TECH OFFERS

Anti-corrosion coatings have attracted tremendous attention due to their significant safety, financial, and environmental impacts. However, the protective coatings are highly susceptible to damage during transport, installation, and service. The detection of initial micro-cracks is very difficult, but the propagation of corrosion can be quite fast. Therefore, smart coating with self-healing function is a promising route to address the above challenges. The technology owner has developed a polymer-based hollow microcapsule that can release the active ingredients in response to external stimuli. Microcapsules encapsulated with corrosion inhibitors can be added as anti-corrosion additives in coating primer. In the presence of damage, microcapsules get activated and release corrosion inhibitors directly onto the corroding site to prevent the corrosion. This self-healing anti-corrosion coating can effectively extend materials’ lifetimes, reduce maintenance expenses, and enhance public safety. The advanced microcapsule technology can also largely reduce the content of toxic corrosion inhibitors by 90%, enabling an environmentally friendly coating solution. The technology owner is interested in IP licensing and R&D collaboration with industrial partners who are seeking self-healing smart coatings for corrosion protection. The microcapsule technology is also available for co-innovation in other applications, such as anti-fouling and agricultural pest control. The self-healing smart coating using microcapsule technology has the following features: Prevent corrosion even in case of pinhole damage, cracking, and scratching Preserve corrosion inhibitors in the coating to prolong the functional life Pre-synthesized microcapsules can be encapsulated with various corrosion inhibitors Cost-effective coating formulation with less corrosion inhibitor Environmentally friendly coating without heavy metals Adaptable to existing coating process without additional equipment This technology can be applied to metallic structures that require heavy duty corrosion protection. The potential applications include but are not limited to: Buildings and infrastructure (bridges and towers) Underground storage tanks and buried pipelines Offshore and submarine (ship hulls and underwater pipelines) Chemical and power plants (refining and processing equipment) Overhead distribution systems (electricity and telecommunication) Hot water and wastewater treatment facilities Customised formulations for different applications Reduce the content of corrosion inhibitors (~20% cost reduction) Increase the coating's functional life (2x life) Reduce maintenance costs Environmentally friendly The technology owner is interested in IP licensing and R&D collaboration with industrial partners who are seeking self-healing smart coatings for corrosion protection. The microcapsule technology is also available for co-innovation in other applications, such as anti-fouling and agricultural pest control. Anti-Corrosion Coating, Self-Healing, Microcapsule Technology, Smart Coating Materials, Nano Materials, Chemicals, Coatings & Paints, Manufacturing, Surface Finishing & Modification

Fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) is widely used for blast protection and structural reinforcement of concrete elements in buildings and infrastructure. However, conventional FRP solutions have limitations due to labour-intensive applications such as on-site preparation and resin mixing, inconsistent quality, long curing time, and low productivity. The technology is a glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) roll pre-saturated with a tacky resin system that can be easily applied to structural elements like “double-sided tape”. The resin-infused GFRP can fully cure in natural light within a few hours, strengthening the structure with only a marginal increase in wall thickness. A fire-retarding version of GFRP is also available. The GFRP solution is fast and efficient with minimal on-site tools and less dependent on workmanship skills. The technology is available for IP licensing and collaboration with industrial partners who are interested in adopting the fast-curing GFRP technology in their products and applications. The GFRP is a composite material made of glass fibres and a proprietary polymer resin that hardens only when exposed to light. The unique feature of polymer resin enables GFRP to be packed into a ready-to-use roll of sticky wrap. The technical features and specifications are listed as follows: GFRP can be easily applied like “double-sided tape” without additional equipment GFRP can fully cure in natural light within a few hours, forming a reinforcing shell of 1.2mm per layer Additional layers can be applied to meet the overall strength requirement Factory-controlled quality ensures consistent application compared to conventional methods GFRP has an ultimate tensile strength of 750MPa, a tensile modulus of 35GPa, and a pull-off strength of 5-5.8MPa This technology can be deployed in the building and construction industries. The potential applications are as follows:   Blast protection for critical infrastructure Roof reinforcement of ageing buildings Reinforcement of concrete columns and walls Strengthening of pre-cast members Repair of cracked concrete walls Repair of structures damaged by fire Repair of leaking pipes Fast curing system achieves full strength in 3 hours under suitable conditions Easy application without on-site mixing allows for a cleaner and tidier work site Up to 30% cost savings in time and manpower Factory-controlled quality ensures consistent application The technology is available for IP licensing and collaboration with industrial partners who are interested in adopting the fast-curing GFRP technology in their products and applications. Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer, Structural Strengthening, Blast Protection, Advanced Materials Materials, Composites, Chemicals, Polymers, Sustainability, Sustainable Living

Water-repellent materials have attracted a lot of attention due to their importance in various applications, such as oil-water separation for oil waste treatment, self-cleaning for corrosion prevention, and microfluidics for electronics and medical devices. Surface modification can be applied to existing materials to introduce water repellency. However, industrial applications of conventional methods are very limited due to low reaction efficiency, high costs of chemical reagents, and instability for recovery/reuse.  To overcome the limitations, the technology owner has developed a new photochemical coating technology using visible light as an excitation source and low-cost chemicals as raw material. The invented coating technology can transform a wide variety of materials into versatile functional materials with excellent water repellency and oil attraction, providing a cost-effective solution to fabricate water-repellent materials. The technology is available for IP licensing and R&D collaboration with industrial partners who are looking for a cost-effective solution for the development of water-repellent and oil-absorbing materials. The technology owner adopts a two-step photochemical coating method using low-cost chemicals and visible light. Surface pre-treatment has also been applied so the surface modification can be applied to a wide range of surfaces, such as paper, wood, glass, natural fibers, textiles, and cement-based materials.  The features of this technology are: Low-cost and readily accessible chemicals High effectiveness (less than 0.1 wt% of coating attached on the surface) Improved hydrophobic function compared to single-step thermal method Applicable to a wide range of natural and synthetic materials Produce patterned coating by using a suitable photomask This technology can be applied to the development of functional water-repellent materials with selective oil absorption. The potential applications include but are not limited to: Environmental sector: oil pollution treatment, remediation of marine oil spills Aquaculture industry: grease cleaning, oil waste treatment Food industry: aqueous/organic biphasic separation Construction industry: waterproof cement, exterior and interior decoration Water-repellent products: filter paper, cardboard, textile, plant-based and polymer-based sponge Cost-effective method using low-cost chemicals and visible light Applicable to a wide range of natural and synthetic materials Development of functional materials with water-repellency, selective oil-absorbing and self-cleaning properties  The technology is available for IP licensing and R&D collaboration with industrial partners who are looking for a cost-effective solution for the development of water-repellent and oil-absorbing materials. Chemicals, Coatings & Paints, Environment, Clean Air & Water, Filter Membrane & Absorption Material, Manufacturing, Surface Finishing & Modification

One-third of the food produced globally is lost or wasted. At the same time, millions of people are hungry and unable to afford a healthy diet. Having said that, food loss and waste could potentially impose food security and impact the world with nutrition, socioeconomic, and environmental issues.  This technology offer is a process technology that provides an efficient and environmentally friendly approach to utilise agri-food side stream and convert it to a valuable, high protein biomass. The technology develops precision approaches, i.e., the proper treatment methods for food sidestreams, specific separation means for target ingredients, suitable strains for protein production, and optimized operational conditions for the fermentation process. The process also utilises the inexpensive agri-food side stream as the novel feedstock for protein fermentation. The technology is available for R&D collaboration and test bedding, with partners that are interested in valorisation of food sidestreams to value-added edible protein. The technology owner is also keen to license and commercialize this technology. Some key features of the technology are as follows: - Bioconversion of food sidestreams to edible protein - Food sidestreams can be effectively treated to obtain the target ingredients - Suitable membrane technology separates target ingredients from treated food sidestreams efficiently - Specific strains can be isolated and used for the protein fermentation •         Food sidestreams treatment (enzymatic, physical and chemical methods) •         Membrane technology application (e.g., target ingredients separation) •         Strains isolation and culture •         Fermentation process optimisation •         Foods (e.g., alternative protein, sensory characteristic, nutritional benefit) •         Customised process and condition •         Environmentally sustainable food production through bioconversion •         Cost-efficient development with food sidestream as novel feedstock •         Scalable fermentation process •         CO2 mitigation by biomass growth which can lessen the environmental burden The technology is available for R&D collaboration and test bedding, with partners that are interested in valorisation of food sidestream to value-added edible protein. The technology owner is also keen to license and commercialize this technology. Foods, Ingredients, Waste Management & Recycling, Food & Agriculture Waste Management, Sustainability, Food Security

Keratins are naturally occurring proteins found in hair, feathers, wool and other external protective tissues of animals. They are highly abundant, naturally produced and generally underutilized. At the same time, keratins offer versatile chemical properties that allow interactions with themselves or with other materials to improve behaviour. The technology provider has developed sustainable, biodegradable plastic materials by upcycling keratins derived from hair and feathers. In the preliminary studies, the technology provider has found ways to produce films that have the potential to be used as packaging materials. These films do not disintegrate readily in water, yet they fully degrade in soil within a week. They can be made in combination with other waste-derived biopolymers to improve strength to meet the needs of specific use cases. This technology is available for R&D collaboration, IP licensing, or IP acquisition, with industrial partners who are looking for a green packaging solution and to explore specific-use-case products. The technology provider is also interested to collaborate with the OEM partners having the keratin extraction facility from feathers and hair for the deployment of this technology. Nature-derived material from waste streams (agricultural, livestock and human hair) Tunable strength, ~60% strength of PE film Stable in water over 3 weeks (hydrostability) Fully degraded in soil within 7 days at room temperature without the need for industrial facilities  Protein based film. Possibility to incorporate bioactive functionalities into the film Biodegradable packaging material- these films do not disintegrate readily in water, yet they fully degrade in soil within a week Biodegradable composites-  potential to be combined with existing biopolymers such as cellulose to make strong composites for food contacting packaging and utensils Sustainable upcycling of abundant waste streams Fully biodegradable in a short time within a natural environment Possibility to include bioactives This technology is available for R&D collaboration, IP licensing, or IP acquisition, with industrial partners who are looking for a green packaging solution and to explore specific-use-case products. The technology provider is also interested to collaborate with the OEM partners having the keratin extraction facility from feathers and hair for the deployment of this technology. Waste Management & Recycling, Food & Agriculture Waste Management, Sustainability, Circular Economy

Face anti-spoofing (FAS) has recently drawn increasing demand as one of the critical technologies for reliable and safe authentication systems to prevent fraudulent operations. Traditional FAS approaches become unreliable when more and more realistic presentation techniques emerge.  An artificial object like a photo, video, mask, or other substitute that imitates the unique biological properties of a person is presented to the biometric scanner.  Biological determination technology identifies physical traits as well as social and psychological conditions to determine the authenticity of a unique living person. Liveness detection is defined as biometric detection that can discriminate between the features of live skin and copies of those features in a fraction of a second. However, as every man-made solution can be defeated, efforts to enhance and improve liveness detection always remain a work in progress. This technology offer is an identification method which can prevent spoofing more robustly by providing multiple biological determination processes in an arbitrary order determined by the system. Thus, the probability of correctly guessing a unique pattern for performing biometric determination actions decreases exponentially, preventing the preparation of authentication presentation actions beforehand.    The technology prevents anti-spoofing by engaging the user in a few tasks. The system will instruct the user to follow through with a few sets of biological determination action items. During which the system captures face images at a predetermined frame rate to validate the expected outcome.  The biological determination action includes:  •    Face orientation •    Eye orientation •    Opening and closing state of eyes •    Opening and closing state of mouth •    Wearing and removing of spectacles •    Wearing and removing of masks The system can also include fake object detection by analysing the outer frame of the subject, e.g., photograph's outer frame that is not matching the rest of the background. Two or more biological determination factors can be selected randomly from multiple actions; in pre-defined or random order and validated based on the images captured during the process. In this case, the patterns for performing the actions increase exponentially by adjusting the number, content and execution order. This prevents the users from being able to prepare any artificial mode of authentication material in advance.     This technology offer can be adopted by software/application/system developers providing personal authentication functions, and potentially applied to the following systems:  Applications running on smartphones or computers - eKYC (electronic Know Your Customer)) Entrance control system Digital banking biometric verification (2FA) Social media/gaming/dating profile verification     This technology enables identification service providers the opportunity to further improve countermeasures against identity fraud using biometric liveness detection.  Compared to other anti-spoofing methodologies, this technology may provide more secure countermeasures by a combination of multiple biological determination processes as well as fake determination functions. The technology owner is interested in licensing to software /application developers providing facial authentication functions in various industries, e.g., access control, digital banking, social media profile, etc. anti-spoofing, anti-impersonation, identity verification, biological determination technology, living body Electronics, Sensors & Instrumentation, Infocomm, Security & Privacy, Big Data, Data Analytics, Data Mining & Data Visualisation, Embedded Systems

Mixed plastic waste is an abundant resource containing approximately 7-12 wt.% hydrogen (H2). Traditionally, hydrogen is produced from non-sustainable fossil feedstock, such as natural gas, coal and petroleum oil. This technology offer is a thermo-catalytic process that sustainably recovers hydrogen from plastic waste instead. During hydrogen recovery process, instead of releasing carbon dioxide (CO2) that causes greenhouse gas effect, the technology converts emissions into a form of solid carbon, called carbon nanotubes (CNT). Solid carbon is easier to store and handle compared to the gaseous carbon dioxide. Furthermore, carbon can be sold as an industrial feedstock for manufacturing of polymer composites, batteries, concrete, paints, and coatings. With over 150-190 million tonnes of mixed plastic waste ending up in landfills and our environment annually, the technology offers a sustainable solution for the elimination of plastic waste and decarbonization while providing a clean hydrogen supply. Thermo-catalytic production of hydrogen. The hydrogen gas stream produce contains a purity of 60 – 70 vol% for downstream applications. Further purification can be conveniently achieved by conventional separation technologies, such as membranes and pressure swing adsorption Output of hydrogen can be from 500 – 100 kg to 2500 – 5000 kg/day Mixed and contaminated plastic waste can be used as feedstock (eg. municipal plastic waste, flexible laminate packaging waste, marine plastic litter, sorted polyethylene and propylene waste etc.) Hydrogen recovery from plastic waste is up to 70-150 kg hydrogen from 1 tonne of plastic waste, depending on composition and purity of feedstock The maximum amount of greenhouse emissions that can be captured during hydrogen recovery are 2.5-3.4 tonnes CO2 equivalent per 1 tonne of treated plastic waste (subject to plastic waste composition). Carbon is captured in a solid form (CNT), which is easier to store than gaseous greenhouse gas emissions This technology offer is applicable for industries that are keen to recycle plastic waste or looking for alternative clean generation of hydrogen. The potential applications include: Plastic material reprocessing facilities Waste management companies Hydrogen production companies Sustainable production of hydrogen using plastics Reduction of plastic waste pollution No CO2 generated (carbon captured as CNT) Non-selective feedstock (mixed and contaminated plastics can be used) Hydrogen, Hydrogen recovery, Carbon capture, Storage, Decarbonisation, Plastic waste, Sustainability, Recycling, Energy Energy, Waste-to-Energy, Waste Management & Recycling, Sustainability, Circular Economy, Low Carbon Economy

Pre-combustion, post-combustion and oxyfuel combustion capturing from power plants and other industrial scale companies are the three current carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and separation technologies. Unlike liquid and membrane adsorbents, solid adsorbents have a wider temperature range of adsorption and can be safely disposed in the environment. The use of solid adsorbents in industrial exhaust gases has shown to be a successful method of trapping concentrated CO2 for later storage rather than direct emission to the environment. Recent investigations have identified magnesium oxide based (MgO) solid adsorbents as a potential material for CO2 capture at intermediate temperatures. Furthermore, magnesium (Mg) based minerals are nontoxic, abundant materials which can be prepared in large scale at relatively low cost. Even though MgO has a high theoretical CO2 capture capacity (1100 mg CO2/g sorbent), it underperforms in practical applications due to a limiting number of active CO2 capture sites. MgO reacts with CO2 to create MgCO3 in dry, high-temperature circumstances. The formation of such MgCO3 carbonates obstructs additional carbon lattice transit leads which lowers the total CO2 capture efficiency. This technology offer is an anion doping method of MgO at room temperature to prevent the formation of MgCO3. The novel MgO-Mg(OH)2 composite nanomaterial is formed via electrospinning technology and improves the overall efficiency of MgO as a CO2 capture material. The doping was carried out by electrospinning technology in accordance with thermodynamic and quantum mechanical principles to improve process temperature and dopant/H2O concentrations in MgO-H2O-MgX (X= 2Cl-, SO42-, and 2/3PO43-) ternary systems. These novel composites aim to prevent the formation of MgCO3 to unblock the bulk diffusion of CO2 on MgO sorbents at 30 ℃ under 1 atm, by using anion anion-doped CO2-philic MgO and CO2-phobic Mg(OH)2. This technology can therefore be used as a room temperature CO2 adsorbents for applications such as indoor CO2 monitoring sensors.  This technology can be used for the following applications. CO2 monitoring sensors Room temperature direct air CO2 capture Industrial processes where large-scale carbon capture has been demonstrated Commercial operation including coal gasification, ethanol production, fertilizer production, natural gas processing, refinery hydrogen production and coal-fired power generation Persistent atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases have now become a global issue, as they have a wide range of direct and indirect consequences on all living things on the planet. The most well-known result of this phenomenon is global warming, caused mainly by growing atmospheric CO2. CO2 is a major anthropogenic greenhouse gas, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States (NOAA) estimated that the average CO2 content in the atmosphere would be roughly 416.87 ppm at the end of December 2021, up from 338.80 ppm in 1980.  As a result, scientists are actively developing solutions to minimize CO2 levels in the atmosphere. The global carbon capture and storage market size was USD 2,784 million in 2021 and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 13.7% from 2022 to 2030 and reach USD 8,636 million by 2030. The key markets drivers are: The surging investment to develop new capturing facilities The increase in government initiatives to achieve net-zero emission rates in the future This technology addresses the limitation of MgO-based solid adsorbents and has the following advantages: Better carbon capture efficiency Cheaper than current CO2 adsorbent material The technology owner is looking for partners for R&D collaborations especially those who are interested in carbon capture materials such as power plants or CO2 monitoring systems. The owner is also keen to license this technology as well.   carbon capture, sustainability, environmental friendly Sustainability, Low Carbon Economy

Traditionally, companies which deploy various assets in the field have to manually locate them to either service them, or just to find out where they are to collect them. Examples of these assets could be movable types like supermarket trolleys, delivery vehicles, hospital wheelchairs, etc., or non-movable types like machinery and equipment. By attaching small, IoT-based tracking devices to these assets, the asset owner will be able to track and locate them automatically. In addition, the operating status and physical parameters of the asset can be measured by additional sensors embedded into the tracking device. These location and condition data gathered by the asset tracking device can enable further downstream decisions to be made. For example, process enhancement such as predictive maintenance, real-time inventory management, or a simple track and trace operation, etc. Human-based errors can be minimised, increasing operational efficiency. This technology offer is an IoT-based asset tracking device that is fully customisable to perform various additional sensing functions. The device is also capable of monitoring its own operating conditions and associated environmental parameters. The technology owner is keen to do R&D collaboration with application developers from industries such as asset management, equipment management, logistics and the hospitality industry. The main features of the asset tracker device are: Communications range up to 10 km (within cellular coverage) Temperature range between -40 to 80 deg Celsius Battery life of 5 years Communication using NB-IoT or LTE-M Cloud-based data storage Web-based dashboard Miniature, compact size  Adaptable for all kinds of sensors Automatic alerts using email and other messaging services if the location is out of range, exceeds the boundary conditions, and weak battery power  This technology offer can be deployed in the following applications. Logistics, Last-mile delivery Fleet management Equipment management Industrial automation This technology offer can be customised further to include other sensors and different communication protocols.  The asset tracking device offers: Ultra low power operation; long battery life of more than 5 years for certain deployments Fully customisable with various sensors and different communication protocols The technology owner is keen to do R&D collaboration with application developers from industries such as asset management, equipment management, logistics and the hospitality industry.   Electronics, Sensors & Instrumentation, Embedded Systems, Infocomm, Geoinformatics & Location-based Services