Patents by Inventor Tomoharu Oku

Tomoharu Oku 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: 11273434
    Abstract: The present invention aims to provide a regeneration method capable of sufficiently restoring the catalytic performance of a solid catalyst used in a dehydration reaction of lactic acid and derivatives thereof. The present invention relates to a method for regenerating a solid catalyst used in a dehydration reaction of lactic acid and derivatives of lactic acid, the method including a contacting step of bringing a solid catalyst containing a component that forms a molten salt in the presence of steam into contact with oxygen and steam under pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2022
    Assignees: THE PROCTER & GAMBLE COMPANY, NIPPON SHOKUBAI CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Juan Estaban Velasquez, Dimitris Ioannis Collias, Jane Ellen Godlewski, Motosuke Imada, Koji Shingubara, Masashi Tonoya, Shinji Kanbara, Masaki Okada, Tomoharu Oku, Hideaki Tsuneki, Masanori Nonoguchi
  • Publication number: 20190105651
    Abstract: The present invention aims to provide a regeneration method capable of sufficiently restoring the catalytic performance of a solid catalyst used in a dehydration reaction of lactic acid and derivatives thereof. The present invention relates to a method for regenerating a solid catalyst used in a dehydration reaction of lactic acid and derivatives of lactic acid, the method including a contacting step of bringing a solid catalyst containing a component that forms a molten salt in the presence of steam into contact with oxygen and steam under pressure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 6, 2017
    Publication date: April 11, 2019
    Applicants: THE PROCTER & GAMBLE COMPANY, NIPPON SHOKUBAI CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Juan Estaban VELASQUEZ, Dimitris Ioannis COLLIAS, Jane Ellen GODLEWSKI, Motosuke IMADA, Koji SHINGUBARA, Masashi TONOYA, Shinji KANBARA, Masaki OKADA, Tomoharu OKU, Hideaki TSUNEKI, Masanori NONOGUCHI
  • Patent number: 8093416
    Abstract: The present invention has an object to provide the following method for producing fatty acid alkyl esters and/or glycerin and the following catalyst used in the production method. According to the production method, a fat or oil is reacted with an alcohol to give a fatty acid alkyl ester and/or glycerin suitably used in a food or fuel application, etc., with high efficiency, and complicated steps such as a step of recovering a catalyst can be simplified or omitted. According to the catalyst, an active metal component is not eluted even if the catalyst is used repeatedly or for a long period of time, and further, such a catalyst can maintain an excellent catalyst activity for a long time even in the presence of water and exhibit a high activity to both of transesterification of a glyceride contained in the fat or oil and esterification of free fatty acid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2012
    Assignee: Nippon Shokubai Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takeo Akatsuka, Masanori Nonoguchi, Tomoharu Oku
  • Patent number: 8039651
    Abstract: In the method of the present invention for producing fatty acid alkyl ester and/or glycerin, as a heat source for an alcohol refining step of refining alcohol from unreacted alcohol that remains without reacting in a first reaction step, at least a part of heat of the unreacted alcohol is used. This allows reducing costs in production of fatty acid alkyl ester and/or glycerin over a solid catalyst.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: Nippon Shokubai Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masanori Nonoguchi, Hiroko Izumi, Atsushi Tachibana, Tomoharu Oku, Toshimitsu Moriguchi, Takeo Akatsuka, Izuho Okada, Hideaki Tsuneki, Hironori Horie
  • Publication number: 20100286420
    Abstract: The present invention has an object to provide the following method for producing fatty acid alkyl esters and/or glycerin and the following catalyst used in the production method. According to the production method, a fat or oil is reacted with an alcohol to give a fatty acid alkyl ester and/or glycerin suitably used in a food or fuel application, etc., with high efficiency, and complicated steps such as a step of recovering a catalyst can be simplified or omitted. According to the catalyst, an active metal component is not eluted even if the catalyst is used repeatedly or for a long period of time, and further, such a catalyst can maintain an excellent catalyst activity for a long time even in the presence of water and exhibit a high activity to both of transesterification of a glyceride contained in the fat or oil and esterification of free fatty acid.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 17, 2008
    Publication date: November 11, 2010
    Applicant: Nippon Shokubai Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takeo Akatsuka, Masanori Nonoguchi, Tomoharu Oku
  • Publication number: 20100274034
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method of producing a fatty acid alkyl ester and/or glycerin by bringing an oil and an alcohol into contact with each other, the method including: reacting the oil and alcohol with each other; performing solid-liquid separation for removing a solid sterol from a reaction liquid obtained in the step of reacting; and performing phase separation for separating the reaction liquid into a hydrophobic phase and a hydrophilic phase after the reaction liquid is subjected to the step of performing the solid-liquid separation, the hydrophobic phase containing the fatty acid alkyl ester, and the hydrophilic phase containing glycerin. Thereby, the present invention provides a method allowing stable continuous operation for a long time period for production of a fatty acid alkyl ester and/or glycerin.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2008
    Publication date: October 28, 2010
    Applicants: NIPPON SHOKUBAI CO., LTD, RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY FOR TH
    Inventors: Izuho Okada, Tomoharu Oku, Hironori Horie, Masanori Nonoguchi, Atsushi Tachibana
  • Publication number: 20100249441
    Abstract: In the method of the present invention for producing fatty acid alkyl ester and/or glycerin, as a heat source for an alcohol refining step of refining alcohol from unreacted alcohol that remains without reacting in a first reaction step, at least a part of heat of the unreacted alcohol is used. This allows reducing costs in production of fatty acid alkyl ester and/or glycerin over a solid catalyst.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2007
    Publication date: September 30, 2010
    Inventors: Masanori Nonoguchi, Hiroko Izumi, Atsushi Tachibana, Tomoharu Oku, Toshimitsu Moriguchi, Takeo Akatsuka, Izuho Okada, Hideaki Tsuneki, Hironori Horie
  • Patent number: 7605281
    Abstract: The method of producing fatty acid alkyl esters and/or glycerine of the present invention is a method of producing high-purity fatty acid alkyl esters and/or glycerine advantageously from the energy viewpoint while reducing the energy consumption of the production, and the products can be used in various fields of application, for example in biodiesel fuels, foods, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2009
    Assignee: Nippon Shokubai Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomoharu Oku, Masanori Nonoguchi, Toshimitsu Moriguchi
  • Publication number: 20090069586
    Abstract: To provide: a production method using a catalyst which can substantially suppress leaching of active metal components and exhibit high activity for both reactions of transesterification of glycerides and esterification of free fatty acids each contained in a fat or oil; and the catalyst.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 20, 2006
    Publication date: March 12, 2009
    Applicants: Nippon Shokubai Co., Ltd., Research Institute of Innovative Technology For the Earth
    Inventors: Tomoharu Oku, Toshimitsu Moriguchi, Takeo Akatsuka, Masanori Nonoguchi
  • Publication number: 20070167642
    Abstract: The method of producing fatty acid alkyl esters and/or glycerine of the present invention is a method of producing high-purity fatty acid alkyl esters and/or glycerine advantageously from the energy viewpoint while reducing the energy consumption of the production, and the products can be used in various fields of application, for example in biodiesel fuels, foods, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2004
    Publication date: July 19, 2007
    Applicant: Nippon shokubai Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomoharu Oku, Masanori Nonoguchi, Toshimitsu Moriguchi
  • Patent number: 6559342
    Abstract: In producing alkanolamines by use of a microporous material as a catalyst, the difficulty in industrially performing the production because of the short lifetime of the catalyst is resolved. A process of regenerating the catalyst by removing an organic substance deposited on the catalyst by means of decomposing and/or extracting the substance is introduced, and thereby steady production is carried out substantially over the long term by switching the reaction and the regenerating processes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2003
    Assignee: Nippon Shokubai Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideaki Tsuneki, Masaru Kirishiki, Yoshitaka Arita, Yukihide Hashimoto, Tomoharu Oku, Hisakazu Shindou, Yoshiaki Urano, Fumiaki Morishita
  • Patent number: 6521207
    Abstract: A method for producing a molding of binderless zeolite by exposing to saturated steam a precursor having a tetraalkylammonium salt component, an alkali metal component, and a metal component incorporated in the crystal skeleton of zeolite supported on a molding using silica as a main component, the molding of binderless zeolite, and use of the molding as a catalyst for the production of an alkanolamine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2003
    Assignee: Nippon Shokubai Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomoharu Oku, Hideaki Tsuneki
  • Publication number: 20020041845
    Abstract: A method for producing a molding of binderless zeolite by exposing to saturated steam a precursor having a tetraalkylammonium salt component, an alkali metal component, and a metal component incorporated in the crystal skeleton of zeolite supported on a molding using silica as a main component, the molding of binderless zeolite, and use of the molding as a catalyst for the production of an alkanolamine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 11, 2001
    Publication date: April 11, 2002
    Applicant: Nippon Shokubai co., Ltd., Japan corporation
    Inventors: Tomoharu Oku, Hideaki Tsuneki