Patents Examined by Douglas B Call
  • Patent number: 9827556
    Abstract: Disclosed is an exhaust gas purification catalyst carrier which includes a phosphate salt represented by formula: MPO4 (wherein M represents Y, La, or Al) or a zirconium phosphate represented by formula ZrP2O7; an exhaust gas purification catalyst containing a noble metal at least containing Rh and supported on the carrier; and an exhaust gas purification catalyst product having a catalyst support made of a ceramic or metallic material, and a layer of the exhaust gas purification catalyst, the layer being supported on the catalyst support.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: MITSUI MINING & SMELTING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yuki Nagao, Takahiro Sato, Yunosuke Nakahara, Masato Machida
  • Patent number: 9822420
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method of separating carbohydrate, including: mixing formic acid with heteropoly acid, chloride or bromide of lithium, magnesium, calcium, zinc, or iron, or combinations thereof to form a mixing liquid. The method also includes dissolving a cellulose biomass by the mixing liquid to form a solution, mixing water and the solution to hydrolyze the cellulose biomass for forming a carbohydrate solution, and mixing an extractant and the carbohydrate solution to extract the formic acid out of the carbohydrate solution. The heteropoly acid, the chloride or bromide of lithium, magnesium, calcium, zinc, or iron, or combinations thereof in the carbohydrate solution is separated out of the carbohydrate solution by ion exclusion chromatography separation to obtain a carbohydrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
    Inventors: Tzu-Yueh Yang, Ruey-Fu Shih, Chih-Hao Chen, Hou-Peng Wan, Hom-Ti Lee
  • Patent number: 9809504
    Abstract: Process for transformation of a feedstock of lignocellulosic biomass and/or the carbohydrates, into mono-oxidized or poly-oxidized compounds, wherein the feedstock is contacted, simultaneously, with a catalytic system that comprises one or more homogeneous catalysts selected from Brønsted acids and heterogeneous catalysts comprising at least one metal selected from groups 6 to 11 and 14 of the periodic table, and a substrate selected from perovskites of formula ABO3, in which A is Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, and La, and B is selected from Fe, Mn, Ti and Zr, oxides of lanthanum, neodymium, yttrium, cerium, and niobium, or mixtures thereof, and mixed oxides of aluminates of zinc, copper, and cobalt, or mixtures thereof, in the same reaction chamber, with at least one solvent, being water or water with at least one other solvent, under reducing atmosphere, and temperature of 50° C. to 300° C., and pressure of 0.5 MPa to 20 MPa.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: IFP ENERGIES NOUVELLES
    Inventors: Etienne Girard, Amandine Cabiac, Damien Delcroix
  • Patent number: 9803317
    Abstract: A method of digesting lignocellulosic material includes the steps of providing the lignocellulosic material and a caustic composition having a pH of at least about 10. The caustic composition includes water, an alkaline- or alkaline earth-metal hydroxide, and up to about 1 percent by weight based on a total weight of the composition of a branched digestion additive. The branched digestion additive has the structure: wherein A is at least one alkyleneoxy group and each alkyleneoxy group has from 2 to 4 carbon atoms, n is 0 or 1, B is a branched aliphatic hydrocarbon group having from 8 to 15 carbon atoms, X is H or B-0-(A)m, and each m is independently an average value from 3 to 30, and wherein the caustic composition has a Draves Wetting Time of less than 100 seconds as determined using ASTM D2281.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: BASF SE
    Inventors: David Durocher, Thomas C. Friel, Kenneth L. Zack
  • Patent number: 9795951
    Abstract: Provided is a surfactant-free, single-step synthesis of delaminated aluminosilicate zeolites. The process comprises the step of heating a borosilicate zeolite precursor in a metal salt solution, e.g., an aluminum nitrate solution, zinc nitrate solution or manganese nitrate solution. The delaminated aluminosilicate zeolite product is then recovered from the solution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignees: Chevron U.S.A. Inc., The Regents of the University of California
    Inventors: Xiaoying Ouyang, Alexander Katz, Stacey Ian Zones
  • Patent number: 9783565
    Abstract: The present invention relates to regulation of the p H of a liquefaction process. Presented is a method for treatment of a biomass feedstock wherein the biomass feedstock is subjected to liquefaction, at a p H of at most 4, by treatment with hot compressed liquid water (HCW) at subcritical and/or supercritical conditions to improve the conversion efficiency. The present invention is also directed to quenching of a liquefaction process according to above, preventing, minimizing or eliminating clogging and/or fouling of sticky biomass components in process equipment during processing as according to above, and to the use of additives in a biomass liquefaction process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: Renmatix, Inc.
    Inventors: Anders Carlius, Andreas Gram, Corinne Granath, Haukur Jóhannesson, Göran Karlsson
  • Patent number: 9783416
    Abstract: A method for producing hydrogen, includes heating a process feed gas stream, flowing the process feed gas stream into a first reaction zone, flowing the intermediate gas stream into a second reaction zone, removing the solid carbon product from the second reaction zone, removing the tail gas stream from the second reaction zone, and removing hydrogen from the tail gas stream. The process gas stream includes methane and steam. The first reaction zone contains a first catalyst, and at least a portion of the process feed gas stream is converted into an intermediate gas stream in the first reaction zone. The second reaction zone contains a second catalyst, and at least a portion of the intermediate gas stream is converted into a tail gas stream and a solid carbon product in the second reaction zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: Seerstone LLC
    Inventor: Dallas B. Noyes
  • Patent number: 9777405
    Abstract: Single crystals of the new semiconducting oxychalcogenide phase were synthesized using a novel crystal growth method. The crystals had low defects and homogeneous composition as characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. Heat capacity and resistivity measurements were in agreement with the calculated band structure calculations indicating semiconductivity, with a band gap of about 3 eV.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: The Florida State University Research Foundation, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Whalen, Theo Siegrist
  • Patent number: 9765412
    Abstract: A method produces a sugar liquid from a cellulosic biomass material, which sugar liquid has improved fermentability. The method produces a sugar liquid by: adding an alkali(s) to a concentrated cellulosic biomass sugar liquid to adjust the pH to not less than 7 to precipitate an insoluble substance(s) containing at least magnesium; and performing filtration through a microfiltration membrane to remove the insoluble substance(s), to obtain a sugar liquid as a permeate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: Toray Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Kurihara, Katsushige Yamada
  • Patent number: 9765411
    Abstract: Processes for recovering sugars and nicotine from a tobacco biomass include feeding a biomass of tobacco plants and subcritical water to a reactor, hydrolyzing the biomass of tobacco plants with the subcritical water at a temperature between about 150° C. and 305° C. and recovering a liquid product and a solid product from the reactor, wherein the liquid product contains water-soluble sugars and nicotine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: Tyton Biosciences, LLC
    Inventors: Sandeep Kumar, Jose Luis Garcia Moscoso, Iulian Bobe, Peter Majeranowski
  • Patent number: 9765410
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for purifying beet sugar juice and more particularly sugar juice obtained by pressing beets. It also relates to the purified juice and to the uses thereof, in particular as a fermentation substrate and for preparing granulated sugar. The purification process according to the invention comprises a step of passing the juice to be treated through a cellulose-fibre-based pre-layer. This process can be improved when the juice to be treated comprises between 0.1% and 4% of cellulose fibres.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: LESAFFRE ET COMPAGNIE
    Inventors: Eric Petit, Marie-Yannick Sarrazyn
  • Patent number: 9764306
    Abstract: A hydrogen sulphide adsorbent is formed from an alkali metal nanotitanate having a portion of the alkali metal cations exchanged with metal cations reactive with hydrogen sulphide, and heat treated. A method for producing the adsorbent includes the steps of mixing an alkali metal nanotitanate in powder form into an aqueous metal cation solution to produce a slurry, which is subsequently dehydrated to produce a powder, which is heat treated. A low temperature method for removing hydrogen sulphide from a gaseous mixture involves exposing the gaseous mixture to the aforementioned adsorbent, at a temperature less than 250° C. The adsorbent maintains a high adsorption capacity over a range of activation temperatures and humidity conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: THE GOVERNORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
    Inventor: Steven M. Kuznicki
  • Patent number: 9764277
    Abstract: A method of obtaining purified hydrogen and purified carbon monoxide from crude synthesis gas. A first crude synthesis gas stream is passed through a first separation zone to separate a hydrogen stream from a stream comprising carbon monoxide and methane. The carbon monoxide and methane are subjected to thermal reforming to produce a second crude synthesis gas, which is passed through a second separation zone to separate carbon monoxide from the second crude synthesis gas stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: Enerkem, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard Peter Glynn Jewell, Melissa Gaucher, Louis Denomme
  • Patent number: 9757688
    Abstract: A method of capturing carbon dioxide emitted by a power plant includes providing a reactor vessel having a shell with a top and a bottom, introducing an exhaust gas stream into the reactor vessel, the exhaust gas stream containing carbon dioxide, whereby the exhaust gas stream rises toward the top of the reactor vessel. The method includes introducing an organic sorbent solution into the reactor vessel near the top of the reactor vessel so that the organic sorbent solution falls toward the bottom of the reactor vessel, mixing the rising exhaust gas stream with the falling organic sorbent solution to precipitate calcium carbonate, and removing the calcium carbonate from the bottom of the reactor vessel, whereby the calcium carbonate includes the carbon dioxide from the exhaust gas stream.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2017
    Assignee: Sidel Systems USA Inc.
    Inventor: Parthosarothy K. Mukherji
  • Patent number: 9758843
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method of processing lignocellulosic biomass comprising: providing lignocellulosic biomass feedstock; pretreating said biomass feedstock by continuous hydrothermal pretreatment in a pressurized reactor; measuring xylan number or lignin number in the output stream of pretreated biomass from the pretreatment reactor; and controlling the pretreatment reactor so as to maintain, in the output stream of pretreated biomass, a pre-determined level of measured xylan number or lignin number. The method allows for continuously controlling the digestibility of a lignocellulosic biomass during the step of pretreatment, and accordingly provides a continuous estimate of the severity of the pretreatment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2017
    Assignee: INBICON A/S
    Inventors: Jan Larsen, Kit Kellebjerg Mogensen, Pia Jørgensen
  • Patent number: 9611144
    Abstract: A method and system for producing a synthesis gas in an oxygen transport membrane based reforming system that utilizes a combined feed stream having a steam to carbon ratio between about 1.6 and 3.0 and a temperature between about 500° C. and 750° C. The combined feed stream is comprised a pre-reformed hydrocarbon feed, superheated steam, and a reaction product stream created by the reaction of a hydrogen containing stream reacted with the permeated oxygen at the permeate side of the oxygen transport membrane elements and wherein the oxygen transport membrane based reforming system and associated synthesis production process equipment are substantially free of carbon formation and metal dusting corrosion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: PRAXAIR TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Shrikar Chakravarti, Raymond Francis Drnevich, Kenneth L. Burgers
  • Patent number: 9605085
    Abstract: A selective removal of metal and its anion species that are detrimental to subsequent hydrothermal hydrocatalytic conversion from the biomass feed prior to carrying out catalytic hydrogenation/hydrogenolysis/hydrodeoxygenation of the biomass in a manner that does not reduce the effectiveness of the hydrothermal hydrocatalytic treatment while minimizing the amount of water used in the process is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: SHELL OIL COMPANY
    Inventors: Juben Nemchand Chheda, Joseph Broun Powell
  • Patent number: 9598740
    Abstract: A method of producing a sugar liquid, includes filtering a cellulose-derived sugar liquid through one or more separation membranes selected from the group consisting of ultrafiltration membranes, nanofiltration membranes and reverse osmosis membranes, and washing the separation membrane(s) after filtration with warm water at a temperature of not less than 50° C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Toray Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Junpei Kishimoto, Hiroyuki Kurihara, Atsushi Minamino, Katsushige Yamada
  • Patent number: 9593388
    Abstract: A selective removal of metal and its anion species that are detrimental to subsequent hydrothermal hydrocatalytic conversion from the biomass feed prior to carrying out catalytic hydrogenation/hydrogenolysis/hydrodeoxygenation of the biomass in a manner that does not reduce the effectiveness of the hydrothermal hydrocatalytic treatment while minimizing the amount of water used in the process is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: SHELL OIL COMPANY
    Inventors: Joseph Broun Powell, Juben Nemchand Chheda
  • Patent number: 9593448
    Abstract: A selective removal of chlorine and phosphorus that are detrimental to subsequent hydrothermal hydrocatalytic conversion from the biomass feed prior to carrying out catalytic hydrogenation/hydrogenolysis/hydrodeoxygenation of the biomass in a manner that does not reduce the effectiveness of the hydrothermal hydrocatalytic treatment while minimizing the amount of water used in the process is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: SHELL OIL COMPANY
    Inventors: Joseph Broun Powell, Juben Nemchand Chheda