Category: Uncategorized

 Lawrence, KS — January 2025 — Icorium, has been named one of 10 Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2025 by Startland News. In its tenth year, the Startups to Watch list highlights 10 emerging companies and entrepreneurs expected to make headlines in the coming year. The ten finalists each year are narrowed from around… Read more

Lawrence, KS- Icorium Engineering Company, a climate-tech startup and University of Kansas spinout, announces the expansion of its R&D operations in Lawrence with the addition of two recent KU Chemical Engineering graduates. The additions bring Icorium’s headcount to seven employees, with its offices at the KU Innovation Park on KU’s West Campus.  Joining the company… Read more

Lawrence-based sustainable engineering startup and KU spinout company, Icorium Engineering, won 5th place overall and took home more than $180K in prizes at the prestigious Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC), held April 4-6th at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Icorium was one of only 42 teams selected from over 450 applicants to compete in the intense, multi-round pitch… Read more

The NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) is a federally funded program that teaches best practices in entrepreneurship to scientists, engineers, and researchers to speed commercialization of their research. Icorium co-founders Kalin Baca and Dr. Mark Shiflett, participated in the full academic I-Corps program in 2021, which led to the creation of the company the following year.… Read more

Article courtesy of KU Innovation Park Lawrence, Kan. – Icorium Engineering Company, a sustainable engineering startup and spin-out company from the University of Kansas, is one of just 42 student-led startups from around the world selected for the prestigious Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC). The competition, now in its 24th year, gives collegiate entrepreneurs real-world… Read more

Video and Article Courtesy of KU Innovation Park Staying cool is making us hot. And the demand isn’t cooling off, either. “Cooling protects people from rising temperatures, maintains food quality and safety, and keeps vaccines stable and economies productive,” states a report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Most hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants are greenhouse gases and have a… Read more

Sustainable engineering startup and University of Kanas spinout, Icorium Engineering Company, announces the addition of Erik Blume as Chief Strategy Officer. Blume joins the company as it prepares to rapidly scale its R&D operations in Lawrence and will focus on building operations while developing commercial opportunities surrounding the company’s core technologies. Blume, who has worked… Read more

Under the next stage of the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act’s hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) phase-down, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is calling for the reduction of many of the common commercial refrigerants, including R-404A, which is widely used in low to medium-temperature commercial refrigeration in supermarkets, vending machines, and refrigerated transport. Due to its high Global… Read more

The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) implementation of the next stage of the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act calls for the phased reduction of several refrigerant mixtures with high Global Warming Potential (GWP). GWP is a standard measure of the impact a greenhouse gas has on the environment as compared with carbon dioxide (CO2). A kilogram… Read more

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to implement the phase-down of high-GWP refrigerants enacted by the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act. 2023 marked the beginning of the phase-out of the commonly used refrigerant R-410A in new HVAC systems. R-410A is to be replaced with new HFO/HFC refrigerant blends that are A2L class refrigerants… Read more

Recent KU PhD graduate, Dr. Kalin Baca, has taken the helm of sustainable engineering startup and KU spinout, Icorium Engineering Company, as its Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Baca, who co-founded the company as a PhD student in 2022 along with KU Professor Mark Shiflett, will begin to build the company as she leads R&D efforts… Read more

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has implemented the next stage of the HFC phase out enacted by the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act. The start of 2023 prompted the phase out of commonly used HFC refrigerants including the following mixtures: R-410A, R-404A, and R-507. This phase out will impact industries and households that currently… Read more

Fifteen regional candidates competed for $100K in cash prizes at the National Pitch Event in Austin, Texas on April 3rd, with three finalists. First place went to Team Heliotrope from New York University for efficiency-boosting coatings that increase solar panel efficiency by 10-15%. Second Place went to Team ReLi from the University of Virginia for… Read more

Icorium Engineering Company, a sustainable engineering startup and University of Kansas (KU) spinout, announced today that it has been awarded a one-year Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Icorium researchers will use the $275,000 award to develop proof-of-concept for the separation of commercial refrigerant mixtures using extractive… Read more