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 clean 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 such as CO2 capture, 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 battery materials, and bioenergy separations for sustainable aviation fuel. Three of the technologies he co-invented have been licensed to three different industries for commercialization. Dr. Islam received 2024 R&D100 Award, and the ORNL Innovation Award in 2020 and 2023.
Professional Experience
- R&D Staff 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
Shailesh Dangwal, Syed Z. Islam, Ramesh R. Bhave, Blake Trusty, A novel membrane contactor based liquid-liquid extraction process for biofuel separation and recovery from fermentation broth for sustainable aviation fuel, 63/713,253, October 2024.
Syed Z. Islam, Ramesh R. Bhave, Membrane contactor for energy-efficient CO2 capture from point sources with physical solvents, U.S. Patent Application 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. non-provisional patent application No. 18/734,407, June 5, 2024.
Anisur Rahman, Mary Danielson, Nicholas Gregorich, Syed Z. Islam, CO2 Capture from seawater by a novel contactor, U.S. provisional patent application No: 63/650,928, May 23, 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 Bhave, Priyesh Wagh, Syed Z. Islam, A novel efficient process for separation of critical materials from primary and secondary sources, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No: 81949362, March 2024.
Ramesh R. Bhave, Syed Z. Islam, Priyesh A. Wagh, Method of concentrating lithium-containing solutions and recovering lithium therefrom, U.S. Patent Application 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.