Patents by Inventor Masaru Hirano

Masaru Hirano 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).

  • Publication number: 20250109290
    Abstract: An object is to provide (I) a PHA powder which has (i) good redispersibility when the PHA powder is formed into a slurry and (ii) good film forming properties when the PHA powder is applied to slurry coating and (II) a method for producing the PHA powder. The object is attained by providing a PHA powder in which a composition ratio of a 3-hydroxybutyrate unit to a 3-hydroxyhexanoate unit is 80/20 to 91/9 (mol/mol), a moisture content is not more than 20%, and a circularity of a primary particle present at a surface of the PHA powder is not less than 0.92.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 2, 2023
    Publication date: April 3, 2025
    Applicant: KANEKA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masaru HIRANO, Tomoaki ASHIDA, Morio ISHIHARA, Hiroaki SUGIYAMA
  • Publication number: 20250051518
    Abstract: An object is to provide a PHA production method which enables efficient filtration. The above problem is solved by providing a PHA production method including a filtration step of subjecting, to dead-end filtration, an aqueous PHA suspension having a pH of 2.5 to 5.5 with use of a filter medium having an air permeability of 0.01 cc/cm2/sec to 5.0 cc/cm2/sec, the aqueous PHA suspension containing PHA surface adhesion protein in an amount of not more than 2,000 ppm, the aqueous PHA suspension having a liquid density of 0.50 g/mL to 1.08 g/mL in the filtration step.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 7, 2022
    Publication date: February 13, 2025
    Applicant: KANEKA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naoki DEGUCHI, Masaru HIRANO
  • Publication number: 20250043130
    Abstract: An object is to provide a PHA production method which enables efficient filtration. A PHA production method is provided, the PHA production method including: a heating step of heating an aqueous PHA suspension containing a specific additive and having a pH of 2.5 to 5.5 such that the aqueous PHA suspension has a temperature of 60° C. to 95° C.; a cooling step of cooling the aqueous PHA suspension obtained in the heating step to a specific temperature; and a filtration step of subjecting, to dead-end filtration, the aqueous PHA suspension obtained in the cooling step, with use of a filter medium having an air permeability of 0.01 cc/cm2/sec to 5.0 cc/cm2/sec, so that the above problem is solved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 14, 2022
    Publication date: February 6, 2025
    Applicant: KANEKA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naoki DEGUCHI, Masaru HIRANO
  • Publication number: 20240336942
    Abstract: It is an object of an embodiment of the present invention to provide an industrially easily applicable technology for reducing a viscosity of a culture solution, in order to collect a polyhydroxyalkanoate from a polyhydroxyalkanoate-producing microorganism. The object is attained by providing a method for producing a polyhydroxyalkanoate, including the following steps (a) and (b): (a) maintaining a culture solution at 40° C. to 80° C., the culture solution including microbial cells containing the polyhydroxyalkanoate; and (b) adding an oxidizer to the culture solution obtained in the step (a), adjusting a pH of the culture solution to 10.5 to 13.0, and maintaining the culture solution at 30° C. to 75° C.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 8, 2022
    Publication date: October 10, 2024
    Applicant: KANEKA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Toshi OGUMA, Masaru HIRANO
  • Publication number: 20240182342
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing recycled water, according to which when recycled water is prepared from waste water, chemical cleaning of a membrane can be significantly reduced and fouling of the membrane can be eliminated by substantially only washing with water. The above object is achieved by providing a method for producing recycled water, the method including the following steps (A) to (D) of: (A) subjecting waste water to an anaerobic treatment and an aerobic treatment which are carried out by microorganisms, the waste water having been discharged during a production process of a PHA; (B) subjecting treated water obtained in step (A) to pretreatment filtration performed by a membrane bioreactor method; (C) subjecting the treated water obtained in step (B) to an alkali treatment; and (D) filtering, through an ion removal membrane, the treated water obtained in step (C).
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 2, 2022
    Publication date: June 6, 2024
    Applicant: KANEKA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Asuka FUKUMOTO, Masaru HIRANO
  • Publication number: 20240084339
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a culture device capable of accurately detecting the gas-liquid interface of a culture solution in a fermenter. The above problem is solved by provided a culture device that includes: a liquid surface sensor for detecting a foam layer height from the bottom of the fermenter to the top of a foam layer; and a pressure sensor for detecting a liquid surface height from the bottom of the fermenter to a gas-liquid interface, the culture device having installed at least two pressure sensors below the gas-liquid interface, the at least two pressure sensors each being the pressure sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 20, 2022
    Publication date: March 14, 2024
    Applicant: KANEKA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takafumi IGARI, Takahisa KATO, Masaru HIRANO
  • Publication number: 20240055674
    Abstract: An electrical device body connectable to a battery pack, includes a drive part, and a terminal part. The terminal part having a positive input terminal electrically connected to the drive part, a negative input terminal electrically connected to the drive part, and a short circuit element having a first terminal part, a second terminal part, and a connection part connecting the first terminal part and the second terminal part, wherein the positive input terminal and the negative input terminal are disposed on an upper side of the terminal part and the short circuit element is disposed on a lower side of the terminal part in an upper-lower direction, the positive input terminal and the negative input terminal being apart from each other in a left-right direction crossing the upper-lower direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2023
    Publication date: February 15, 2024
    Applicant: Koki Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomomasa NISHIKAWA, Takuya Teranishi, Naoto Wakatabe, Akira Matsushita, Masaru Hirano, Osamu Kawanobe, Nobuhiro TAKANO, Shinji Watanabe, Hiroyuki HANAWA, Takuhiro Murakami, Shota Kanno, Junpei SATO, Hikaru Tamura, Hayato Yamaguchi, Toshio Mizoguchi, Yasushi NAKANO, Kazuhiko FUNABASHI, Masayuki Ogura, Yusuke FUNABIKI, Junichi TOUKAIRIN, Shota TAKEUCHI
  • Patent number: 11824169
    Abstract: A battery pack houses first and second cell units that are composed of a plurality of cells, and has a positive electrode power source terminal and a negative electrode power source terminal. This battery pack is provided with a series connector capable of connecting, in series, the first and second cell units and a parallel connector capable of connecting, in parallel, the first and second cell units, and is capable of switching between a parallel connection voltage and a series connection voltage. In the case of attachment to the high voltage electrical device body, the series connector becomes conductive and the parallel connector pair is cut off by the action of the series/parallel switching terminal. In the case of attachment to a low voltage electrical device body, the state is returned to an initial state, the series connector is cut off, and the parallel connector pair becomes conductive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: Koki Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomomasa Nishikawa, Takuya Teranishi, Naoto Wakatabe, Akira Matsushita, Masaru Hirano, Osamu Kawanobe, Nobuhiro Takano, Shinji Watanabe, Hiroyuki Hanawa, Takuhiro Murakami, Shota Kanno, Junpei Sato, Hikaru Tamura, Hayato Yamaguchi, Toshio Mizoguchi, Yasushi Nakano, Kazuhiko Funabashi, Masayuki Ogura, Yusuke Funabiki, Junichi Toukairin, Shota Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 11757293
    Abstract: In order that the output voltage of a battery pack can be switched and the battery pack can be shared among different voltage electric appliances, this battery pack has a switching mechanism that switches outputting a low voltage by parallel connection of two cell units or outputting a high voltage by series connection of the two cell units, said two cell units each being composed of a plurality of cells connected in series, wherein the switching mechanism is configured from a change-over switch having an operation lever (452). The change-over switch is embedded in a battery pack (400), and an operator is able to manually switch outputting 18 V by setting the operation lever (452) at a first position or outputting 36 V by setting the operation lever (452) at a second position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: Koki Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomomasa Nishikawa, Masayuki Ogura, Masaru Hirano, Takuhiro Murakami, Nobuhiro Takano, Osamu Kawanobe, Akira Matsushita, Hayato Yamaguchi
  • Publication number: 20230123797
    Abstract: A method for producing a polyhydroxyalkanoate, the method including: (a) preparing an aqueous polyhydroxyalkanoate suspension having a pH of not more than 5; (b) mixing the aqueous suspension obtained in (a) with a water-insoluble organic solvent having a specific gravity of more than 1.0 g/mL; (c) separating a mixed solution obtained in (b) into a water-insoluble organic solvent phase and an aqueous phase by centrifugal separation, and then removing the aqueous phase; and (d) heating the water-insoluble organic solvent phase obtained in (c), and then cooling the water-insoluble organic solvent phase to obtain a gelatinous polyhydroxyalkanoate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 19, 2021
    Publication date: April 20, 2023
    Applicant: KANEKA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masaru HIRANO
  • Publication number: 20230102977
    Abstract: The object of the present invention is to provide a production method which makes it possible to obtain a PHA with a simple operation. The object can be attained by providing a method for producing a polyhydroxyalkanoate, the method including the steps of: (a) preparing an aqueous polyhydroxyalkanoate suspension having a pH of not more than 7; and (b) heating the aqueous polyhydroxyalkanoate suspension, prepared in the step (a), at a temperature set at 80° C. to 300° C. in a twin screw extruder so as to aggregate a polyhydroxyalkanoate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 4, 2021
    Publication date: March 30, 2023
    Applicant: KANEKA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masaru HIRANO
  • Publication number: 20230060958
    Abstract: The object of an aspect of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a long-chain fatty acid, the method making it possible to prevent a coloring component from being contained in the long-chain fatty acid and recover the long-chain fatty acid at a high yield. The above problem is solved by providing a method for producing a long-chain fatty acid, the method including the steps of: (a) with use of an enzyme, decomposing, into fatty acids, triglyceride contained in a raw vegetable oil which is derived from a vegetable-derived oil-containing waste; (b) removing, by distillation, a short-chain fatty acid contained in the raw vegetable oil which has been subjected to the step (a); and (c) recovering, by short-path distillation, a long-chain fatty acid contained in the raw vegetable oil which has been subjected to the step (b).
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 18, 2021
    Publication date: March 2, 2023
    Applicant: KANEKA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Fumiya SAKO, Takafumi IGARI, Kaoru NISHIUMI, Masaru HIRANO
  • Patent number: 11577376
    Abstract: Provided is an electric device capable of suppressing vibration of a battery pack. Included are: a first housing 21 accommodating a load portion that consumes electric power; a second housing 22 having one end portion connected to the first housing 21 and another end portion to which a battery pack 9 is connectable; and an elastic member 40 interposed between the first housing and the second housing. The first housing includes a first restricting portion 42 positioned away from the elastic member, and the second housing includes a second restricting portion 44 positioned away from the elastic member and engageable with the first restricting portion. In a case where the second housing is urged to be separated from the first housing, the elastic member is deformed and the first restricting portion and the second restricting portion are engaged with each other to prevent separation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: KOKI HOLDINGS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kengo Tamura, Takuhiro Murakami, Junichi Toukairin, Yoshihiro Komuro, Masaru Hirano
  • Publication number: 20220380530
    Abstract: In one or more embodiments, the present invention relates to a method for producing a polyhydroxybutyrate-based resin. The method includes (a) disrupting or solubilizing microbial cells containing a polyhydroxybutyrate-based resin, and (b) separating the polyhydroxybutyrate-based resin from a composition obtained by the process (a). The process (a) and the process (b) use water with a calcium ion concentration (14.5 mg/L or less. The water used in the process (a) and the process (b) is preferably obtained by subjecting wastewater that is discharged from the production process of the polyhydroxybutyrate-based resin to microbial anaerobic and aerobic treatments, subsequently pre-filtration by a membrane bioreactor process, and further filtration with a calcium ion removal membrane This method provides the polyhydroxybutyrate-based resin with good color tone and high thermal stability.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 9, 2022
    Publication date: December 1, 2022
    Applicant: KANEKA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Asuka FUKUMOTO, Shogo HIROTA, Masaru HIRANO
  • Publication number: 20220340710
    Abstract: An objective of the present invention is to provide a production method that enables PHA (e.g. PHA powder) to be produced with high productivity. The above is achieved by providing: a method for producing a polyhydroxyalkanoate, including the steps of (a) preparing an aqueous suspension that contains a polyhydroxyalkanoate and an alkylene oxide-based dispersing agent and has a pH of not more than 7 and (b) spray-drying the aqueous suspension prepared in the step (a); and the like.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2020
    Publication date: October 27, 2022
    Applicant: KANEKA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomoya NISHINAKA, Naoki DEGUCHI, Jun HATTORI, Masaru HIRANO
  • Publication number: 20220266210
    Abstract: A method for producing lipid particles, including: injecting molten lipids directly into a liquid at a temperature lower than a melting point of the lipids through a liquid supply port of a two-fluid nozzle while injecting a gas directly into the liquid through a gas supply port of the two-fluid nozzle, so that the molten lipids are dispersed and atomized into particles in the liquid due to the gas and the particles are solidified to form lipid particles. The lipids have a water solubility of 10 g/L or less at 25° C. and are solid at 25° C. The two-fluid nozzle is heated to a temperature at least 10° C. higher than the melting point of the lipids. A ratio D50/Nd of a volume median diameter D50 of the lipid particles to an orifice diameter Nd of the liquid supply port of the two-fluid nozzle is 0.0017 or more and 0.17 or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 11, 2022
    Publication date: August 25, 2022
    Applicant: KANEKA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takafumi IGARI, Shihomi NISHIMORI, Masaru HIRANO, Hiroaki ICHIRIKI, Akihisa KANDA
  • Patent number: 11205820
    Abstract: In an upper cell unit (2146) and a lower cell unit (2147) comprising five battery cells, positive electrode terminals (2162, 2172) are set apart and aligned vertically, and negative electrode terminals (2167, 2177) are set apart and aligned vertically. When an electrical device body is rated at 36V, device-side terminals are in contact only at the upper terminals (2162, 2167), and short circuiting of the lower terminals (2172, 2177) is effected using a short bar 2059. When the electrical device body is rated at 18V, the upper and lower terminals (2162 and 2172, 2167 and 2177) are simultaneously made to contact the device-side terminals, and the upper cell unit (2146) and the lower cell unit (2147) assume a parallel connected state. Thus, it is possible to automatically switch the output voltage when a battery pack is mounted according to the difference in terminal shape on the electrical device body side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2021
    Assignee: Koki Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Hanawa, Tomomasa Nishikawa, Shota Kanno, Toshio Mizoguchi, Yasushi Nakano, Kazuhiko Funabashi, Takuya Teranishi, Naoto Wakatabe, Shinji Watanabe, Junpei Sato, Hikaru Tamura, Nobuhiro Takano, Osamu Kawanobe, Hayato Yamaguchi, Akira Matsushita, Masaru Hirano, Takuhiro Murakami, Masayuki Ogura, Yusuke Funabiki, Junichi Toukairin, Shota Takeuchi
  • Publication number: 20200215679
    Abstract: Provided is an electric device capable of suppressing vibration of a battery pack. Included are: a first housing 21 accommodating a load portion that consumes electric power; a second housing 22 having one end portion connected to the first housing 21 and another end portion to which a battery pack 9 is connectable; and an elastic member 40 interposed between the first housing and the second housing. The first housing includes a first restricting portion 42 positioned away from the elastic member, and the second housing includes a second restricting portion 44 positioned away from the elastic member and engageable with the first restricting portion. In a case where the second housing is urged to be separated from the first housing, the elastic member is deformed and the first restricting portion and the second restricting portion are engaged with each other to prevent separation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2018
    Publication date: July 9, 2020
    Applicant: KOKI HOLDINGS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kengo TAMURA, Takuhiro MURAKAMI, Junichi TOUKAIRIN, Yoshihiro KOMURO, Masaru HIRANO
  • Patent number: 10457705
    Abstract: A carrier for ligand immobilization obtained by shrinking polysaccharide porous beads not less than 10% by a shrinkage rate defined by the following formula, and crosslinking the polysaccharide porous beads: Shrinkage rate (%)=(1?V2/V1)×100 (wherein, V1 indicates the gel volume of polysaccharide porous beads before shrinkage, and V2 indicates the gel volume of polysaccharide porous beads after shrinkage).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: KANEKA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takahiro Okubo, Yoshikazu Kawai, Masaru Hirano, Fuminori Konoike, Keiichi Karasugi, Tatsuya Honda
  • Publication number: 20190260209
    Abstract: In order that the output voltage of a battery pack can be switched and the battery pack can be shared among different voltage electric appliances, this battery pack has a switching mechanism that switches outputting a low voltage by parallel connection of two cell units or outputting a high voltage by series connection of the two cell units, said two cell units each being composed of a plurality of cells connected in series, wherein the switching mechanism is configured from a change-over switch having an operation lever (452). The change-over switch is embedded in a battery pack (400), and an operator is able to manually switch outputting 18 V by setting the operation lever (452) at a first position or outputting 36 V by setting the operation lever (452) at a second position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 27, 2017
    Publication date: August 22, 2019
    Applicant: Koki Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomomasa NISHIKAWA, Masayuki OGURA, Masaru HIRANO, Takuhiro MURAKAMI, Nobuhiro TAKANO, Osamu KAWANOBE, Akira MATSUSHITA, Hayato YAMAGUCHI