SIEV has patented, environmentally friendly catalytic conversion technologies to transform biomass waste feedstock to platform chemicals and value-added products.
An Innovative Solution
Our innovation lies in the design and fabrication of a tunable catalyst that mimics the function of an enzyme with high selectivity and conversion, but can operate at elevated temperatures with much higher efficiency than natural enzymes. Our conversion process can be completed within 12 hours compared to a few days for the slow enzymatic digestion process.
The catalytic activity can be tuned for the optimal production of sugars or platform chemicals. In addition, the membrane substrate can be selective for the removal of desired product to drive the conversion to completion. The whole system is designed to reduce a multi-step process into a one-pot, single-step reactor that can be completed in less than a day. Moreover, our catalyst is environmentally friendly and can be easily regenerated and reused.
The catalytic activity can be tuned for the optimal production of sugars or platform chemicals. In addition, the membrane substrate can be selective for the removal of desired product to drive the conversion to completion. The whole system is designed to reduce a multi-step process into a one-pot, single-step reactor that can be completed in less than a day. Moreover, our catalyst is environmentally friendly and can be easily regenerated and reused.
Key Technological Advantages
SIEV's technology offers multiple competitive advantages over other biomass conversion technologies:
- We utilize low value biomass waste feedstock that does not compete with the food supply and are easily available.
- Our catalyst is tunable and can target different products.
- Our membrane catalyst is non-toxic, environmentally friendly, robust, and reusable.
- Our one-pot process is efficient and can be completed in less than a day.
- Our process has low operating/production costs per pound of product produced.
- Our bio-based products are cost-competitive with petroleum-based chemicals.
Sustainable Biomass Feedstock
Our technology is tuned to handle a variety of biomass sources. This not only allows our solution to be highly versatile, but it helps decrease biomass waste and divert as much material away from landfills.
Patents
Our patented technology was developed through National Science Foundation (NSF) funded research. Below is a list of current issued and pending patents:
- Wickramasinghe, R., et al., (2016). Catalytic membranes and application thereof. (U.S. Patent No. 9339803B2). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
- Wickramasinghe, R., et al., (2018). Catalytic membranes and application thereof. (U.S. Patent No. 10118168B2). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
- Wickramasinghe, R., et al., (2021). Catalytic membranes and application thereof. (E.U. Patent No. EP2773458B). European Patent Office.
- PENDING - Catalytic membranes and application thereof. (U.S. Patent No. US2016/0256861 A1). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
