Patents by Inventor Atsushi Minamino
Atsushi Minamino has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Publication number: 20140342444Abstract: A sugar solution production apparatus includes a saccharification tank that obtains a saccharified solution containing a solid substance from a cellulose-containing biomass, a solid-liquid separator that separates the solid substance from the saccharified solution to obtain a sugar solution, an enzyme recovery solution tank that stores an enzyme recovery solution, a sugar solution extraction line that extracts the sugar solution from the solid-liquid separator, a warm water supply unit that supplies warm water to the solid-liquid separator, an enzyme recovery solution supply line that supplies the enzyme recovery solution from the enzyme recovery solution tank to the solid-liquid separator, an enzyme recovery solution recovery line that feeds the enzyme recovery solution containing the saccharifying enzyme recovered from the solid substance to the enzyme recovery solution tank, and an enzyme recovery solution return line that returns the enzyme recovery solution to the saccharification tank.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 13, 2012Publication date: November 20, 2014Applicant: TORAY INDUSTRIES, INC.Inventors: Atsushi Minamino, Junpei Kishimoto, Hiroyuki Kurihara, Katsushige Yamada
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Publication number: 20140308712Abstract: A method produces a concentrated aqueous sugar solution using a cellulose-containing biomass as a raw material, including: (1) hydrolyzing a cellulose-containing biomass to produce an aqueous sugar solution; (2) filtering the aqueous sugar solution obtained in (1) through a microfiltration membrane and/or an ultrafiltration membrane, and recovering an aqueous sugar solution from the permeate side; and (3) filtering the aqueous sugar solution obtained in (2) through a nanofiltration membrane and/or a reverse osmosis membrane, recovering a permeate from the permeate side and recovering a concentrated aqueous sugar solution from the feed side; wherein at least a part of the permeate from the nanofiltration membrane and/or the reverse osmosis membrane is used as a washing liquid in (1) and/or (2).Type: ApplicationFiled: December 7, 2011Publication date: October 16, 2014Applicant: Toray Industries, Inc.Inventors: Masayuki Hanakawa, Satoko Kanamori, Hiroyuki Kurihara, Norihiro Takeuchi, Atsushi Minamino
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Publication number: 20140287461Abstract: A method of producing a sugar liquid using a cellulose-containing biomass as a raw material includes (a) hydrolyzing a cellulose-containing biomass to produce an aqueous sugar solution and (b) filtering the obtained aqueous sugar solution through a reverse osmosis membrane to collect a purified sugar liquid from a feed side, while removing fermentation-inhibiting substances from a permeate side.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 28, 2014Publication date: September 25, 2014Applicant: Toray Industries, Inc.Inventors: Hiroyuki Kurihara, Atsushi Minamino, Masateru Ito, Hideki Sawai, Masayuki Hanakawa, Shin-ichi Minegishi, Katsushige Yamada
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Patent number: 8765405Abstract: A sugar liquid containing only very small amounts of fermentation-inhibiting substances is produced by a method for producing a sugar liquid using a cellulose-containing biomass as a raw material, the method including: (1) a step of hydrolyzing a cellulose-containing biomass to produce an aqueous sugar solution; and (2) a step of filtering the obtained aqueous sugar solution through a nanofiltration membrane and/or reverse osmosis membrane to collect a purified sugar liquid from the feed side, while removing fermentation-inhibiting substances from the permeate side.Type: GrantFiled: December 8, 2009Date of Patent: July 1, 2014Assignee: Toray Industries, Inc.Inventors: Hiroyuki Kurihara, Atsushi Minamino, Masateru Ito, Hideki Sawai, Masayuki Hanakawa, Shin-ichi Minegishi, Katsushige Yamada
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Publication number: 20140178937Abstract: A method of producing a sugar liquid with a cellulose-containing biomass as a raw material includes (1) hydrolyzing a cellulose-containing biomass to produce an aqueous sugar solution, and (2) filtering the aqueous sugar solution obtain in (1) through an ultrafiltration membrane having a molecular weight cutoff of 600 to 2,000 to remove a fermentation inhibitor(s) into the permeate side and collect a sugar liquid from the feed side.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 27, 2012Publication date: June 26, 2014Applicant: Toray Industries, Inc.Inventors: Atsushi Minamino, Hiroyuki Kurihara, Katsushige Yamada
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Publication number: 20140158642Abstract: A method of producing a filter aid includes: (A) obtaining a pretreated biomass by pulverization treatment and/or thermochemical treatment of a cellulose-containing biomass; (B) treating the pretreated biomass obtained in (A) with cellulase to obtain a cellulase-treated product; and (C) obtaining a solid content of the cellulase-treated product of (B).Type: ApplicationFiled: July 27, 2012Publication date: June 12, 2014Applicant: TORAY INDUSTRIES, INC.Inventors: Atsushi Minamino, Hiroyuki Kurihara, Katsushige Yamada, Junpei Kishimoto
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Publication number: 20140017729Abstract: A method of producing a sugar liquid includes concentrating an aqueous cellulose-derived sugar solution with a nanofiltration membrane and/or reverse osmosis membrane, wherein the concentration is carried out after adding a water-soluble anionic polymer to the aqueous cellulose-derived sugar solution to remove a fermentation inhibitor(s) into a permeate side of the nanofiltration membrane and/or reverse osmosis membrane.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 28, 2012Publication date: January 16, 2014Applicant: Toray Industries, Inc.Inventors: Atsushi Minamino, Hiroyuki Kurihara, Katsushige Yamada
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Publication number: 20130337552Abstract: There is provided an apparatus for treating a biomass feedstock at a high temperature, including: a cooling means for cooling a biomass liquid treated at a high temperature; an enzymatic saccharification tank for subjecting a cooled treated liquid to saccharification with an enzyme; a solid-liquid separation apparatus for removing water-slightly soluble fermentation inhibitory substances contained in the saccharide solution taken out from the enzymatic saccharification tank and a foreign substance removing unit provided with a microfiltlation (MF) membrane 113a; a dilution tank, disposed downstream of the foreign substance removing unit, for adding water thereto so as to dilute the saccharide solution; a water separation unit, provided with a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane, for removing water from the diluted saccharide solution to obtain concentrated saccharide solution; and a fermentation tank for fermenting the concentrated saccharide solution.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 23, 2012Publication date: December 19, 2013Applicant: TORAY INDUSTRIES, INC.Inventors: Akira Nishimura, Takahiro Yamauchi, Kentaro Ogura, Haruka Nishimoto, Hiroyuki Kurihara, Atsushi Minamino, Hideo Suzuki, Gaku Kondo
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Publication number: 20130312738Abstract: 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: ApplicationFiled: February 17, 2012Publication date: November 28, 2013Applicant: Toray Industries, Inc.Inventors: Junpei Kishimoto, Hiroyuki Kurihara, Atsushi Minamino, Katsushige Yamada
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Publication number: 20130309761Abstract: There is provided an apparatus for treating a biomass feedstock at a high temperature, including a cooling means for cooling a biomass treated liquid at a high temperature; an enzymatic saccharification tank for saccharifying a cooled treated liquid with an enzyme; a solid-liquid separation apparatus for removing water-slightly soluble substances contained in a saccharide solution taken out from the enzymatic saccharification tank and a foreign substance removing unit provided with a microfiltlation (MF) membrane; a dilution tank, disposed downstream of the foreign substance removing unit, for diluting the saccharide solution from which the water-slightly soluble substances are removed by adding water thereto; a water separation unit, provided with a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane, for removing water from the diluted saccharide solution so as to obtain concentrated saccharide solution.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 23, 2012Publication date: November 21, 2013Applicants: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES MECHATRONICS SYSTEMS, LTD., TORAY INDUSTRIES, INC.Inventors: Akira Nishimura, Takahiro Yamauchi, Kentaro Ogura, Haruka Nishimoto, Hiroyuki Kurihara, Atsushi Minamino, Hideo Suzuki, Gaku Kondo
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Publication number: 20130266991Abstract: A method produces a concentrated aqueous sugar solution using a cellulose-containing biomass as a raw material, including: (1) hydrolyzing a cellulose-containing biomass to produce an aqueous sugar solution; (2) filtering the aqueous sugar solution obtained in (1) through a microfiltration membrane and/or an ultrafiltration membrane, and recovering an aqueous sugar solution from the permeate side; and (3) filtering the aqueous sugar solution obtained in (2) through a reverse osmosis membrane, recovering a permeate from the permeate side and recovering a concentrated aqueous sugar solution from the feed side; wherein at least a part of the permeate from the reverse osmosis membrane is used as a hydrothermal treatment liquid, biomass-suspending, liquid, enzyme-diluting liquid, acid-diluting liquid and/or alkali-diluting liquid in (1).Type: ApplicationFiled: December 7, 2011Publication date: October 10, 2013Applicant: TORAY Industries, Inc.Inventors: Satoko Kanamori, Masayuki Hanakawa, Hiroyuki Kurihara, Norihiro Takeuchi, Atsushi Minamino
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Publication number: 20130203117Abstract: A method produces a sugar liquid by repeating a sugar liquid production process including (1) to (3): (1) adding a filamentous fungus-derived cellulase to cellulose to perform primary hydrolysis; (2) adding a fresh filamentous fungus-derived cellulase to the hydrolysate in Step (1) to perform secondary hydrolysis; and (3) subjecting the hydrolysate in Step (2) to solid-liquid separation to obtain a sugar liquid, from which a recovered enzyme is obtained; wherein the recovered enzyme obtained in Step (3) is used for Step (1) of the next and later sugar liquid production processes.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 14, 2011Publication date: August 8, 2013Applicant: TORAY INDUSTRIES, INC.Inventors: Hiroyuki Kurihara, Atsushi Minamino, Yuki Yamamoto, Katsushige Yamada
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Publication number: 20130059345Abstract: A method of hydrolysis of cellulose uses a filamentous fungus-derived cellulase as a carbohydrase and includes adding the carbohydrase to cellulose to perform primary hydrolysis and then subjecting the primary hydrolysate to solid-liquid separation into a primary sugar liquid and solids; adding water to the solids and performing secondary hydrolysis, followed by subjecting the secondary hydrolysate to solid-liquid separation into a secondary sugar liquid and a residue; and filtering the primary sugar liquid and/or secondary sugar liquid through an ultrafiltration membrane, and recovering the carbohydrase from the feed side and recovering a sugar solution from the permeate side.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 14, 2011Publication date: March 7, 2013Applicant: TORAY INDUSTRIES, INC.Inventors: Hiroyuki Kurihara, Atsushi Minamino, Yuki Yamamoto, Katsushige Yamada
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Publication number: 20130004994Abstract: The invention provides a method that allows fermentation impeding substances that occur during production of a sugar from cellulose-containing biomass to be removed in an aqueous sugar solution production step, and also provides a method for long-term stable production of an aqueous refined sugar solution that is nearly free from fermentation impeding substances.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 7, 2011Publication date: January 3, 2013Inventors: Masayuki Hanakawa, Hiroho Hirozawa, Hiroyuki Kurihara, Atsushi Minamino
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Publication number: 20110250637Abstract: A sugar liquid containing only very small amounts of fermentation-inhibiting substances is produced by a method for producing a sugar liquid using a cellulose-containing biomass as a raw material, the method including: (1) a step of hydrolyzing a cellulose-containing biomass to produce an aqueous sugar solution; and (2) a step of filtering the obtained aqueous sugar solution through a nanofiltration membrane and/or reverse osmosis membrane to collect a purified sugar liquid from the feed side, while removing fermentation-inhibiting substances from the permeate side.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 8, 2009Publication date: October 13, 2011Applicant: TORAY INDUSTRIES, INC.Inventors: Hiroyuki Kurihara, Atsushi Minamino, Masateru Ito, Hideki Sawai, Masayuki Hanakawa, Shin-ichi Minegishi, Katsushige Yamada