A number of research projects dealing with supercritical fluid technology to various chemical processes have been carried out. The chemical processes and unit operations of interest include low temperature polymer blending, polymerization in a supercritical fluid medium, copolymerization, infusion, elastomerization, foaming, encapsulation, diffusive drying, catalyst defouling, VOC removal, selective and destructive extraction, redox reaction, supercritical water oxidation, controlled partial oxidation, hazardous waste destruction, and soil decontamination.

Sponsors include Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., BFGoodrich Co., PPG Industries, Kimberly-Clark, Zeon Chemicals, Dow Chemical, Elf Atochem, Ohio Coal Development Office, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Geon Co., and others. In June 1996, the State of Ohio awarded a major research funding of $1,647,000 for the Ohio Consortium for Supercritical Fluid Technology, for which Dr. Lee served as the Principal Investigator and Project Director.

Specific technologies from the aforementioned list of supercritical fluid research expertise that are available for licensing from the University of Akron through Temarex Corporation include:

Specific technologies in the supercritical fluid technology that are available for licensing from the University of Missouri include:

The supercritical fluid technology has become a much more versatile technology that can handle a variety of difficult problems in separation, reaction, material processing, blending, cleansing, leaching & extraction, drying, distillation, and crystallization. Our team has done pioneering work in many of these processes that are commercially exploited. Some of the work has been published in the open literature. A number of U. S. and international patents have been obtained for several of these technologies. Some of the most difficult processing using the conventional means may be rather easily handled in an environmentally friendly manner using a custom-designed supercritical fluid technology.