About Us

Mission

Our mission is to address complex environmental challenges and mitigate global warming through sustainable engineering. We develop and transform novel technologies into commercial solutions for separating and recycling complex chemical mixtures.

Vision

We envision a world where engineering excellence drives sustainability by creating true circular economies for industrial chemicals, transforming waste into valuable materials and minimizing their negative environmental impacts. Icorium is committed to pioneering sustainable engineering practices that redefine industries and leveraging technology to solve complex environmental challenges.

Values

Our Story

Founded in 2022 by researchers at the University of Kansas, Icorium is developing commercial solutions to enable and incentivize circular economies for refrigerants and other valuable, environmentally critical materials. The company’s novel ionic liquid separation technologies build on cutting-edge academic research that began in 2019 at KU’s Institute for Sustainable Engineering under Project EARTH (Environmentally Applied Research Toward Hydrofluorocarbons). The NSF funded project focused on identifying sustainable processes for the selective separation of hydrofluorocarbon refrigerant mixtures. 

Located directly adjacent to the KU Campus in Lawrence at the KU Innovation Park, Icorium maintains a close strategic relationship with the University as it works to translate academic research into commercial-scale climate-tech solutions, to build inclusive and sustainability-driven communities of innovation, and to create entrepreneurial opportunities for promising young scientists and engineers.

In 2023, Icorium was awarded an NSF Phase I STTR, focused on complex modeling and pilot-scale separation of commercial refrigerant mixtures using extractive distillation with ionic liquids.

Our Team

Kalin Baca, PhD, MBA

Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer

A chemical engineer, entrepreneur, and advocate for sustainable engineering practices, Kalin has been recognized for her substantial contributions in research, innovation, and leadership. Graduating with honors from the University of Kansas with a Ph.D in Chemical Engineering, she is a leading expert on ionic liquid separation and an originator of Icorium’s core technologies. Her academic research focused on investigating the role of ionic liquids in separating azeotropic refrigerant mixtures using extractive distillation, and her impactful research has resulted in over 15 technical talks, numerous publications, and participation in national programs like NSF I-CORPs. Prior to her time at KU, she earned her MS in Chemical Engineering, BS in Chemical Engineering, and MBA from the University of New Mexico. Kalin’s career also includes a tenure at Sandia National Laboratories, where she contributed to an R&D 100 Award-winning team for a groundbreaking 3D X-Ray Phase Contrast Imaging System. In addition to being a a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and stickler for the wearing of safety goggles, Kalin is a committed advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusivity in communities of innovation, and for the advancement of women in STEM and entrepreneurship. While at KU, Kalin served as President of the Graduate Engineering Association and was a participant in KU’s prestigious Self Graduate Fellows program for promising graduate student leaders.

Kalin Baca, PhD, MBA

Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer

Mark Shiflett, PhD, PE

Co-Founder & Chief Science Officer

A Distinguished Foundation Professor in the School of Engineering at the University of Kansas (KU), where his research focuses on developing environmentally friendly, energy efficient processes and products for the chemical industry. Dr. Shiflett received his Ph.D and MS degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware in 2001 and 1998, and his BS degree in chemical engineering from N.C. State University in 1989. He retired from the DuPont Company after 28 years in 2016 as a Technical Fellow in the Central Research and Development Organization at DuPont’s Experimental Station in Wilmington, Delaware. He also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Delaware in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Dr. Shiflett is an inventor on 46 U.S. patents and has published over 130 articles on his research at DuPont. He was awarded the DuPont Bolton Carothers (2005), ACS Hero of Chemistry (2006), and University of Delaware Presidential Citation (2007) for his development of hydrofluorocarbon refrigerant mixtures to replace CFCs, which were linked to the depletion of the Earth’s ozone layer. Dr. Shiflett was elected in 2014 as a Fellow in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers a Division Fellow in the American Chemical Society in 2016. He received the American Institute of Chemical Engineers award for Industrial Research in 2016 for the development of non-ozone-depleting refrigerants leading to the healing of the ozone layer, discovery of new applications for ionic liquids, an environmentally friendly TiO2 process, and for his commitment to the education and mentorship of the next generation of chemical engineers.

Mark Shiflett, PhD, PE

Co-Founder & Chief Science Officer

Erik Blume, JD, MBA, PMP

Chief Strategy Officer

Icorium’s Chief Strategy Officer and General Counsel, Erik received both his Juris Doctorate with a certificate in Business and Commercial Law, and his MBA with a focus on Entrepreneurship in 2019 from the University of Kansas. Erik brings nearly a decade of experience in technology commercialization and entrepreneurship as a startup founder, advisor, and consultant. Prior to joining Icorium, Erik served as Founder and Principal at Liminix Consulting, a small business and startup consulting firm supporting early-stage companies commercializing technologies in biotech, sustainable engineering, and applied physics. Before founding Liminix, Erik spent six years at the KU Innovation Park, where he provided business guidance and technical support to dozens of early-stage companies, first as a Business Analyst, then as Director of Business Management Services. Before leaving the Park to found Liminix, he served as Vice President of Business Resources, leading the organization’s transition from the Bioscience and Technology Business Center to the KU Innovation Park, and developing and implementing a diverse portfolio of resources and programming supporting early-stage bioscience and technology companies supported by more than $12M in federal grant funding. A recovering jazz musician, Erik holds a B.Mus in saxophone performance from the University of Idaho and an MA in Jazz Studies from the University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory.

Erik Blume, JD, MBA

Chief Strategy Officer

Michael Lundin, PhD

R&D Engineer

Dr. Lundin is a Senior Process Research Engineer at KU’s Institute for Sustainable Engineering and oversees the modeling, simulation, and design work for Icorium’s collaborative research with KU related to Icorium’s pilot-scale separation projects. Before joining KU, Dr. Lundin received his BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Kentucky in 2003, during which time he worked at the Center for Applied Energy Research designing and building the control and data acquisition systems for an iron catalyst-based Fisher-Tropsch pilot plant. In 2009 he earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from University of Notre Dame, where his work focused on modeling bubble coalescence in the multi-phase flows present in direct methanol fuel cells. He then joined KU’s Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysts, where he led collaborative research and development projects with private industry, ranging from a collaborations with Archer Daniels Midland Company to investigate the use of liquid CO2 as a medium for the ozonolysis of fatty acid methyl esters, to a project with W.R. Grace & Co. investigating the modification of microporous catalysts for enhancing the yields and directing selectivity in the synthesis of pyridines using a fluidized bed reactor.

Michael Lundin, PhD

Process Systems Engineer

Abby Harders

R&D Engineer

Abby graduated summa cum laude from Bethel College in 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry and Mathematics. She is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Kansas in the Shiflett Research Group. Abby is a member of Project EARTH, a project focused on identifying sustainable processes for the selective separation of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerant mixtures. Her research is centered on using membranes for the separation of HFC mixtures that contribute to global warming.

Abby Harders

R&D Engineer

Irene Xu

R&D Engineering Intern

Irene is an Undergraduate R&D Engineering Intern with Icorium and a class of 2026 SELF Fellow studying chemical engineering at KU. Prior to joining the Icorium team, Irene worked as an undergraduate researcher at KU’s Wonderful Institute for Sustainable Engineering working on Project EARTH (Environmentally Applied Research Toward Hydrofluorocarbons). Irene also serves as the Community Relations Coordinator for The Big Event at KU.

Irene Xu

R&D Engineering Intern

Luke Wallisch

R&D Engineering Intern

Luke is an Undergraduate R&D Engineering intern with Icorium and a class of 2024 mechanical engineering student at KU. Before joining Icorium, Luke worked as an R&D intern at 3M, in addition to a role as an undergraduate researcher at KU’s Wonderful Institute for Sustainable Engineering working on Project EARTH (Environmentally Applied Research Toward Hydrofluorocarbons) researching sustainable refrigerant gas separation using membranes.

Luke Wallisch

R&D Engineering Intern

Jeremy Patt, PhD

Advisor

Dr. Jeremy Patt has 20 years of experience in the chemical industry at Fortune 500 companies and venture-backed start-ups. In the last 15 years, he has held global leadership positions in building and advancing research programs, pilot plants, and first-of-kind manufacturing plants.  Jeremy has led and developed successful commercialization processes across a broad range of technologies, including high-volume chemical production, catalysis, adsorption, extraction, membranes, solids handling, and water treatment. He earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan and is an inventor on 17 U.S. patents.  Jeremy serves as CTO of Summit Nanotech, which uses its patented direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology to produce lithium in a way that supports making energy transition accessible for all.

Jeremy Patt, PhD

Advisor

Ted Atwood

Advisor

Ted Atwood is a serial entrepreneur, experienced executive, and a leading voice in the HVAC sustainability space. Ted founded Polar Technology in 1994, which grew to be one of the largest refrigerant reclamation companies in the United States. Focused on minimizing refrigerant emissions and enhancing tracking for sustainability, Polar Technology had grown to 11 recycling facilities across the US and internationally prior to its acquisition by Hudson Technologies in 2015. Ted then founded Trakref™, a software corporation delivering global sustainability solutions for tracking and regulatory compliance, which was acquired by facilities management platform, Fexa™, in 2023. Most recently, Ted co-founded consulting firm Carbon Connection, which helps companies bridge the gap between operational data and reporting with a focus on HVAC/R F-gas and refrigerant materials. 

Ted Atwood

Advisor

Ken Gaglione, MBA

Advisor

Ken Gaglione brings a wealth of business development, marketing, and operations experience in the fields of semiconductor packaging, specialty chemicals, and refrigerant production and reclamation with Ciba-Geigy, Rohm & Haas, and Honeywell’s Fluorine products business, where he was the director of global marketing. Most recently, Ken was the Vice President of Operations for Hudson Technologies, the leading refrigerant reclaimer in the United States where he was responsible for a wide range of activity including the evolution of Hudson’s refrigerant separation strategy. Ken has his MBA from the University of California and BS in Chemistry from the State University of New York.

Ken Gaglione

Advisor

Barbara Minor

Advisor

Barbara Minor has spent more than 30 years developing non-ozone depleting and low global warming potential refrigerants for air conditioning and refrigeration applications. As a senior technical fellow for DuPont and later Chemours, she led development of OpteonTM yf for automotive air conditioning. With >99% lower GWP, it has been adopted by all major auto companies is used globally in millions of vehicles. Barbara went on to develop several stationary refrigerants which have been installed in thousands of building air conditioning and supermarket refrigeration systems around the world. She holds ~200 US patents and has many publications in the field. In 2018, she received the Perkin Medal for applied chemistry which is considered the highest honor in the US chemical industry.

Barbara Minor

Advisor