High-efficiency processes for destruction of contaminants
US6599423B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 26, 2002 |
| Grant date | Jul 29, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 26, 2022 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY02W10/10
- WIPO fieldChemical engineering
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
The present invention relates to novel ex situ processes for simple and economical destruction of air, water, and soil contaminants using naturally occurring microorganisms that are widely available in the environment. The processes utilize novel closed-loop recycle schemes which dramatically improve the efficiency, economics, and practicability of destruction of a wide variety of contaminants, especially VOCs and chloroethylenes, and particularly trichloroethylene (TCE). The processes may be applied on a batch or continuous basis to contaminated soil and groundwater, to contaminated effluents from a wide variety industrial operations, or to wherever such amenable contaminants are present. Certain contaminants, particularly chloroethylenes, are known to be difficult to biodegrade aerobically to non-toxic products without the employment of a primary substrate to induce cometabolic degradation. Ordinarily, practical and economical cometabolic degradation of these compounds via a primary substrate is not possible because direct metabolic degradation of the primary substrate itself competes with degradation of the target pollutants, thus rendering degradation of the target pollutants e…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.