Active Solicitation · DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
AI Summary
The Department of Energy is offering a technology licensing opportunity for bio-derived phytol chemical herders, effective in oil spill response. These surfactants, made from renewable components, demonstrate competitive performance and reduced environmental impact. Interested parties can explore licensing options through Los Alamos National Laboratory to enhance their product offerings.
High-Performance Marine Oil Spill Response Technology
Chemical herders are surfactants applied to the water surface surrounding an oil slick. By reducing water surface tension and creating interfacial spreading pressure, herders drive thin oil films into thicker slicks that can be more readily burned or mechanically recovered. This approach is especially valuable for remote spills where physical recovery methods are impractical.
Bio-Derived Phytol Chemical Herders from Los Alamos National Laboratory introduces a new family of surfactants built from two renewable components: (1) phytol, a long-chain alcohol and major component of chlorophyll, used as the hydrophobic tail; and (2) sugar alcohols, used as the polar head group. These compounds have been demonstrated as effective chemical herders and shown to compete with commercially available/approved herders such as ThickSlick 6535 and Siltech OP-40. The synthesis is described as operationally simple and high-yielding, supporting practical scale-up and manufacturing transfer.
Advantages:
Technology Description:
Bio-Derived Phytol Chemical Herders covers a family of amphiphilic molecules engineered for interfacial activity at the oil–water boundary. Each molecule combines:
Upon application to the water surface adjacent to an oil slick, these surfactants preferentially spread at the air–water interface, lowering local surface tension and generating a lateral driving force that compacts the oil layer into a thicker slick. The invention emphasizes renewable sourcing and reduced ecological burden relative to legacy herders that are known to be non-biodegradable and prone to bioaccumulation.
The disclosed work reports that the phytol–sugar alcohol surfactants have been demonstrated as effective chemical herders, with performance competitive with commercial benchmarks and with improved herding rate relative to earlier phytol-based approaches. The family nature of the chemistry provides room to tune headgroup identity and amphiphile balance to optimize spreading behavior and operational performance, while keeping the overall design within a renewable, environmentally considerate chemical space.
Market Applications:
Development Status: TRL 4
US Patent pending
LA-UR-26-23633
LANL Tech Partnerships: Unlock the Innovative Potential
Los Alamos National Laboratory offers a wide range of cutting-edge technologies and capabilities that may provide your company with a competitive edge in the market and unlock the innovative potential that can enhance, refine, and revolutionize your products.
LANL’s licensing program focuses on moving inventions developed by our researchers to commercial innovations. Patented and patent pending inventions and copyrighted software are available to existing and start-up companies through exclusive and non-exclusive licensing agreements. For specific discussions, please contact licensing@lanl.gov.
Note: This is not a call for external services for the development of this technology.
https://www.lanl.gov/engage/collaboration/feynman-center/partner-with-us/licensing-technology
m.lanl.gov/tech-search
TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY: BIO-DERIVED PHYTOL CHEMICAL HERDERS is a federal acquisition solicitation issued by DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY. Review the full description, attachments, and submission requirements on SamSearch before the response deadline.
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