Technology

Mesoporous materials have several attractive properties including ordered pore structures, very high specific surface areas, and the potential to synthesize the materials in a wide range of morphologies such as spheres rods, discs, and powders. Mesoporous materials with uniform and tailorable pore dimensions with high surface areas are currently being employed in a number of applications including use in waste water remediation, indoor air cleaning, catalysis, bio-catalysis, drug delivery, CO2 capture, and bioanalytical sample preparation.

However, challenges remain in making the industrial synthesis of mesoporous materials cost effective. Currently the synthesis of mesoporous materials involved use of templates which add steps and costs to the manufacturing of these resins.

To that end, the inventors in this disclosure have disclosed a simplified method to produce ordered mesoporous resin without using any template at low temperature (120 °C). This method not only reduces processing cost but can use many different types of reactors, such as fluidized, packed or micro. The ordered mesoporous resin produced by this method is low-cost and scalable yet contains high surface area, large pore size and volume for the development of eco-friendly commercial products.

Potential Application

Mesoporous resin has a wide variety of application in a broad number of fields but have been hindered by cost challenges in scaling up the manufacturing process.  This method enables cost effective large-scale manufacturing of mesoporous resin. 

Opportunity

Among the many markets for mesoporous resins,  two potential markets for the mesoporous resin material, namely carbon dioxide sequestration and for use as a catalyst, are particularly large. The global carbon capture & sequestration market was estimated to be at 4.25 Billion USD in 2016 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 13.6% from 2016 to 2021 reaching 8.05 Billion USD by 2021. Factors such as the growing demand for power & CO2-enhanced oil recovery techniques and rising environmental concerns worldwide drive this market growth. 

Rowan University is looking for a partner for further development and commercialization of this technology through a license.