Patents by Inventor Ryoei WATANABE

Ryoei WATANABE 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: 20240387892
    Abstract: There is provided a recycled cathode material precursor, including: a metal element ? consisting of at least one of nickel, cobalt and manganese; and a metal element ? consisting of at least one of iron, copper and aluminum, wherein a content of the metal element ? is 0.5 to 20% by mass in the recycled cathode material precursor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 16, 2022
    Publication date: November 21, 2024
    Applicants: DOWA ECO SYSTEM CO., LTD., AKITA UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Tatsuya YODOSE, Ryoei WATANABE, Yoshihiro HONMA, Seiji KUMAGAI
  • Patent number: 12111597
    Abstract: The image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a developing section, and a controller that functions as a sign detector, a charge amount measurement section, and a charge amount adjuster. On the image bearing member, an electrostatic latent image is formed based on image data. The developing section contains a developer, and develops the electrostatic latent image formed on the image bearing member with the developer to form a toner image. The sign detector detects a sign that the charge amount of the developer contained in the developing section changes. The charge amount measurement section measures the charge amount of the developer in accordance with the detection result by the sign detector. The charge amount adjuster adjusts the charge amount of the developer according to the measurement result by the charge amount measurement section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2023
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2024
    Assignee: Konica Minolta, Inc.
    Inventors: Wataru Watanabe, Ryoei Ikari
  • Publication number: 20230411719
    Abstract: A method for recovering a valuable substance from a lithium ion secondary battery is provided. The method includes a thermal treatment step of thermally treating a lithium ion secondary battery containing aluminum, carbon, and a copper foil as constituting materials, and a wet sorting step of applying an external force to a thermally treated product obtained in the thermal treatment step in the presence of a liquid, to sort the thermally treated product into a heavy product and a light product containing copper.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2021
    Publication date: December 21, 2023
    Applicant: DOWA ECO-SYSTEM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Chihiro NISHIKAWA, Yoshihiro HONMA, Ryoei WATANABE, Masataka YAMASHITA
  • Publication number: 20230366061
    Abstract: A method for recovering a valuable substance is provided. The method includes a thermal treatment step of thermally treating a target containing a valuable substance using a continuous furnace configured to thermally treat the target while moving a target storing unit, in which the target is stored, such that the target storing unit is not contacted by a flame that is for thermal treatment, and a valuable substance recovering step of recovering the valuable substance from a thermally treated product of the target obtained in the thermal treatment step.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2021
    Publication date: November 16, 2023
    Applicant: DOWA ECO-SYSTEM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Chihiro NISHIKAWA, Yoshihiro HONMA, Ryoei WATANABE, Masataka YAMASHITA
  • Publication number: 20230323506
    Abstract: A method for recovering a valuable substance is provided. The method includes a thermal treatment step of thermally treating a target, which contains a valuable substance and is stored in a target storing unit, via a flame blocking unit configured to block a flame for thermally treating the target such that the target storing unit is not contacted by the flame, and a valuable substance recovering step of recovering the valuable substance from a thermally treated product of the target obtained in the thermal treatment step.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2021
    Publication date: October 12, 2023
    Applicant: DOWA ECO-SYSTEM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Chihiro NISHIKAWA, Yoshihiro HONMA, Ryoei WATANABE, Masataka YAMASHITA, Youichi FUKUCHI, Tomotaka IZUMI, Yoshiki ITO
  • Publication number: 20230318063
    Abstract: A method for recovering a valuable substance is provided. The method includes: a thermal treatment step of thermally treating a target containing a valuable substance while supporting a target storing unit, in which the target is stored, by a supporting unit that can support the target storing unit, wherein the thermally treating includes heating a gas present in a region, in which the supporting unit is positioned, by a flame for thermally treating the target such that the target storing unit is not contacted by the flame; and a valuable substance recovering step of recovering the valuable substance from a thermally treated product of the target obtained in the thermal treatment step.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 3, 2021
    Publication date: October 5, 2023
    Applicant: DOWA ECO-SYSTEM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yoji SUGANUMA, Hiroki NAGAHARA, Minoru YOSHIHARA, Chihiro NISHIKAWA, Ryoei WATANABE, Yoshihiro HONMA, Masataka YAMASHITA
  • Publication number: 20230119544
    Abstract: Provided is a method for concentrating a valuable metal contained in a lithium ion secondary battery, for processing a lithium ion secondary battery containing at least one element selected from the group consisting of cobalt and nickel, or a positive electrode material of the lithium ion secondary battery, to concentrate a valuable metal containing either or both of cobalt and nickel. The method includes a thermal treatment step of thermally treating the lithium ion secondary battery or the positive electrode material thereof, to form a granular aggregate containing at least one valuable metal selected from the group consisting of cobalt and nickel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2021
    Publication date: April 20, 2023
    Applicant: DOWA ECO-SYSTEM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ryoei WATANABE, Yoshihiro HONMA, Chihiro NISHIKAWA, Masataka YAMASHITA, Jiahao LIU
  • Publication number: 20230116994
    Abstract: A metal recovery method includes crushing a photovoltaic module or a photovoltaic sheet-like structure to form debris; and sorting the debris, wherein the photovoltaic sheet-like structure is obtained by removing a glass substrate and a frame member from the photovoltaic module, and includes at least a photovoltaic cell, a metal pattern wired from the photovoltaic cell, and an encapsulant to encapsulate the photovoltaic cell and the metal pattern.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 13, 2021
    Publication date: April 20, 2023
    Applicant: DOWA ECO SYSTEM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shota TAHATA, Hisashi SASAKI, Ryoei WATANABE
  • Publication number: 20230107938
    Abstract: A method for recovering valuable substance, for recovering it from lithium ion secondary battery includes: thermal treatment step of thermally treating lithium ion secondary battery to obtain thermally treated product; pulverizing/classifying step of classifying pulverized product obtained by pulverizing thermally treated product, to obtain coarse and fine-grained products both containing valuable substance; water leaching step of immersing fine-grained product in water, to obtain water-leached slurry; wet magnetic sorting step of subjecting water-leached slurry to wet magnetic sorting, to sort water-leached slurry into magnetically attractable materials and non-magnetically attractable material slurry; and acid leaching step of adding acidic solution to either or both of non-magnetically attractable material slurry recovered by wet magnetic sorting and non-magnetically attractable materials obtained by solid-liquid separation of non-magnetically attractable material slurry to leach non-magnetically attractab
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2021
    Publication date: April 6, 2023
    Applicant: DOWA ECO-SYSTEM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Chihiro NISHIKAWA, Yoshihiro HONMA, Ryoei WATANABE, Masataka YAMASHITA
  • Publication number: 20230104457
    Abstract: Provided is a method for recovering lithium, for recovering lithium from a lithium ion secondary battery, the method including: a thermal treatment step of thermally treating a lithium ion secondary battery having a residual voltage higher than or equal to 80% of a rated voltage, to obtain a thermally treated product; a pulverizing step of pulverizing the thermally treated product, to obtain a pulverized product; and a lithium recovering step of recovering lithium from the pulverized product.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2021
    Publication date: April 6, 2023
    Applicant: DOWA ECO-SYSTEM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Chihiro NISHIKAWA, Yoshihiro HONMA, Ryoei WATANABE, Masataka YAMASHITA, Yoshiki ITO, Yoshitaka YOSHIWARA
  • Publication number: 20230083016
    Abstract: Provided is a sorting method for valuable resources, including a thermal treatment step of thermally treating a target containing valuable resources, to melt aluminum and separate a melt, a pulverizing step of pulverizing a thermally treated product remaining after the melt is separated, to obtain a pulverized product, a magnetic sorting step of sorting the valuable resources from the pulverized product by a magnetic force, and a wind force sorting step of sorting one valuable resource from another valuable resource in the valuable resources by a wind force.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 29, 2021
    Publication date: March 16, 2023
    Applicant: DOWA ECO-SYSTEM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tatsuya YODOSE, Ryoei WATANABE, Hitoshi SASAKI, Chihiro NISHIKAWA, Yoshihiro HONMA
  • Publication number: 20220396852
    Abstract: Provided is a method for separating lithium from a lithium solution containing lithium by 200 mg/L or more and fluorine by 20 mg/L or more, the method including: a first removal step of adding a first component, which solidifies the fluorine contained in the lithium solution, to the lithium solution and removing the fluorine solidified to obtain a F-removed liquid; and a second removal step of adding a second component, which solidifies the first component remaining in the F-removed liquid, to the F-removed liquid and removing the first component solidified to obtain a first component-removed liquid.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2020
    Publication date: December 15, 2022
    Applicant: DOWA ECO-SYSTEM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Chihiro NISHIKAWA, Yoshihiro HONMA, Ryoei WATANABE
  • Patent number: 10233099
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a radioactive cesium decontaminator, a method of producing a radioactive cesium decontaminator, and a method of removing radioactive cesium using the decontaminator. The radioactive cesium decontaminator is formed by agglomeration of primary particles. The primary particles have a magnetic particle as a core portion, a coating layer made of an organic material coating the magnetic particle, and a capturing compound made of ferrocyanide material formed on the coating layer. A cumulative diameter D50 of the decontaminator is in a range of from 2.0 ?m to 50 ?m, and a value of a cumulative diameter distribution (D90?D10)/D50 is less than 6. The decontaminator is made by adding a ferrocyanide aqueous solution and an aqueous solution containing at least one transition metal into a suspension liquid containing a precursor formed by magnetic particles coated with organic monomer or polymer while applying a strong shear force.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignees: THE JIKEI UNIVERSITY, DOWA HOLDINGS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshihisa Namiki, Toshihiko Ueyama, Takayuki Yoshida, Ryoei Watanabe
  • Patent number: 9359659
    Abstract: A method for recovering a valuable material from a lithium-ion secondary battery, the method contains: roasting a lithium-ion secondary battery containing a valuable material in a metal battery case thereof to obtain a roasted material; stirring the roasted material with liquid to separate contents containing the valuable material from the inside of the metal battery case; and sorting the contents separated by the separation and the metal battery case to obtain a recovered material containing the valuable material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2016
    Assignee: DOWA ECO-SYSTEM Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Koji Fujita, Satoshi Kawakami, Yoshihiro Honma, Ryoei Watanabe
  • Publication number: 20150239758
    Abstract: There is provided a method of producing a radioactive cesium decontaminator, including: suspending magnetic particles in a solvent, and coating each magnetic particle with organic monomer or polymer, to thereby form a precursor; adding a ferrocyanide aqueous solution and an aqueous solution containing at least one kind of transition metal into a suspension liquid containing the precursor after coating while applying a strong shear force, to thereby generate a radioactive cesium decontaminator; and removing water content from a slurry containing the obtained radioactive cesium decontaminator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2013
    Publication date: August 27, 2015
    Applicants: THE JIKEI UNIVERSITY, DOWA HOLDING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshihisa Namiki, Toshihiko Ueyama, Takayuki Yoshida, Ryoei Watanabe
  • Publication number: 20130287621
    Abstract: A method for recovering a valuable material from a lithium-ion secondary battery, the method contains: roasting a lithium-ion secondary battery containing a valuable material in a metal battery case thereof to obtain a roasted material; stirring the roasted material with liquid to separate contents containing the valuable material from the inside of the metal battery case; and sorting the contents separated by the separation and the metal battery case to obtain a recovered material containing the valuable material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2013
    Publication date: October 31, 2013
    Inventors: Koji FUJITA, Satoshi KAWAKAMI, Yoshihiro HONMA, Ryoei WATANABE