Fuel Cell-Enabled CO2-to-CO Conversion Using Ultra-Selective Membrane Technology
TS-072615 — The Need
Efficient carbon dioxide (CO₂) utilization and separation remain critical challenges in energy, chemical, and environmental sectors. Existing processes for CO₂ conversion to carbon monoxide (CO) and for separating CO₂/CO mixtures are energy-intensive, costly, and often lack selectivit…
- College: College of Engineering (COE)
- Inventors: Ho, W.S. Winston; Han, Yang
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
Lightweight CNT-Polymer Composite Wires with Enhanced Conductivity and Ampacity
TS-072578 — The Need
Current lightweight conductors, such as copper and aluminum, face limitations in specific electrical conductivity, flexibility, and thermal management, especially for demanding applications in electrified transportation and aerospace. There is a critical need for conductors that combine hig…
- College: College of Engineering (COE)
- Inventors: Sumption, Michael; Guo, Yang; Xue, Shengchen
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
Advanced Amine-Containing Membranes for High-Pressure Hydrogen Purification
TS-071805 — The Need
Hydrogen production from coal-derived syngas is a promising route for cleaner energy, but current CO₂/H₂ separation technologies struggle with efficiency, selectivity, and stability at high pressures. Existing membranes often suffer from reduced CO₂ permeance and compaction under indu…
- College: College of Engineering (COE)
- Inventors: Ho, W.S. Winston; Han, Yang
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
3-Stage Membrane Processes for CO2 Capture from Flue Gases
TS-069650 — The Need
The urgent need to mitigate climate change has driven the demand for efficient carbon capture technologies. Current methods often fall short in achieving high capture rates and purity levels, especially for industrial applications. This technology addresses the critical need for a scalable…
- College: College of Engineering (COE)
- Inventors: Han, Yang; Ho, W.S. Winston
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
Enhanced Butanol Production via Engineered Clostridium Strains
TS-069522 — The Need
The biofuel and biochemical industries face challenges in efficiently converting fermentation byproducts, such as butyrate, into higher-value products like butanol. Traditional methods often result in the accumulation of waste products, limiting overall process efficiency and economic viab…
- College: College of Engineering (COE)
- Inventors: Moore, Curtis; Yang, Shang-Tian "ST"
- Licensing Officer: Randhawa, Davinder
Novel Efficient Butanol Production without CO2 Emission
TS-068795 —
The Need
Renewable energy resources have gained global interest due to environmental issues, climate change, oil price and supply volatility, and decreasing nonrenewable fossil fuel sources. Butanol is a biofuel alternative that can provide a higher heating value, lower volatility, polarity, cor…
- College: College of Engineering (COE)
- Inventors: Yang, Shang-Tian "ST"
- Licensing Officer: Randhawa, Davinder
Amine-Containing Facilitated Transport Membranes For Carbon Dioxide/Nitrogen Separation
TS-041856 — Novel membrane technology utilizing active transport for carbon dioxide/nitrogen separation. The membrane exhibits high permeance and selectivity
Improved separation of by-product carbon dioxide from nitrogen in power plants and industrial exhaust systems would considerably decrease greenhouse gas emissions. The current method of separation that is most often used in industry is amine absorption, however this method is costly, has a large c…
- College: College of Engineering (COE)
- Inventors: Ho, W.S. Winston; Han, Yang
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
N-Proanol and Propionic Acid Producing Propionibacteria
TS-037515 — New method of producing n-propanol and propionic acid using a metabolically engineered propionibacteria.
Propionibacteria are well-known for their various industrial applications including the manufacturing of Swiss cheese, vitamin B12, and propionic acid. However, not much is known about their genetics, and few studies have been conducted utilizing them for metabolic engineering, mostly in vitamin B…
- College: College of Engineering (COE)
- Inventors: Yang, Shang-Tian "ST"; Ammar, Ehab
- Licensing Officer: Panic, Ana
Amine-Containing Membranes Incorporated with Carbon Nanotubes or CO2 Separation
TS-037297 — A novel amine-containing membrane incorporated with carbon nanotubes for CO2/N2 separation with a vacuum pulled on the permeate side
CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has surpassed 400 ppm in the past decade. The combustion of fossil fuels is a major contributor to the large amount of CO2 emission, and membrane technologies have been suggested as a promising approach to capture CO2 from large stationary sources (e.g., flue ga…
- College: College of Engineering (COE)
- Inventors: Ho, W.S. Winston; Han, Yang
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
Butanol Production from Renewable Biomass
TS-014747 — A genetically engineered bacteria pathway directed to selectively generate butanol over competing by-products.
Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol (ABE) Fermentation is one of two methods to produce butanol from biomass feedstocks. Various active enzymes or acids are exposed to a biomass feedstock and subsequently produce primarily acetone, butanol and ethanol. Previous attempts in the industry to use Clostridium stra…
- College: College of Arts & Sciences
- Inventors: Yang, Shang-Tian "ST"; Zhao, Jingbo
- Licensing Officer: Panic, Ana