- Email: [email protected]
Petrol separation
Nov memb.qxd
19/11/2002
15:24
Page 10
PATENTS
Product manufacture Our bench-scale and pilot-scale studies are excellent for research and development activities, but our goal is to produce a commercial product that can be installed as a self-contained unit at a customer’s site. Achieving this goal will demand the full attention of product-design engineers with expertise in the membranes, hydraulics, electronics, hydrogen generation and handling, and system integration. The system must be 100% reliable in all aspects, and the system must have a competitive price. We are currently exploring a range of paths that will lead to a manufactured product that meets these criteria. One option is to license the technology to a company (or companies) that makes water-treatment equipment. The licensee would have responsibility for design, manufacture, and marketing. Companies in the membrane field may fit this path. A second option is to create a new business for the design, manufacture, and marketing of the HFMBfR. A combination of the two options may work best, and we are eager to consider partnering opportunities.
Conclusions The H2-based HFMBfR safely and efficiently reduces harmful nitrate and perchlorate to innocuous N2 and Cl–. It also is effective for removing a large range of other oxidized water contaminants.
Patents Improved proton-conducting membrane Applicant: University of Chicago, USA This invention provides details of an ion-conducting membrane that comprises dendrimeric polymers covalently linked into a network structure. The dendrimeric polymers have acid functional terminal groups and may be covalently linked by way of linking compounds, cross-coupling reactions, or copolymerization reactions. The patent also describes methods for producing the ion-conducting membranes and fuel cells made from the membranes. Patent number: WO 02/078110 Inventors: D. Colombo, M. Krumpelt, D. Myers, J. Kopasz Publication date: 3 October 2002
Petrol separation Applicant: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Japan, Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Chuo Kenkyusho, Japan, and ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co, USA Petrol in a material fuel tank is separated into a high-RON fuel having a higher octane value than the material fuel and a low-RON fuel having a
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The H2-HFMBfR supplies H2 gas, a clean and inexpensive inorganic electron donor, by diffusing it through the walls of hollow-fibre membranes. After the H2 gas passes through the membrane wall, bacteria coating the outside of the membrane as a biofilm reduce the H2 and reduce nitrate, perchlorate, or other oxidized contaminants. The biofilm consumes virtually 100% of the hydrogen, which makes this process exceptionally cost-effective, and no residual organic substrate remains in the effluent. This simple and cost-effective biotechnology can be used to treat contaminated ground water, drinking water, agricultural run-off, and wastewater. Our technical success and the wide range of pollutants and settings lead us to the conclusion that the HFMBfR can be turned into a commercial product. The HFMBfR will greatly expand the scope of how membranes can be used in water treatment, and it is totally different from a membrane bioreactor.
References 1. Lee, K.-C. and Rittmann, B.E. (2000) A novel hollow-fiber membrane biofilm reactor for autohydrogenotrophic denitrification of drinking water. Water Sci. Technol. 41(4–5) 219–226. 2. Rittmann, B.E. and McCarty, P.L. (2001) Environmental Biotechnology: Principles and Applications, McGraw-Hill Book Co, New York, USA.
lower octane value than the material fuel, by a separator device that is equipped with a separation membrane. Using a fuel switching mechanism, one or both the high-RON fuel and the lowRON fuel are supplied to the engine in accordance with the state of operation of the engine. As the octane value of a fuel can be changed in accordance with the engine operational state, the state of combustion in the engine improves, so that both an increase in output and an improvement in exhaust properties can be achieved. Patent number: WO 02/077429 Inventors: T. Ueda, T. Okumura, Y. Iwashita, K. Akihama, M. Taki, S. Yamazaki, W. Weissman, B. Minhas Publication date: 3 October 2002
Oil removal from foodstuffs using a membrane filter Applicant: Cocotech Inc, USA A process and system for extracting a solute from a solid material, such as oil from oil-bearing foodstuffs is the subject of this patent. It uses a substantially tubular membrane filter to separate a mass of the extracting medium and the foodstuffs into a miscella and foodstuffs of reduced oil content. In a batch or continuous process, after each extracting stage, the mass from the extraction vessel is conveyed to a membrane filter, which has pores along its cylindrical walls suitably sized to
3. Lee, K.-C. and Rittmann, B.E. (2002) Applying a novel autohydrogenotrophic hollowfibre membrane biofilm reactor for denitrification of drinking water. Water Research 36 2040–2052. 4. Nerenberg, R., Rittmann, B.E., and Najm, I. (2002) Concurrent perchlorate and nitrate reduction in a novel hollow-fiber membranebiofilm reactor. J. Amer. Water Works Assn. (in press). 5. Rittmann, B.E. and Lee K.-C. (2002) Hollow-Fiber Membrane Biofilm Reactor for Autohydrogenotrophic Treatment of Water. US Patent 6 387 262 (14 May 2002). (For further details on the hollow-fibre membrane-biofilm reactor, see the patents abstracts in Membrane Technology, July 2002). 6. Rittmann, B.E., Nerenberg, R., Lee, K.-C., Najm, I., Gillogly, T.E., Lehman, G.E., Adham, S.S. (2002). The hydrogen-based hollow-fiber membrane-biofilm reactor (HFMBfR) for removing oxidized contaminants. Water Sci. Technol. (to be published).
For more information, contact: Bruce E. Rittmann, John Evans Professor of Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208-3109 USA. Tel: +1 847 491 8790, Fax: +1 847 491 4011, Email: b-rittmann@ northwestern.edu
allow a miscella to pass as the permeate, while causing the foodstuffs of reduced oil content to be conveyed axially along the tubes and out of its ends as the retentate. In a continuous process, extractor cells, consisting of an extraction vessel, pump and membrane filter, are used in sequential stages, preferably using a miscella from the subsequent stage as the extracting medium. In a batch process, miscella storage tanks may be used to store miscella from the final stage for use in the next batch. In either case, only miscella having the highest oil content (namely the miscella from the first stage) is conveyed to a separator for recovery of the oil. Of particular value is the use of this process or system in extracting oil from foodstuffs which are in the form of powders, have high oil content, or are sensitive to heat. Patent number: WO 02/077139 Inventor: R.B. Trout Publication date: 3 October 2002
Composite semipermeable membrane Applicant: Nitto Denko Corp, Japan A composite semipermeable membrane structure is described. It has a thin membrane and a porous support membrane, and it is characterized in that the thin membrane comprises a polyamide-type resin having a constituent unit wherein an amide bonding is formed by a diamine residue and a dicarboxylic or tricarboxylic acid residue (the nitrogen atom in the amide bonding has an
Membrane Technology November 2002
19/11/2002
15:24
Page 10
PATENTS
Product manufacture Our bench-scale and pilot-scale studies are excellent for research and development activities, but our goal is to produce a commercial product that can be installed as a self-contained unit at a customer’s site. Achieving this goal will demand the full attention of product-design engineers with expertise in the membranes, hydraulics, electronics, hydrogen generation and handling, and system integration. The system must be 100% reliable in all aspects, and the system must have a competitive price. We are currently exploring a range of paths that will lead to a manufactured product that meets these criteria. One option is to license the technology to a company (or companies) that makes water-treatment equipment. The licensee would have responsibility for design, manufacture, and marketing. Companies in the membrane field may fit this path. A second option is to create a new business for the design, manufacture, and marketing of the HFMBfR. A combination of the two options may work best, and we are eager to consider partnering opportunities.
Conclusions The H2-based HFMBfR safely and efficiently reduces harmful nitrate and perchlorate to innocuous N2 and Cl–. It also is effective for removing a large range of other oxidized water contaminants.
Patents Improved proton-conducting membrane Applicant: University of Chicago, USA This invention provides details of an ion-conducting membrane that comprises dendrimeric polymers covalently linked into a network structure. The dendrimeric polymers have acid functional terminal groups and may be covalently linked by way of linking compounds, cross-coupling reactions, or copolymerization reactions. The patent also describes methods for producing the ion-conducting membranes and fuel cells made from the membranes. Patent number: WO 02/078110 Inventors: D. Colombo, M. Krumpelt, D. Myers, J. Kopasz Publication date: 3 October 2002
Petrol separation Applicant: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Japan, Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Chuo Kenkyusho, Japan, and ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co, USA Petrol in a material fuel tank is separated into a high-RON fuel having a higher octane value than the material fuel and a low-RON fuel having a
10
The H2-HFMBfR supplies H2 gas, a clean and inexpensive inorganic electron donor, by diffusing it through the walls of hollow-fibre membranes. After the H2 gas passes through the membrane wall, bacteria coating the outside of the membrane as a biofilm reduce the H2 and reduce nitrate, perchlorate, or other oxidized contaminants. The biofilm consumes virtually 100% of the hydrogen, which makes this process exceptionally cost-effective, and no residual organic substrate remains in the effluent. This simple and cost-effective biotechnology can be used to treat contaminated ground water, drinking water, agricultural run-off, and wastewater. Our technical success and the wide range of pollutants and settings lead us to the conclusion that the HFMBfR can be turned into a commercial product. The HFMBfR will greatly expand the scope of how membranes can be used in water treatment, and it is totally different from a membrane bioreactor.
References 1. Lee, K.-C. and Rittmann, B.E. (2000) A novel hollow-fiber membrane biofilm reactor for autohydrogenotrophic denitrification of drinking water. Water Sci. Technol. 41(4–5) 219–226. 2. Rittmann, B.E. and McCarty, P.L. (2001) Environmental Biotechnology: Principles and Applications, McGraw-Hill Book Co, New York, USA.
lower octane value than the material fuel, by a separator device that is equipped with a separation membrane. Using a fuel switching mechanism, one or both the high-RON fuel and the lowRON fuel are supplied to the engine in accordance with the state of operation of the engine. As the octane value of a fuel can be changed in accordance with the engine operational state, the state of combustion in the engine improves, so that both an increase in output and an improvement in exhaust properties can be achieved. Patent number: WO 02/077429 Inventors: T. Ueda, T. Okumura, Y. Iwashita, K. Akihama, M. Taki, S. Yamazaki, W. Weissman, B. Minhas Publication date: 3 October 2002
Oil removal from foodstuffs using a membrane filter Applicant: Cocotech Inc, USA A process and system for extracting a solute from a solid material, such as oil from oil-bearing foodstuffs is the subject of this patent. It uses a substantially tubular membrane filter to separate a mass of the extracting medium and the foodstuffs into a miscella and foodstuffs of reduced oil content. In a batch or continuous process, after each extracting stage, the mass from the extraction vessel is conveyed to a membrane filter, which has pores along its cylindrical walls suitably sized to
3. Lee, K.-C. and Rittmann, B.E. (2002) Applying a novel autohydrogenotrophic hollowfibre membrane biofilm reactor for denitrification of drinking water. Water Research 36 2040–2052. 4. Nerenberg, R., Rittmann, B.E., and Najm, I. (2002) Concurrent perchlorate and nitrate reduction in a novel hollow-fiber membranebiofilm reactor. J. Amer. Water Works Assn. (in press). 5. Rittmann, B.E. and Lee K.-C. (2002) Hollow-Fiber Membrane Biofilm Reactor for Autohydrogenotrophic Treatment of Water. US Patent 6 387 262 (14 May 2002). (For further details on the hollow-fibre membrane-biofilm reactor, see the patents abstracts in Membrane Technology, July 2002). 6. Rittmann, B.E., Nerenberg, R., Lee, K.-C., Najm, I., Gillogly, T.E., Lehman, G.E., Adham, S.S. (2002). The hydrogen-based hollow-fiber membrane-biofilm reactor (HFMBfR) for removing oxidized contaminants. Water Sci. Technol. (to be published).
For more information, contact: Bruce E. Rittmann, John Evans Professor of Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208-3109 USA. Tel: +1 847 491 8790, Fax: +1 847 491 4011, Email: b-rittmann@ northwestern.edu
allow a miscella to pass as the permeate, while causing the foodstuffs of reduced oil content to be conveyed axially along the tubes and out of its ends as the retentate. In a continuous process, extractor cells, consisting of an extraction vessel, pump and membrane filter, are used in sequential stages, preferably using a miscella from the subsequent stage as the extracting medium. In a batch process, miscella storage tanks may be used to store miscella from the final stage for use in the next batch. In either case, only miscella having the highest oil content (namely the miscella from the first stage) is conveyed to a separator for recovery of the oil. Of particular value is the use of this process or system in extracting oil from foodstuffs which are in the form of powders, have high oil content, or are sensitive to heat. Patent number: WO 02/077139 Inventor: R.B. Trout Publication date: 3 October 2002
Composite semipermeable membrane Applicant: Nitto Denko Corp, Japan A composite semipermeable membrane structure is described. It has a thin membrane and a porous support membrane, and it is characterized in that the thin membrane comprises a polyamide-type resin having a constituent unit wherein an amide bonding is formed by a diamine residue and a dicarboxylic or tricarboxylic acid residue (the nitrogen atom in the amide bonding has an
Membrane Technology November 2002