UTPA discovery streamlines nanofiber process

They’re smaller than a human hair, but they could mean the world for the University of Texas Pan-American.

Nanofibers, which are invisible to the naked eye, are threads of materials that are one billionth of a meter in size that have led to breakthroughs in clothing, medicine and in just about every other industry.

The conventional process to create nanofibers is expensive, time-consuming and uses a lot of electricity.

On Monday, researchers unvieled a process that eliminates the electricity and relies on gravity to spin the tiny particles together on a spindle like cotton candy at the county fair.

Researchers announced their plan to market the new production process they say will revolutionize nano-fiber fabrication and put the Rio Grande Valley on the map for high-tech companies.

“We’re opening up the door,” said Karen Lozano, a mechanical engineer at UTPA and one of the technology’s creators.

The launching of a business to market the product is a promise kept by the university to develop technology-based economic development, use its intellectual assets and provide research opportunities to its undergraduate and graduate students, said UTPA’s interim president Charles A. Sorber.

“Bottom line is that the commercialization of this teamwork will mean cost-effective products, better engineering of products and ultimately — and perhaps more importantly — jobs for the region,” Sorber said.

The patent is still pending and they’ve only developed one prototype machine so far; that machine will be further refined and marketed to academic researchers by FibeRio, a private company led by Ellery Buchanan, a veteran corporate figure of the nanotechnology industry.

Its creators, mechanical engineering professors Lozano and Kamal Sarkar, said received their inspiration from unlikely sources: Lozano came up with an idea after getting cotton candy with her children and Sarkar noticed a spider spinning a web in his backyard.

“If they can make it why should I not,” Sarkar said.

They pulled in undergraduate and graduate students to assist them in the research and development so that students would receive hands-on experience.

“UT Pan-Am … not only do we do great work educating undergraduates, we’re also actively engaging them in research,” Lozano said. That research will give them an advantage over their peers when applying for a job or graduate school.

The professors said the uses of nanofibers are limitless; they can be used to create special fabrics, treat wounds or filter gas and other liquids.

Besides developing a new technology that can aid numerous industries, Sarkar said he was also happy to achieve his goals in providing practical applications in engineering to his students and providing opportunities for alumni so they don’t have to leave the Valley for work.

Undergraduate students Steve Zambrano and Carlos Gomez said they were nervous when first asked to participate in the research project, but were honored to be a part of it.

“One of the biggest challenges was how to make it work, since no one had done this before,” said Gomez, a 21-year-old senior. “It’s really exciting to know (how to) take a really simple idea from a simple machine … and produce nanofibers.”

Buchanan said eventually a larger version of the machine will be made for industrial use, capable of producing up to eight times more nanofibers than current technology, and the process will be sold for use in factories around the world. If the process proves popular, it could redefine the Valley as a high-tech destination, something local economic development officials have long aspired to do, Buchanan said.

“I don’t believe that is unrealistic,” Buchanan said. “The companies are already here. We have the university.”
But before such a fundamental change could even begin to take place, FibeRio must get academic researchers to use the machine and figure out how it can best be put to use in industrial processes.

“Secure orders for the equipment, that would be the next step as well,” Buchanan said.

By 2014, FibeRio expects to create 110 jobs and generate about $84 million in net revenue. UTPA has an equity share in the business. The inventors will also have equity in the company and share in 50 percent of the royalties. Buchanan’s pay will be the return on his own shares in FibeRio, the university said.

Sean Gaffney covers business, the economy and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4434.

Jennifer L. Berghom covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4462.