Bio
Dr. Syed Islam is a Staff Scientist in the Chemical Sciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Dr. Islam has a wide range of research interests including novel advanced materials and energy-efficient processes for energy technologies. The focus of his research is the development of energy-efficient, cost-effective and scalable separation technologies for various applications, including gas separations, separation and recovery of critical materials, and bioenergy separation. This also includes the recovery and separation of critical materials such as rare earth elements and lithium ion battery materials, semiconductor materials and bioenergy separations. Four of the technologies that Dr. Islam co-invented have been licensed to different industries for commercialization. Dr. Islam received 2024 R&D100 Award, and the ORNL Innovation Award in 2020 and 2023.
Professional Experience
- Separation Scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory April 2024 - Present
- R&D Associate Staff Scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory January 2021 - March 2024
- Postdoctoral Research Associate, Oak Ridge National Laboratory August 2018- December 2020
- Postdoctoral Research Associate, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) August 2017 – July 2018
Awards
- 2024 R&D100 Award (Direct Lithium Extraction Sorbents)
- 2024 R&D100 Award Finalist (Membrane Solvent Extraction (MSX) Technology for Critical Battery Materials Recycling)
- 2023 ORNL Innovation Award
- 2023 Best Paper Award, Advanced Engineering Materials
- 2020 ORNL Innovation Award
- Best Lightning Talk Award, 7th Annual Oak Ridge Postdoctoral Association Research Symposium, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 2019.
- Outstanding Graduate Student Award, University of Kentucky, 2017.
- Outstanding Poster Presentation Award, KY NSF EPSCoR Super Collider Symposium, Lexington, KY, 2017.
- Dissertation Enhancement Award, University of Kentucky, 2016.
- North American Membrane Society Student Stipend Award, 2016.
- Center of Membrane Sciences 2016 Ph.D. Student Fellow Award, University of Kentucky, 2016.
- Selected for 18th U.S. National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering, ORNL, ANL and DOE, 2016.
- 1st Place Poster Award, Chemical and Materials Engineering Symposium, University of Kentucky, 2015.
- University of Kentucky Graduate School Travel Award, 2014-2016.
Education
Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, 2017
University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
M.S., Chemical Engineering, 2012
North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC
B.Sc., Chemical Engineering March 2009
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Professional Affiliations
American Institute of Chemical Engineers
North American Membrane Society
Trademarks and Patents
Syed Z. Islam, Donga Kang, Blake Trusty, Shailesh Dangwal, Zachary Coin, Ramesh Bhave, A novel method for high purity rare earth elements separation from mining tailing feedstocks, ORNL Patent ID: 81969351, October, 2025
Md A. Rahman, Syed Z. Islam, Mary Danielson, Nicholas Gregorich, Sorbent contactor for carbon dioxide capture from water, U.S. Patent Appl No: 19/215,755, May 2025.
Ramesh Bhave, Shailesh Dangwal, Syed Z. Islam, Preston Bryant, A novel membrane solvent extraction system for the separation of high purity lithium, U.S. Provisional Patent Appl. No: 63/800,490, May 2025.
Ramesh Bhave, Syed Z. Islam, Priyesh Wagh, Separation of critical battery materials from end-of-life sources, U.S. Patent Appl No: 19/083,978, March 2025.
Syed Z. Islam, Ramesh R. Bhave, Membrane contactor for energy-efficient CO2 capture from point sources with physical solvents, U.S. Patent Appl No. 18/785,093, July 26, 2024.
Ramesh R. Bhave, Vishwanath Deshmane, Nicholas N. Linneen, Stephen Harrison, Mariappan Paranthaman, Bruce A. Moyer, Syed Z. Islam, Forward osmosis composite membranes for concentration of lithium containing solutions, U.S. Patent No. 12,030,017 B2, July 9, 2024.
Ramesh Bhave, Syed Z. Islam, M. Parans Paranthaman, Priyesh Wagh, A novel energy efficient membrane solvent extraction process for separation of lithium from geothermal brines, U.S. Patent Appl No. 18/734,407, June 5, 2024.
Ramesh Bhave, Syed Z. Islam, and Priyesh Wagh, Recovery of critical elements from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries with supported membrane solvent extraction. U.S. Patent 11,811,035 B2, November 7, 2023.
Ramesh R. Bhave, Syed Z. Islam, Priyesh A. Wagh, Method of concentrating lithium-containing solutions and recovering lithium therefrom, U.S. Patent Appl. No. 17/836,088, June 9, 2022.
Ramesh Bhave, Syed Z. Islam, Vishwanath Deshmane, Separation of rare earth elements using supported membrane solvent extraction, U.S. Patent 11,293,078 B2, April 5, 2022.