into a working pilot is something that differentiates us from other EPCs, and I'm very proud of that." "The team at PLC was great to work with. They were able to get up to speed very quickly on our project and worked closely with us to deliver a very complex electrical and control system in record time," said Angie Ackroyd, Vice President of Engineering at Found Energy. "I have worked with numerous EPCs during my career and I have to say they are one of the best." PLC has helped clients across the oil and gas, renewables and municipal, and water treatment sectors move novel concepts from early-stage ideas to fully functioning pilot systems. The Corvo project adds a clean-energy milestone to that track record. About PLC Construction PLC Construction Inc. is a full-service engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company serving the oil and gas, renewables and municipal, and water treatment sectors. With offices in Liberty and Kermit, Texas, and Westminster, Colorado, PLC delivers engineering, construction, design, fabrication, automation and control systems, SCADA, commissioning, relief system and flare studies, and field services. Its Pilot to Production service helps innovators move bold ideas from concept to production-ready operations. Learn more at plcconstruction.com. About Found Energy Found Energy develops catalyzed aluminum-water reactor systems that convert aluminum fuel and water into dispatchable thermal energy and hydrogen, delivering reliable, behind-the-meter heat and power that help decarbonize hard-to-abate industrial processes. Learn more at found-industries.com. Media Contact Christina Schappacher Director of Business Development & Growth, PLC Construction 4997 TX-146 Liberty TX 77575 Matched content.