Green Rice Patents for Earth Day

Rice has made clear an interest in green tech and taking part in working to avert an imminent climate disaster over the past few years. From modernizing dining to committing to becoming carbon-neutral in the near future, environmentally-minded initiatives are found across campus. 

Research and innovation are important players in this endeavor, resulting in green tech patents.

Most of the Rice inventions are focused on alleviating some problematic areas of growing concern and potential future major concern. They range from reducing waste, improving solar power, and addressing the growing demand for clean, potable water.

For Earth Day 2023, let's look at a few recent patents and patent applications for eco-friendly Rice inventions. 

First is a patent that should be familiar to anyone who frequents Fondren Library's first floor exhibition area. US Patent 11,331,627, Use of surface modified porous membranes for fluid distillation, is one of the featured inventions patented in 2022. I corresponded with the lead inventor, Dr. Qilin Li, who provided some background information and art for the exhibit. She and her team build a device that uses solar or thermal power to distill, and therefore purify or clean, fluids like water. Its relatively small size and portability and the self-contained renewable power source make for a viable solution for those in remote, water-insecure areas. 

Up second is recently-granted patent US 11,591,670, Recycling Li-ion batteries using green chemicals and processes. A team of inventors discovered a way to extract the valuable minerals from used Lithium ion batteries with a solvent made from commonly-available products that is relatively harmless. It is effective on cobalt and lithium, but cobalt was prioritized.

Photo by Jeff Fitlow for Rice News

The ability to recapture metals that may become environmental contaminants otherwise--and in the case of cobalt, scarcer and harder to obtain initially--helps reduce both waste and the need for mining and manufacturing new materials. This process was featured in a Rice News story in 2019, but it can take years to complete the examination process. The patent was just granted this February. 

Two patent applications in the process of examination promise advancements in green technology. 

Patent Application 2022/0007692, Poly-albumen based green coating to enhance shelf life of perishable foods aims to not only decrease the amount of waste we produce, but through a method that does not rely on highly manufactured products. A film coating is applied to fruits and vegetables, formed from egg-derived polymers. This coating is washable, edible, and the materials come from cheap, readily available products or even waste. It's a viable method to prevent food waste before anything becomes a meal.

A diagram of the process from the patent application

A second promising invention is behind patent Application 2023/0114948, Conductive adhesive-barrier enabling integrated photoelectrodes for solar fuels. It is for an improvement in capturing energy fuels using solar energy, by transforming abundant resources like water, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen. Renewable and sustainable sources of energy are integral to even partially mitigating climate change. 

A diagram of the conductive adhesive-barrier from the patent application

Check out all four of these inventions, and then get out there and make your own changes!