Patents by Inventor Lowell E. Howard

Lowell E. Howard 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).

  • Patent number: 7806964
    Abstract: The system and method for recycling the compress heat generated at a bio-gas treatment plant that includes the assembly of a heat exchanger at each stage of compression designed to utilizing all of the gas flow and to harvest the heat in gas delivered to the air exchangers. After the heat is harvested, it is then conveyed either as hot air, or as a hot liquid, to a jacketed vessel containing media that requires regeneration or stripping of harmful VOCs picked up during the purification of contaminated landfill or municipal digester gas. The harvesting and conveyance of the heat of compression of the gases to a jacket around the vessel interior (indirect contact) and simultaneously heating the vessel interior containing the spent media through hot gas from another source (direct contact), reduces the heat-up time. This also reduces the overall the cycle time between the contaminant pick-up step and contaminant stripping step in regenerable treatment systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Inventors: Lowell E. Howard, Jeffrey V. Wetzel
  • Publication number: 20090000482
    Abstract: The system and method for recycling the compress heat generated at a biogas treatment plant that includes the assembly of a heat exchanger at each stage of compression designed to utilizing all of the gas flow and to harvest the heat in gas delivered to the air exchangers. After the heat is harvested, it is then conveyed either as hot air, or as a hot liquid, to a jacketed vessel containing media that requires regeneration or stripping of harmful VOCs picked up during the purification of contaminated landfill or municipal digester gas. The harvesting and conveyance of the heat of compression of the gases to a jacket around the vessel interior (indirect contact) and simultaneously heating the vessel interior containing the spent media through hot gas from another source (direct contact), reduces the heat-up time. This also reduces the overall the cycle time between the contaminant pick-up step and contaminant stripping step in regenerable treatment systems.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2008
    Publication date: January 1, 2009
    Inventors: Lowell E. Howard, Jeffrey V. Wetzel
  • Patent number: 7410524
    Abstract: A process to purify biogases (i.e., landfill gas and municipal digester gas), to enable such biogases to be utilized to generate electricity and heat. Biogases from these sources generally include small amounts of organosilicons (which are particularly harmful to power generation equipment, and especially harmful to micro-turbines, reciprocating internal combustion engines, and large turbines), and halogenated chemical species (which can foul expensive emission catalysts). A fluidized media bed reactor is configured to concentrate offending organics, and is coupled with another reactor vessel configured to strip the offending organics off saturated media with a hot inert gas. The removed organics are further concentrated into an inert gas stream that is conveyed to a small flare for greater than 99% destruction. The energy required to strip the organics from the spent media, and to energize the flare, is generated by the combustion of a small quantity of the purified biogas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Inventors: Lowell E. Howard, Paul M. Tower, Jeffrey V. Wetzel