About Orion
Orion Polymer represents a strategic partnership between Dr. Chulsung Bae, a leading expert in ionic polymer chemistry and advanced materials science at Rensselaer Polytechnic University and Xergy Inc., a membrane technology company and one of the nation’s top innovators in the advanced energy solutions sector. Dr. Bae’s patents are licensed to Orion Polymer Corp.
Inventor, Owner
Dr. Bae is Ford Foundation Professor of chemistry at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Dr. Bae received a Ph.D. in chemistry at University of Southern California in 2002 under the guidance of G. K. Surya Prakash and Nobel Laureate George A. Olah. After postdoctoral research with John Hartwig at Yale University, he started independent academic career at University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) as an Assistant Professor in 2004. In 2012 Bae relocated his research group to RPI. Dr. Bae’s awards include New Investigator Award of UNLV (2005), National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2008), and RPI School of Science Outstanding Research Award (2016).
In 2017 Dr. Bae received a $2.5 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Products Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to develop innovative solid ion conducting materials for next generation renewable energy conversion and storage technology. Dr. Bae’s group has been supported by US Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, numerous private industries for development of ionic polymer materials that can play a key role in clean energy research and development.
Co-Owner, Manufacturer, Business Leader
Bamdad Bahar is currently president of Xergy Inc. A clean energy, high technology enterprise founded in 2009. Xergy is the world leader in the development and commercialization of advanced ionic membranes and devices based on these membranes – including electrochemical compressors and other electrochemical and pervaporation products. Xergy won the Industrial Partner Ecomagination award in 2011; and has been a finalist in numerous Cleantech awards globally.
Prior to starting Xergy Inc., Bamdad was the General Manager of Teledyne Energy Systems, a division of Teledyne Technologies Inc. Bamdad transformed this unit from a slow growth division to 20 times it`s valuation within 2 years while creating a unit of key strategic value to Teledyne Inc. Prior to joining Teledyne, Bamdad was the business leader of W.L. Gore’s Ion Transport Products unit, which he founded based on patents for products he co-invented for Fuel Cells and other electrochemical devices. He led the unit from zero to $20 Million in sales within 3 years with record profitability. The products based on his inventions have now generated over $1 Billion Dollars in revenue.
Bamdad has been an active member of the International Hydrogen Energy Association since 1982. He is the inventor or co-inventor of over 100 patents in the field of electrochemistry and membranes. He has a BSc (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering from Queen Mary College (1985), London University and an M.S. from Columbia University (New York, 1990). He was brought up internationally living in Brazil, Poland, Turkey, South Asia and the United Kingdom and is fluent in English, Farsi, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Manager
Cathryn Olsen is a former GE Global Research Center analytical chemist; a research scientist specializing in membrane technology for filtration, biomedical technology, and rapid disease detection devices (RDTs). She has been engaged in collaborations with NIH, CDC, UW, and the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation for membrane-based, in-the-field, rapid disease detection devices for Malaria, Flu A, Flu B, TB and co-infection.
Cathryn holds 15 patents covering high temperature thermoplastics, GE eVENT breathable, waterproof ePTFE, hydrophilic ePTFE for industrial applications, novel membrane test development, and biomedical filtration product improvements for monoclonal antibody cell culture cancer therapies.
Cathryn graduated from Syracuse University, has worked for Bristol Myers Squibb developing synthetic antibiotics, for GE Global Research, owned a Quality Inn for 14 years, and was a Principal Engineer at Global Foundries, standardizing the chem lab’s 325+ analyses and codified them in preparation for qualification as an autonomous vehicle chip production facility.
Cathryn joined Orion Polymer Corp, combining her years of diversified experience, to manage this exciting new ionomer company in July of 2019.
Orion TM1
- Orion TM1
- Orion BN2
- Orion FL1
- Orion SEBS chemicals
- Orion cationic polymers for PEM
Proven Superior Products
Orion Polymer’s TM1 alkaline exchange resin is the most remarkable team member, recently being analyzed by the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden CO, USA, in an independent, blind study, as being the ONLY durable membrane to withstand 80°C KOH for 1000h.
Orion TM1 membrane showed virtually NO degradation during 1000 hours of hot and harsh condition testing against over 50 globally-submitted membrane. See PPN5.
Orion’s BN2 membrane was the #2 polymer membrane out of 50+ for durability, ion conductivity, ion exchange capacity and other tested factors. See PPN4 in NREL.
Orion TM1 is commercially available in quantities of 10g to multi-kilogram. Ask for a quote today! Any quantity of anion exchange polymer or any size and length of membrane, or use the Orion shopping cart on the Products page.
Orion offers other anionic polymers, custom-made: Orion BN2, Orion FLN1, cationic polymers for PEM, and SEBS chemicals for water treatment.