Water & Environment
3D Structured Cost-effective Membranes for Water and Energy Applications

Brief

Novel technique to directly create microstructures on membrane via 3D printing without assembling

Technology Overview

The developed 3D printing-on-membrane in this invention provides a unique way to create complex 3D structures directly on a porous membrane to form assemble-free all-in-one filtration devices. Using the developed technique, different membranes can be structured and functionalized including polymeric or metallic material, with pore size ranging from nanometer to micrometer. The choices of 3D printing ink range from polymer, hydrogel and ceramic. The enhanced and unique attachment between the membrane and 3D-printed spacer/structure through this novel technique creates the potential and opportunity which did not exist before, that is, the ability to have continuity and discontinuity of physico-chemical properties within membrane devices for broad water and energy applications.


Inventors
Competitive Advantage
  • Assemble-free multi-material devices: Integrate 3D-printed micro-structures structures with commercial-available porous membranes
  • Highly flexible for designing and fabricating 3D structures: Enables manufacturing of complex bio-mimicked structures and
    heterogeneous discrete structures
  • Excellent adhesive properties: Facilitate strong bonding and self-sealing between 3Dprinted structures with the membrane
  • Robust and inexpensive: The printing-on membrane
    device is configurable, modulable, and scalable
Market Application
  • Water filtration and desalination
  • Flow battery and fuel cell
  • Membrane-on-chip
Intellectual Property

U.S. 63/226,291

Contact

ip@ku.ac.ae

Energy Efficient Magnetic-Electrical Technology for Desalination of Water

Brief

Innovative and state-of-the-art desalination technology

Technology Overview

This invention is an innovative method of tackling the desalination of water using the combined effect of electrical potential and magnetics to remove ions from water. In this invention, it is proposed to apply counter magnetic field, in respect to the flow direction of the saline water inside a separation channel, along with applying electrical driving forces in oppositely charged electrodes. Technology consists of a separation channel where is magnetic field is applied in counter direction to the flow of the saline water that is flowing inside the channel, and electrodes oppositely charged to create driving force for the ions.


Inventors
Competitive Advantage
  • No source of electrical energy in the form of continuous current will be needed to carry out the electrodialysis
  • The necessary energy for the process is directly communicated to the ion by the velocity of the fluid using magnetic coupling
  • No electric resistance in the dilute channels
  • No consumed energy due to redox reactions
Market Application
  • Water desalination industry
  • Oil and gas industry
Intellectual Property

PCT/IB2019/054453

Contact

ip@ku.ac.ae

Device for Water Collection from Atmospheric Moisture

Brief

Providing access to fresh water in areas of scarcity

Technology Overview

Water is one of the most important resources in the world, however there is scarce access to fresh water in some locations. The developed device can be used for collecting water from the atmospheric moisture with no without energy input except for solar radiation. The device is comprised of a water absorbing material, a protection wall and a water container. When the water absorbing material is below phase separation temperature, hydrogen bonds are formed with water molecules resulting in the absorption of water from the air.


Inventors
  • Saeed Alkhazraji
  • Sara Aldhaheri
  • Fatima Alhameli
Competitive Advantage
  • Results in the collection of water in energy efficient and environmentally friendly manner
  • Requires minimal human intervention and minimal maintenance
  • Low-cost and easy to use
Market Application
  • Fresh water collection
  • Water conservation
Intellectual Property

U.S. 9,440,187

Contact

ip@ku.ac.ae

A Method for Removing Scholte Waves and Similar Ground Roll Type Waves from Seismic Sea Bottom Data in Shallow Waters  

Brief

Improves seismic data acquisition and processing

Technology Overview

Underwater seismic acquisition is a standard industry process to collect marine data. The developed method enables the processing of multi-component marine seismic data in order to estimate the properties of the seafloor and sensor calibration filters in a shallow water environment. The method applies a time-frequency-wave number transform on the acquired seismic sea bottom data and applies a time varying frequency-wave number filtering process to accurately process the seismic data.


Inventors
  • Karl-Andreas Berteussen
  • Yuefeng Sun
  • Z Zhang
Competitive Advantage
  • Removes Scholte waves and similar ground roll type waves from a seismic sea bottom data in shallow water
  • Provides reliable surface water analysis
  • Estimates the properties of the seafloor
  • Provides a method to dynamically analyze a surface wave spectrum over a period of time
Market Application
  • Marine seismic data
  • Seismic data acquisition and processing
  • Petroleum – estimating carbonate reservoirs
  • Geological modeling
  • Seafloor evaluations
Intellectual Property

U.S. 8,995,223

Contact

ip@ku.ac.ae

Method for Conversion of Halophytic Biomass to Biogas via Thalassic Anaerobic Digestion

Brief

Sustainable method of producing biogas from saline organic solids

Technology Overview

Biofuel production using land crops is generally criticized due to environmental and economic limitations. The developed method converts halophytic plant biomass containing saline organic solids into biogas. The method involves the addition of a halophilic microbial culture to the halophytic plant biomass for digestion under anaerobic conditions to produce methane. In addition, the method could include pretreatment of the biomass under mild physicochemical conditions to improve yield.


Inventors
  • Jorge Rodriguez
  • Joao Uratani
Competitive Advantage
  • Operates with saline as liquid media
  • Improves energy production yields
  • Leads to biological conversion of organic matter into biogas
  • Increases the bioavailable fraction of the biomass for conversion into biogas
Market Application
  • Alternative energy
  • Biogas production
  • Halophyte substrates
Intellectual Property

U.S. 9,422,579

Contact

ip@ku.ac.ae

Photo-Regenerable Filters Useful for the Removal of Organic Compounds

Brief

Enhanced filters designed to alleviate pharmaceutical pollution of water

Technology Overview

Pharmaceutical compounds are emerging contaminants in the water supply due to increasing use throughout the world. The developed photo-regenerable filters are designed to remove pharmaceutical compounds and other contaminants from water. The filter is comprised of carbon nanotubes and high surface area titanium dioxide nanospheres, in which the high surface area titanium dioxide nanospheres are dispersed in the carbon nanotubes.


Inventors
  • Farrukh Ahmad
  • Qammer Zaib
Competitive Advantage
  • Efficiently removes a variety of pharmaceutical and other contaminants from fluids
  • Structure can be physically modified to alter the properties
  • Can be produced utilizing several manufacturing methods including vacuum adsorption and ultrasonication
  • Filter can be regenerated by applying ultraviolet light for 1 to 8 hours
Market Application
Intellectual Property

U.S. 9,840,425

Contact

ip@ku.ac.ae

Cellulose Blends with Enhanced Water Retention

Brief

Enhanced utilization/conservation of water using cellulose gels

Technology Overview

Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer that can be extracted inexpensively from plants and other organisms. The developed cellulose gel compositions are prepared by modifying native cellulose to generate a material with enhanced water absorption and retention properties. The material is produced through the regeneration of cellulose in aqueous polyethylene oxide. The material has been demonstrated to hold twenty times its weight.


Inventors
  • Raed Hashaikeh
  • Ali Asghar
Competitive Advantage
  • Enables efficient water absorption
  • Reduces water consumed for irrigation purposes
  • Provides a non-toxic, low-cost, and biodegradable solution to address irrigation challenges
  • Can be combined with insoluble media to produce a plant growth media
Market Application
  • Landscaping
  • Water retention in arid climates and sandy soils
  • Soil enhancement
  • Plant growth media
  • Erosion / water run-off prevention
Intellectual Property

U.S. 9,901,040

Contact

ip@ku.ac.ae

System and Method for Continuous Transesterification of Oils

Brief

Multi-chamber reactor for converting waste oil into biofuel

Technology Overview

Biodiesel is an important alternative fuel that includes a fatty acid methyl or (ethel) esters produced from trigylcerides as the product of vegetable, lipid, animal, trapped grease, or recycled cooking oil. However, production of biodiesel is limited due to current production methods. The developed multi-chamber continuous tubular reactor for the transesterification of oil can improve production. The multi-chamber design operates in a helical flow pattern to enhance mass transfer and increase conversion.


Inventors
  • Isam Janajreh
  • Rasha Rabu
Competitive Advantage
  • Provides continuous transesterification of oils using a multi-chamber tubular reactor
  • Minimizes pumping loss due to no limitations with mass transfer
  • Increases throughput and yield
  • Increases conversion of oil and methanol into glycol and fatty acid methyl (ethel) ester
Market Application
  • Alternative energy
  • Biofuel/biodiesel
  • Waste cooking oil
  • Transesterification 
Intellectual Property

U.S. 9,468,899

Contact

ip@ku.ac.ae

Vacuum Membrane Distillation

Brief

Efficient and cost-effective approach to membrane distillation

Technology Overview

Membrane distillation, utilized in a number of commercial applications, is the thermal driven transport of vapor through non-wetted porous hydrophobic membranes. The developed vacuum membrane distillation system uses an aspirator to generate a vacuum pressure for drawing permeate from a membrane module. The aspirator generates the vacuum pressure by receiving and passing a circulating liquid and combines the permeate with the circulating liquid such that the permeate condensates in the circulating liquid.


Inventors

Hassan Arafat

Competitive Advantage
  • Allows a more efficient and cost-effective operation than traditional vacuum membrane distillation systems
  • Provides a low-cost system that could be an alternative to reverse osmosis systems
  • Enables complete recovery of evacuated vapor leading to longer life of the systems and lower operational costs
Market Application
  • Desalination plants
  • Environmental cleanup such as removal of volatile organic chemicals from water
  • Food applications
  • Medical applications
Intellectual Property

U.S. 9,023,211

Contact

ip@ku.ac.ae

Radiometers for Measuring Circumsolar Profiles

Brief

Low-cost, portable, and reliable solution for radiation measurement

Technology Overview

Solar radiation on the earth’s surface is not only due to the direct radiation from the solar disk but also from an aureole around the solar disk. The inability to accurately measure radiation results in inefficiencies in solar power generation. The radiometers developed helps to establish optical design parameters that impact the thermodynamic performance, and consequently the economic outcomes, of solar power generation systems.

 


Inventors
  • Peter Armstrong
  • Ragini Kalapatapu
  • Matteo Chiesa
Competitive Advantage
  • Delivers accurate radiation measurements 
  • Provides a low-cost, reliable solution for routine use in solar resource assessment and atmospheric aerosol investigations
  • Enables use of portable field instruments for measuring sunshape profiles automatically and unattended
Market Application
  • Solar power generation
  • Radiometers
  • Portable field instruments
Intellectual Property
  • U.S. 8,981,272
  • U.S. 9,500,516
Contact

ip@ku.ac.ae

Biodegradable Composite Materials

Brief

Sustainable solution for product packaging and other applications

Technology Overview

The developed method can be used to make a biodegradable composite using an aqueous mixture comprised of partially hydrolyzed cellulose in a dissolution media; combing the mixture with a solution of an aliphatic polyester in a polar organic solvent; removing solvent and dissolution media to form a wet biodegradable composite; and drying the wet biodegradable composite to form a dry biodegradable composite.


Inventors
  • Raed Hashaikeh
  • Krishnamachari Parakalan
Competitive Advantage
  • Tunable process that can be used to create a broad range of composite materials
  • Yields significant improvement in the mechanical and thermal stability
  • Enhances the bonding of the material
Market Application
  • Biodegradable materials
  • Product packaging
  • Tissue engineering
Intellectual Property

U.S. 8,691,893

Contact

ip@ku.ac.ae

Apparatus and Method for Taking Energy-Efficient and Environmentally-Friendly Recovery of Bitumen

Brief

Improving the recovery of bitumen from oil sands

Technology Overview

There are almost 10 trillion barrels of heavy oil and bitumen worldwide, of which 10% is commercially exploitable with existing technology. The developed system and method can lead to the recovery of bitumen from oil sands. The environmentally-friendly system incorporates solar-powered generation of steam to increase the viscosity of bitumen and increase the efficiency of recovery.


Inventors
  • Andy Muto 
  • Anurag Bajpayee
  • Vincent Berube 
  • Matteo Chiesa
  • Daniel Kraemer
Competitive Advantage
  • Provides an energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly recovery of bitumen
  • Eliminates the need of natural gas currently employed for steam production and power generation
  • Provides a novel solution for hydrogen production that does not employ reforming of natural gas
  • Produces low temperature steam by means of solar radiation
Market Application
  • Solar thermal technologies
  • Sustainable technologies
  • Oil recovery from oil sands
  • Bitumen recovery
Intellectual Property

U.S. 8,167,041

Contact

ip@ku.ac.ae