海角社区 Chemical Engineering Faculty Receive Patent for Oil Spill Management Technology
January 31, 2024
BATON ROUGE, LA 鈥� 海角社区 Chemical Engineering Associate Professor Bhuvnesh Bharti and his former graduate student Jin Gyun Lee have been issued a patent for their technology which utilizes lignin nanoparticles to provide an eco-friendly method for oil spill cleanup. It鈥檚 the first patent awarded to an 海角社区 College of Engineering faculty this year.
To put it simply, the technology combines lignin鈥攁 complex organic polymer found in wood and plants鈥攚ith alcohol to form a solution that shrinks the film of spilled oil into a small region that can be subsequently removed in an environmentally friendly way. Currently, silicone-based surface active agents, or surfactants, are commercially used as 鈥渙il herders.鈥� Their design and poor biodegradability, however, have raised concerns about their release into the environment and their corresponding impact on human health.
鈥淲e are excited to have been granted this patent, marking a significant milestone for our technology,鈥� Bharti said. 鈥淎 key distinction between our technology and other oil herders currently used for oil spill cleanup is the environmental compatibility of our lignin nanoparticles. While we sincerely hope to never need to deploy an oil spill remediation method, in case of an unfortunate oil spill accident, our technology may provide an eco-friendly alternative for [clean up].鈥�
For those interested in licensing this invention, contact the 海角社区 Office of Innovation & Technology Commercialization at techlicensing@lsu.edu.
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