After choosing 12 finalists from more than 70 applicants, Ben Franklin Technology Partners’ Shale Gas Innovation and Commercialization Center (SGICC) on Tuesday selected the three winners of its 2013 Shale Gas Innovation contest aimed at recognizing and promoting small- and mid-sized businesses behind emerging technologies in the Appalachian region’s growing natural gas industry.

The three 2013 winners — each receiving a $25,000 prize — are Pittsford, NY-based REV LNG, Pittsburgh, PA-based Pyrochem Catalyst Corp. and Imperial, PA-based Atlantis Technologies.

REV LNG, or Revolutionary LNG, supplies mobile liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling stations and small scale mobile plants to convert natural gas to LNG. Pyrochem Catalyst, a spin-off company from the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Lab, uses catalyst technology to convert natural gas to synthesis gas. Atlantis Technologies is working on radial deionization wastewater treatment technology.

The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC), which has been an active partner with SGICC for the past three years through the coalition’s Research Collaborative, applauded the winners.

“Innovation, research and technological advancements have been, and continue to be, the catalyst for shale gas development’s sustained success,” said MSC CEO Kathryn Klaber. “Without forward-looking thinkers and companies willing to invest in new technologies, the natural gas revolution that we’re witnessing today would not have been possible.”

The mission of the SGICC is to establish a collaborative that will engage a wide range of partners with the intent to accelerate technology breakthroughs related to the shale gas resource in Pennsylvania. The efforts of the partners will include the identification of funding sources for research and new product/process developments, expanded uses for natural gas, and tools that support environmental and regulatory issues.