Next-Generation Rare-Earth Recovery from Dilute Process Streams
TS-075572 —
The transition to advanced electronics, electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, and defense technologies is driving growing demand for rare-earth elements. However, many valuable rare-earth resources exist in dilute waste streams, recycling processes, low-grade leachates, and hydrometallurgic…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Sangoro, Joshua; Mensah, Enoch
- Licensing Officer: Randhawa, Davinder
Integrated Microbial Platform for High-Yield Butanol Production
TS-074793 —
Sustainable production of advanced biofuels and biochemicals remains constrained by low yields, poor carbon efficiency, and limited scalability of current microbial platforms. In particular, biobutanol has struggled to achieve cost competitiveness due to inefficient carbon utilization and metabol…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Yang, Shang-Tian "ST"; Wang, Geng
- Licensing Officer: Randhawa, Davinder
Converting Industrial Silicate Waste into High‑Value Cement Additives
TS-074623 —
The construction industry faces growing pressure to reduce the carbon footprint of cement while maintaining performance, durability, and reliable supply chains. Traditional supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) such as fly ash and blast furnace slag are increasingly scarce or regionally cons…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Zhai, Shang; Qin, Jiangzhou; Shank, Kyle
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
Aliovalent‑Doped Iron Oxide Oxygen Carriers for Chemical Looping
TS-074441 —
Chemical looping gasification and combustion are promising pathways for low‑carbon energy conversion, CO₂ capture, and syngas production, but their commercial deployment is constrained by the performance of available oxygen carrier materials. Existing metal oxide oxygen carriers often suffer f…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Fan, Liang-Shih; Cheng, Zhuo; Chung, Cheng; Guo, Mengqing "MENGQING"; Qin, Lang
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
Three-Dimensional Semiconductor Radiation Energy Capture Platform
TS-074295 —
Many applications require compact, long‑lived power sources that can operate reliably for years without maintenance, battery replacement, or recharging. This is particularly true for remote sensors, implantable medical devices, space systems, and defense or industrial monitoring deployed in hars…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Cao, Lei Raymond
- Licensing Officer: Zinn, Ryan
Near-Zero-External Energy Dehumidifier and Air Conditioner
TS-074049 —
Commercial and industrial HVAC systems face growing pressure to reduce energy consumption while delivering precise humidity control, particularly in hot and humid climates. Conventional desiccant and vapor‑compression systems require high regeneration temperatures, waste low‑grade heat, and st…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Clark, Jordan; Zakeri Shahvari, Saba
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
Staged Gas–Solid Reactor Architecture for Higher Conversion Processes
TS-073930 —
Many industrial gas–solid reactions, such as ironmaking, chemical looping, and other redox-based processes, are fundamentally constrained by thermodynamic equilibrium in conventional reactor designs. Single-inlet/single-outlet reactors force tradeoffs between gas conversion and solid conversion,…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Tong, Andrew; Chen, Yu-Yen; Fan, Liang-Shih; Kong, Fanhe "Frank"; Zhang, Yitao "YITAO"
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
High‑Efficiency Steam‑Integrated Power Co‑Generation Platform
TS-073646 —
Industrial chemical and physical processes consume large quantities of thermal energy and steam, yet most facilities still rely on external power generation or low‑efficiency Rankine‑cycle systems to meet their electricity demand. This leads to significant energy losses, high operating costs, …
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Fan, Liang-Shih; Zhang, Qiaochu
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
Two‑Reactor Chemical Looping for High‑Yield, Low‑Carbon Hydrogen Production
TS-073219 —
Global demand for low‑carbon hydrogen is rising, yet current methods carry efficiency penalties, complex gas clean‑up, and cost and footprint burdens. These drawbacks are amplified when upgrading dilute or variable‑quality feedstocks such as biogas and waste‑derived fuels. Industry needs a…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Fan, Liang-Shih; Zhang, Qiaochu
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
Hybrid Membrane–Adsorption Process for Efficient Direct Air Capture
TS-073184 —
Direct air capture (DAC) technologies are essential for meeting global carbon‑reduction goals, yet most current systems remain limited by high energy demand, high cost, and materials with insufficient stability. Traditional solid‑sorbent DAC approaches require significant thermal input for reg…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Ho, W.S. Winston; Han, Yang; Huang, Yi-Chen
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
Model-Based, Multi-Criteria Optimization for Sensor Placement and Selection
TS-073138 —
Designing online monitoring (OLM) for safety‑critical systems is constrained by scarce early‑stage operational data and by quantitative models that are slow to build, brittle across configurations, and costly to iterate. This creates expensive sensor networks with blind spots, poor diagnosabil…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Smidts, Carol; Diao, Xiaoxu; Olatubosun, Samuel; Rownak, Md Ragib; Vaddi, Pavan Kumar
- Licensing Officer: Giles, David
Dual-Function Hollow Rebar for Concrete Reinforcement and Temperature Control
TS-072927 —
Current concrete structures, such as bridges, pavements, and buildings, lack integrated solutions for efficient temperature control. Existing heating or cooling systems are typically installed on or near the surface, risking damage and failing to provide uniform thermal management. There is a need…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Sezen, Halil
- Licensing Officer: Randhawa, Davinder
Mesoporous Support-Immobilized Metal Oxide Nanoparticles for High-Purity Syngas Generation
TS-071809 — The Need
Syngas is an essential intermediate for producing high-value chemicals such as gasoline, methanol, and dimethyl ether. Current industrial methods (steam reforming, autothermal reforming, and partial oxidation) are energy-intensive, costly, and environmentally burdensome. Moreover, these met…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Fan, Liang-Shih; Cheng, Zhuo; Liu, Yan; Qin, Lang
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
Redox Chemical Looping System for CO2 Capture and Syngas Generation
TS-071808 — The Need
Industrial syngas and hydrogen production processes are highly energy-intensive and contribute significantly to carbon emissions due to reliance on fossil fuel combustion. Existing methods require multiple unit operations, resulting in low efficiency and high operational costs. There is a c…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Fan, Liang-Shih; Baser, Deven Swapneshu; Cheng, Zhuo; Shah, Vedant
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
Stable Phase Metal Oxide Syngas Generation without Molecular Oxygen
TS-071806 — The Need
Current syngas production from methane relies on energy-intensive air separation units (ASUs) to supply molecular oxygen, driving up capital and operating costs. Conventional catalysts also suffer from carbon deposition at low oxidant concentrations, limiting process flexibility and efficie…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Fan, Liang-Shih; Baser, Deven; Cheng, Zhuo; Kathe, Mandar; Kong, Fanhe "Frank"; Nadgouda, Sourabh; Tong, Andrew
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
A Generalized Mistuning Model for Bladed Disk Systems
TS-070971 — The Need
Modern gas turbines and compressors rely on bladed disks, which are highly sensitive to mistuning caused by manufacturing tolerances, wear, or damage. Existing modeling tools are fragmented, complex, and often limited to specific mistuning types. Industry will greatly benefit from a unified…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: D'Souza, Kiran; Krizak, Troy
- Licensing Officer: Giles, David
Broadband Piezoelectric Energy Harvester with Adaptive Frequency Tuning
TS-070970 —
Many vibration-based energy harvesting systems are limited by narrow operational frequency bands, making them inefficient for environments where excitation frequencies drift, such as in bridges, machinery, or vehicles. Current solutions often sacrifice energy density to broaden bandwidth. A more e…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Guan, Yuqin; D'Souza, Kiran
- Licensing Officer: Giles, David
Modular Unit for Liquid Fuel Production from Natural Gas
TS-070633 — The Need
Stranded natural gas (SNG), a by-product of crude oil extraction, is often flared due to the high cost and logistical challenges of pipeline transport. Approximately 15 tons/day of SNG is flared from one oil well. This results in significant greenhouse gas emissions and wasted energy. With …
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Fan, Liang-Shih; Gun, Sudeshna; Jawdekar, Tanay; Joshi, Anuj; Kumar, Sonu; Lu, Cong-Wen; Paulson, Joel
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
Containment System for Heating and Off-Gassing
TS-065424 — Due to environmental concerns and the decreasing supply
of fossil fuels, there is
substantial demand for nuclear-based energy production. Nuclear energy now provides about 10%
of the world's electricity from about 440 power reactors and is the second largest source
of low-carbon power. In addition, over 50 smaller countries utilize nuclear energy in about 220 research-size reactors. These reactors are used to produce medical and industrial isotopes and several other purposes.
It is essential to meet the safeguard requirements in liquid-fueled molten salt reactors, fuel salt transportation, and fuel cycle processes and to develop effective methods for measuring and monitoring the mass of molten fuel salt or coolant salt. However, due to the complex and dynamic nature o…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Van Zile, Matthew; Cao, Lei Raymond; Kauffman, Andrew
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
Highly Efficient Light Olefin Selectivity & Production Process
TS-065422 — Light olefins, such as ethylene and propylene, are essential building blocks in the petrochemical industry and have a wide range
of uses in various applications. The most common uses for olefins include polymers, chemical intermediates, solvents, rubber, and nanomaterials, among others.
Although Light olefins are used globally in many products, the catalytic processes to produce them are energy intensive with a large carbon footprint and the production of greenhouse gases and water pollution. As a result, substantial efforts are being made in the industry to develop more sustain…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Ozkan, Umit; Gunduz, Seval; Kim, Jaesung
- Licensing Officer: Randhawa, Davinder
SimpleFill Gas Pressurization Device
TS-063346 — A reliable compact device for efficiently compressing natural gas fuel for automobiles
Compressed gas is useful in a number of different applications such as propulsion in vehicles. The global Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) market was valued at $14.8 billion in 2016, and is projected to reach $36 billion by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 14.1%. Furthermore, the Natural Gas Vehicle market …
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Cantemir, Codrin; Canova, Marcello; Chiara, Fabio; Durand, James; Fly, Gerald; Triberti, Matteo; Underhill, Robert
- Licensing Officer: Zinn, Ryan
Novel Deep Learning Model for Reconnaissance of Infrastructure on Drones
TS-063007 — The Need
In disaster-stricken areas, timely and accurate reconnaissance is paramount for effective response and recovery efforts. Traditional methods of assessing damage to critical infrastructure, such as power distribution poles, often involve time-consuming manual inspections, leading to delays …
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Shafieezadeh, Abdollah; Bagheri Jeddi, Ashkan
- Licensing Officer: Giles, David
RF Energy Harvesting Wireless Mobile Device Charger
TS-062601 —
Only a small fraction of the radio frequency (RF) energy transmitted by smartphones and other wireless devices is used to communicate with a wireless access point. It would be useful to collect or harvest the unused RF signals in order to convert them to direct current (DC) power and supplement th…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Chen, Chi-Chih; Koksal, C. Emre; Shroff, Ness; Tallos, Roland
- Licensing Officer: Zinn, Ryan
Passive RF Rectifier Circuit Design with Harmonic Harvester
TS-062596 —
Conventional rectifying circuit designs convert alternating-current (AC) signals into direct-current (DC) signals via the used of diodes. Low-barrier Schottky diodes are used in low AC power cases such as with ambient radio frequency (RF) signals. Ideally, each diode is only turned on during the p…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Chen, Chi-Chih
- Licensing Officer: Zinn, Ryan
Flexible biomarker biofluid cell array for 2D/3D mapping of biomarker concentration levels
TS-062483 — Measurement/detection
of analytes (e.g., biomarkers) in different environments (e.g., bi
ofluids/organs) is typically performed using a biosensor. Available bio-integrated sensors do not provide the capability to map biomarker concentrations, require a power source to function, use a limited number
of electrodes, and normally can only measure a specific type
of bi
ofluid but not others. The use
of glutamate mapping technology (radioactive or fluorescent ligand bound to a glutamate receptor) has been evaluated and found to require bulky/expensive medical equipment, a power source for measurement, cannot be miniaturized or integrated into a bio tissue, and require patients to be stationary during measurement.
The Need
To address concerns and limitations with current biomarker detection/ measurement technologies, an alternative, cost-effective, efficient biosensing system/device capable of 2D/3D mapping the concentrations of various biomarkers in different bio environments is required.
The Technology
…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Li, Jinghua; Liu, Tzu Li; Nithianandam, Prasad
- Licensing Officer: Ashouripashaki, Mandana
Di-nuclear Lewis acids (DNLA) made using a combined hydrothermal and post-synthetic approach
TS-061876 — A novel method
of creating catalytic material containing paired Lewis acids in combination with alkyl-metal precursors for improving the production
of materials used in agricultural, chemical, and other commercial/industrial applications/processes.
More efficient techniques to create catalytic material are required to enable higher efficiencies and other performance improvements when used for manufacturing of specialty chemicals and other compounds. The conventional methods whereby Lewis acids play a role in catalysis has some key limitation…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Brunelli, Nicholas "Nick"; Spanos, Alexander
- Licensing Officer: Randhawa, Davinder
Using alkyl tin precursors to produce Lewis acid zeolite Beta with different site speciations
TS-058818 — Novel method capable
of using alkyl tin compounds to generate Lewis acid zeolite Sn-Beta.
Conventional approaches used in chemical processes such as synthesis for production of materials involve formation of catalytic sites within the process framework. Current methods used for catalytic site creation tend to be long and result in increased production costs. This is partially due to re…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Brunelli, Nicholas "Nick"; Spanos, Alexander
- Licensing Officer: Randhawa, Davinder
SimpleFill Gas Pressurization Device
TS-054465 — A reliable compact device for efficiently compressing natural gas fuel for automobiles
Compressed gas is useful in a number of different applications such as propulsion in vehicles. The global Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) market was valued at $14.8 billion in 2016, and is projected to reach $36 billion by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 14.1%. Furthermore, the Natural Gas Vehicle market …
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Chiara, Fabio; Canova, Marcello; Cantemir, Codrin; Durand, James; Fly, Gerald; Triberti, Matteo; Underhill, Robert
- Licensing Officer: Zinn, Ryan
Device for Harvesting Vibration Energy to Power Remote Sensors or Feed the Power Grid
TS-049909 — A control method based upon properties
of linear systems to manipulate the vibrational amplitudes and frequencies
of structural systems by exploiting piecewise-linear (PWL) nonlinearities.
Energy harvesting from system vibrations is considered a promising green energy source with the capacity to both self-power small-scale devices and fulfill the need of large-scale electricity generation. A recent report by BCC research found that the markets for Vibration, Displacement, and Mechan…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: D'Souza, Kiran; Tien, Meng-Hsuan
- Licensing Officer: Zinn, Ryan
Method for Reducing Aerodynamic Drag on Tractor-Trailers
TS-038398 — A bio-inspired sidewall design to increase fuel efficiency and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Tractor-trailers are essential to the United States (U.S.) economy. The annual value of freight transported in the U.S. in 2017 was $19 trillion, an increase from $18 trillion in 2012. Of the $19 trillion, $13.7 trillion (72%) was transported by the trucking industry. The high fuel consumption by …
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Prakash, Shaurya; Rangharajan, Kaushik Krishna "Kaushik"; West, Joseph; Zezinka, Zachary
- Licensing Officer: Zinn, Ryan
Production of Galacto-oligosaccharides from Lactose by Enzyme Immobilized on Cotton Cloth
TS-037689 — Lactose from cheese whey is converted from a dairy byproduct to a useful prebiotic using enzymes immobilized on cotton cloth.
Galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) are a collection of prebiotic fibers made of a chain of galactose sugars of variable length. GOS has been shown to exert some of the most potent and beneficial effects among prebiotic fibers. When added to infant formula, it can change bowel flora to approximate the …
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Yang, Shang-Tian "ST"; Albayrak, Nedim
- Licensing Officer: Panic, Ana
Methods for Making Three Dimensional Microfluidic Bioreactor Array
TS-037642 — Design for a three-dimensional micr
ofluidic bioreactor array; device allows for culturing
of a variety
of cell types without contamination.
Cell culture in a three-dimensional fluidic-flow microenvironment is critical for long-term cell-based assays. Conducting in vitro research offers an accessible, reproducible, and reliable mode of investigation for therapeutic decisions before work is conducted in vivo. However, because of the com…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Yang, Shang-Tian "ST"; Wen, Yuan
- Licensing Officer: Panic, Ana
Methods and Processes for Producing Butyrate Esters from Sugars
TS-037568 — A method and process for producing butyrate esters for use as novel bi
ofuels.These products have a similar energy content to biobutanol, but are easier to produce.
Currently, bioethanol is the major biofuel on the market, but recently butanol has gotten attention for its potential as a transportation fuel. It has many characteristics that make it a better fuel source than ethanol: butanol has 25% more Btu per gallon, it's less evaporative/explosive with …
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Yang, Shang-Tian "ST"
- Licensing Officer: Panic, Ana
Metabolic Engineering
of Clostridium Tyrobutyricum for Butanol Production
TS-037555 — A new strain
of bacteria that can produce butanol at a high titer for transportation fuel.
Butanol is generally used as an industrial solvent but can also be blended with gasoline and used as transportation fuel. Butanol is commonly produced using fossil fuels, but it can also be produced from biomass, referred to as biobutanol. Biobutanol is produced from fermentation of the same feeds…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Yang, Shang-Tian "ST"; Yu, Mingrui
- Licensing Officer: Panic, Ana
Gas Chromotography TCD Hydrogen Calibration Valve
TS-036946 — An in-line valve designed specifically to direct the flow
of gasses within a gas chromotography machine.
Current metallurgy research requires a hydrogen measurement device to quantify the amount of hydrogen in a weld and the diffusion rate of hydrogen after failure to analyze the effects hydrogen assisted cracking. With this information, research groups can evaluate the performance of various welds a…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Wildofsky, Jacob; Alexandrov, Boian; Copley, Kenneth
- Licensing Officer: Zinn, Ryan
Synthesis of Hydrogen Gas
TS-014807 — Production
of Hydrogen gas using economical and environmentally friendly catalysts.
Stable and reusable catalysts improve the efficiency of industrial scale material production. However, hexavalent Chromium (VI) and other common catalysts are known to cause various health effects. Furthermore, there are substantial risks associated with greater concentrations of chromium in the w…
- College: College
of
Engineering
(COE)
- Inventors: Ozkan, Umit; Natesakhawat, Sittichai; Wang, Xueqin; Zhang, Lingzhi
- Licensing Officer: Zinn, Ryan