Feature Story | Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne seeks partners to commercialize Oleo Sponge technology
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory seeks partners to commercialize the Oleo Sponge, its award-winning, patent pending oil-sorbent technology.
Oleo Sponge can be wrung out, the oil collected, and the material reused — it has stood up to dozens of cycles so far without exhibiting any degradation in performance. (Image by Argonne National Laboratory; click to view larger.)
Oleo Sponge consists of common foam, treated by a chemical process that makes the foam fibers attract oil and shed water. Argonne currently makes Oleo Sponge in small quantities for research studies, using two key processes: sequential infiltration synthesis (SIS) and silanization. The technology holds significant promise for a host of potential applications.
Broadly, the partner’s role will be to:
- Define target market applications and relevant product(s) that embody the Oleo Sponge technology
- Enable technology scale-up, manufacturing and product-market introduction
- Deliver commercial impact from the technology — such as domestic manufacturing and U.S. jobs
Argonne seeks to work with a qualified partner that provides a commercialization plan with clear milestones. The ideal partner will have relevant expertise and a successful track record in taking early stage technology to market. Agreements may include up to term-limited exclusive commercialization rights within agreed-upon fields of use. Agreements will include objective diligences linked to milestones that demonstrate commercialization progress.
Argonne asks that interested parties contact partners@anl.gov. In addition, please review the Licensing Guide on the DOE webpage. Although specific language of terms and conditions may vary, the guide provides a general description that may be useful in clarifying expectations.
Preliminary research and development results on Oleo Sponge were published in a study in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A, titled “Advanced oil sorbents using sequential infiltration synthesis.”
The original research to develop Oleo Sponge was funded by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. The team used resources of the Center for Nanoscale Materials, a DOE Office of Science User Facility, in the development of the material.
Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology by conducting leading-edge basic and applied research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.