Green Patent Blog®

Novomer, Inc. (Novomer) is a Cornell University spin out that makes green plastics, polymers and other chemicals from carbon dioxide and other renewable raw materials. 

Novomer uses catalysis systems invented by Cornell professor Geoffrey Coates, and patented by the university, to make various polymers.  One of the company’s primary products is polypropylene carbonate (PPC), known as NB-180, which consists of 50% fossil fuels and 50% carbon dioxide.

Through Coates’s chemical catalysis, epoxides (fossil fuel materials) can be reacted with carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide at low temperatures and pressures to produce high performance polymers that provide better barriers for storing food and decompose into environmentally benign products, according to the company’s web site.

U.S. Patent No. 6,133,402 (’402 Patent) relates to zinc- and other metal-based catalysts for co-polymerization of alkylene oxides and carbon dioxide.  U.S. Patent No. 7,304,172 (’172 Patent) is directed to cobalt catalysts, various co-catalysts and reversible chain transfer agents for use with cobalt catalysts for co-polymerization of propylene oxide and carbon dioxide. 

The ‘172 Patent claims a few different catalysts, including a cobalt catalyst having the following general structure:

Novomer also owns International Patent Application Pub. No. WO 2009/148889 (’889 Application), which published last month and is directed to methods of controlling the molecular weight distribution of polymers made by addition polymerization reactions.  The ‘889 Application incorporates by reference the ‘402 and ‘172 Patents and some of Coates’s scientific publications.

Novomer recently partnered with Kodak to build a pilot production facility to make plastic wraps and coatings for testing by prospective customers.  According to this Greentech Media story, because of the huge amounts of oil that go into plastics manufacturing, if Novomer’s process were to go universal U.S. fuel consumption could drop by 5%.

In a previous post, I wrote about Coskata’s patent-pending ethanol production process.  The Illinois-based cellulosic ethanol company’s proprietary technology makes ethanol from various feedstocks by converting it to synthesis gas, or syngas, and then fermenting the gas using anaerobic microorganisms.

Coskata owns Patent Application Publication Nos. 2008/0305539 and 2008/0305540, directed to a membrane supported bioreactor system for converting syngas to biofuels (collectively “Bioreactor Applications”). 

According to the Bioreactor Applications, the disclosed processes boost efficiency by using one side of a membrane as the syngas contact surface and the opposite side as the surface for growing the microorganisms.  The gas is fed onto the contact side and transported through the membrane to a biofilm of anaerobic microorganisms, where it is fermented into biofuels.

Last month, Coskata opened a semi-commercial ethanol facility in Madison, Pennsylvania that makes ethanol using the company’s microorganisms and bioreactor technology.  According to the company’s press release, the flex facility will produce ethanol from numerous feedstocks, including wood biomass, agricultural waste, sustainable energy crops and construction waste.

To build the facility, Coskata teamed up with Westinghouse Plasma Corporation, which suppled the gasification technology for the project.

I had the opportunity to speak to Wes Bolsen, Coskata’s CMO, about the new facility, the company’s technology and the company’s IP.  He confirmed that the Pennsylvania facility uses Coskata’s patent-pending bioreactor technology.

Bolsen also told me that Coskata has patents directed to microorganisms used in the fermentation process, but that the company favors trade secret protection for some of the newer strains of “bugs,” including some of those used in the new facility.

According to Bolsen, Coskata ”will continue with patents, trade secrets and whatever combination of the two” the company needs.  “Our IP is the core of this business,” he said.  ”Our IP and innovation is what keeps us ahead in the industry.”

GS CleanTech Corporation (GS), a wholly owned subsidiary of GreenShift Corporation, is a New York company that develops technology relating to energy efficient ethanol production processes.

GS owns U.S. Patent No. 7,601,858 (’858 Patent), entitled “Method of processing ethanol byproducts and related subsystems” and directed to methods of recovering oil from byproducts of ethanol production.

Dry milling is a popular method of producing ethanol by fermentation of the starch in corn or other grains.  However, this method creates a waste stream comprised of byproducts called whole stillage.

According to the ‘858 Patent, whole stillage contains valuable oil but prior processes for recovering this oil have been expensive or inefficient.

GS’s patented method includes mechanically separating the whole stillage into distillers wet grains and thin stillage and then running the thin stillage into an evaporator to form a concentrated byproduct, or syrup.  The syrup is fed through a second centrifuge, which separates usable corn oil from the syrup.

The ‘858 Patent issued on October 13, 2009.  The same day, GS filed suit in federal court in Manhattan accusing New Jersey-based separator and decanter maker GEA Westfalia Separator, Inc. (Westfalia) and multiple as yet unnamed defendants of contributory infringement and inducing infringement of the ‘858 Patent. 

According to the complaint (greenshift-complaint.pdf), Westfalia sells centrifuges for corn oil extraction and directs its customers to use the methods taught in the ‘858 Patent.

Because the suit was filed upon patent issuance, GS’s recoverable damages are quite limited.  So GS is claiming provisional patent rights under Section 154(d) of the patent statute, which allows recovery of a reasonable royalty if the infringer had actual notice of the published patent application and the claims of the issued patent are substantially identical to the originally published claims.

This strategy demonstrates the importance of promptly notifying any potential infringers as soon as your patent application publishes, which is 18 months after filing in the U.S.

Thanks again to the Cleantech Litigation blog for the head’s up about this case.

Synthetic Genomics, Inc. (SGI) is a San Diego biotech company that develops biofuels using genetic engineering and other genomic and microbiological techniques.

Last month SGI announced that it has entered a multi-year research and development agreement with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company (EMRE) to develop next generation biofuels using photosynthetic algae. According to SGI’s press release, total funding for R & D and milestone payments could total more than $300 million. 

SGI will use its proprietary tools and technologies in genomics, metagenomics, synthetic genomics and genome engineering to develop superior strains of algae for commercial scale production of biofuels.  SGI owns several pending patent applications relating to these tools and technologies. 

U.S. Application No. 2007/0264688 (’688 application) is entitled “Synthetic genomes” and is directed to methods of constructing synthetic genomes and introducing them into vesicles (cells or synthetic membrane-bound “cells”). 

The ‘688 application describes generating small nucleic acid fragments, assembling them into cassettes, cloning the cassettes, assembling the cassettes into a genome, and transferring the synthetic genome into a biochemical system.  The end products produced by the biochemical systems have various applications such as energy sources (e.g., hydrogen or ethanol), therapeutics and industrial polymers.

According to the ‘688 application, selection and construction of synthetic genome sequences (as opposed to conventional genetic engineering techniques) allows for easier manipulation of genetic sequences and construction of novel organisms and biological systems.

U.S. Application No. 2007/0269862 (’862 application) is directed to methods for installing a genome into a cell or cell-like system.  The genome may comprise supercoiled nucleic acid molecules (102) with scaffolding proteins (104).  The nucleic acids may also have ribosomes (106).

The supercoiled nucleic acid molecules (102) may be accompanied by small molecules (108) and single stranded nucleic acid molecules (110).  The genomes are introduced into a membrane bound aqueous volume (112) such as a lipid vesicle.

Claim 1 of the ‘862 application is rather broad:

1.  A method for making a synthetic cell, the method comprising:

obtaining a genome that is not within a cell; and

introducing the genome into a cell or cell-like system.

U.S. Application No. 2009/0176280 is directed to a method for isothermal amplification of small amounts of DNA or cell-free cloning of the DNA.

Other SGI pending applications include U.S. Application Pub. No. 2007/0037196 and U.S. Application Pub. No. 2007/0037197 (relating to in vitro methods for joining two double-stranded DNA molecules) and U.S. Application No. 2007/0122826 (relating to a minimal essential gene set that codes for a free-living organism).

One theme that runs throughout SGI’s portfolio of patent applications is impatience with the limits of existing genetic engineering methods and a desire for better techniques to shatter those limits, which SGI may have found in its synthetic genome technology.  This “Description of the Related Art” from the ‘688 application captures that sentiment:

Conventional genetic engineering techniques are limited to allowing manipulation of existing sequences.  It would thus be desirable to have the ability to implement dramatic alterations and arrangements of genetic content, beyond that made possible by conventional techniques.  Consequently, there is a need for synthetic genomes.

Rentech, Inc. (Rentech) is a Los Angeles company that provides clean energy solutions including biomass gasification technology and processes for converting synthetic gas (syngas) into synthetic jet fuel and diesel fuels.

Last month Rentech announced that it had completed the acquisition of Atlanta-based SilvaGas Corporation (SilvaGas) and SilvaGas’s commercial-scale biomass gasification technology, which converts urban waste feedstocks into syngas.

According to the press release, the acquisition will enable Rentech to offer integrated packages for renewable fuels and power production by combining the SilvaGas gasification technology with Rentech’s syngas conversion, conditioning and cleanup technology.

The SilvaGas patent portfolio includes several patents and pending applications relating to high-throughput gasifier technology.  The original SilvaGas process was protected by U.S. Patent No. 4,828,581 (’581 patent), entitled “Low input gas velocity high throughput biomass gasifier”.  The ‘581 patent expired in 2006.

The ‘581 patent describes a process of rapidly heating biomass with hot sand using a reactor that has a fluid bed of sand.  According to the ‘581 patent:

This invention comprises the unexpected discovery that it is possible to gasify biomass at very high wood throughputs but in an entrained gasifier operating at low inlet gas velocities.

Entrained gasifiers perform gasification reactions in a cloud of fine particles, which can be solids, atomized liquid fuels or fuel slurries.

Another key SilvaGas patent is U.S. Patent No. 6,613,111 (’111 patent), entitled “Small scale high throughput biomass gasification system and method”.  The ‘111 patent is directed to a high-throughput combination gasifier and combustor wherein the gasifier is concentrically housed within the combustor. 

The gasifier system includes a gasifier (102) and a combustor (118).  The combustor (118) acts as a source of heat to drive the gasification reactions in the gasifier (102).  The gasifier (102) and combustor (118) transfer heat and materials to each other via circulation of a particulate inert material, such as sand, which is fluidized by gas flowing through the material. 

A fluidizing gas inlet (110) provides a flow of gas into the gasifier (102), and gas exits the gasifier at exit (112), flows through a separator (114), and exits as product gas through product gas exit (116).  Biomass feedstock is introduced through the entry opening (106), and the particulate material travels from the combustor (118) into the gasifier (102) through a recirculation opening (108).

According to the ‘111 patent, the arrangement of the gasifier (102) concentrically within the combustor (102) minimizes heat loss from the surface of the gasifier and improves the efficiency of the system.  This helps to make the patented system suitable for small scale gasification having a relatively low feedstock input rate.

Most of the other SilvaGas patents and applications are directed to improvements or variations of these core technologies, including U.S. Patent No. 6,808,543 (methods for reducing ash agglomeration, reducing erosion and facilitating sand flow), U.S. Patent No. 6,680,137 (an energy system connecting a gasifier and a combustor to a fuel cell) and U.S. Application Pub. No. 2008/0022592 (a more efficient gasification system having certain diameter and height specs).