Evonik Degussa Gmbh

Evonik Operations Gmbh

Avecia Biotechnology, Inc.

Membrane Extraction Technology Limited

Evonik Membrane Extraction Technology Ltd.

Evonik Membrance Extraction Technology Limited

Nitto Denko Avecia, Inc.

Andrew Timothy Boam

Andrew Guy Livingston

Velichka Yordanova Koleva

Xiaoping Wu

Maria Ines Fontes Rocha

Fui Wen Lim

Yuri Bouwhuis

Andrea Meniconi

Michael Schwarm

Phillip R James

Felix Nissen

Paul McCormac

Stephen Hargreaves

Jean-Pierre Arcangeli

Shengfu Zhang

Henrik Fismen

Sverre Sondbo

Eddy G Torp

Dinesh Nair

Paul Mccormac

The present disclosure in general relates to a process for (1) reducing impurities, i.e. undesirable natural components such as waxes and undesirable synthetic materials such as agrochemicals and other environmental pollutants, or (2) fractionation of natural components present in an essential oil using at least one selective membrane.

Membrane-based processes for selectively fractionating essential oils

The present invention relates to a method for curing adhesives used in the manufacture of membrane modules containing polymeric membranes, particularly polyimide based membranes used for the nanofiltration or ultrafiltration of solutes dissolved in organic solvents using microwaves. To maximise the chemical resistance of the adhesive used in these organic solvent applications, it must be as fully reacted and crosslinked ('cured') as possible. Typically, thermal processing (heating) of the entire membrane module is used to cure the adhesives. However, the time and temperature required to achieve this high degree of completion of reaction may damage the separation performance of the membrane contained within the membrane module. In one particular aspect, this process utilises microwaves to preferentially promote the curing of epoxy adhesives over the general heating of the membrane module.

Membrane module

The present invention relates to production processes for reactive monomer species. The method described herein may be used in a variety of reactive monomer production processes to optimize the use of polymerization inhibitor compounds, which may lead to further advantages such as debottlenecking or elimination of process plant separation unit(s). The method provides for the separation of oligomeric/polymeric species, inhibitor compounds and reactive monomer, optionally in the presence of unreacted raw materials or solvent(s), within the production process by means of membrane filtration, particularly through the use of solvent stable membranes, and in particular by applying organic solvent nanofiltration membranes.

Method for improved reactive monomer production with membrane filtration

The present disclosure relates generally to a process for manufacturing products enriched in the content of at least one vitamin E component, preferably tocotrienol, using solvent extraction and membrane filtration.

Method for producing vitamin E-enriched, especially tocotrienol-enriched, compositions from natural oils

The present disclosure relates generally to processes for reducing impurities and separating natural components from a non-marine fatty acid oil mixture using at least one selective membrane, and compositions thereof.

Membrane-based processes for reducing at least one impurity and making a concentrate comprising at least one natural component from a non-marine fatty acid oil mixture, and compositions resulting thereof

There is provided a process for reducing the free fatty acid content of natural oils by contacting the crude natural oil with a solvent to produce an oil product phase substantially depleted in free fatty acids and a free fatty acid rich solvent phase containing the extracted free fatty acids and some of the glycerides, and processing the free fatty acid rich solvent phase with a membrane to recover the glycerides from the solvent phase, comprising the steps of: (a) contacting the crude natural oil with an immiscible solvent; (b) separating the deacidifed natural oil phase from the solvent phase; (c) providing a selectively permeable membrane having a first surface and a second surface; (d) transferring a portion of the solvent and a portion of the free fatty acids and a lesser portion of the glycerides from the first surface to the second surface across the membrane by contacting the free fatty acid rich solvent phase with the first surface, wherein the pressure at the first surface is greater than the pressure at the second surface, and wherein the membrane is a selectively permeable membrane such that the membrane rejections of the free fatty acids (RFFA) and glycerides (RGLY) are greater than 0%, and the membrane rejection (RGLY) of the glycerides is at least 5% greater than the membrane rejection (RFFA) of the free fatty acids.

Deacidification method

A process for the purification of an oligonucleotide synthon is provided. The process comprises subjecting an organic solution comprising an oligonucleotide synthon and lower molecular weight impurities to nanofiltration whereby the ratio of an oligonucleotide synthon to lower molecular weight impurities in the solution is increased after the nanofiltration. Preferably, the oligonucleotide synthon is a nucleoside phosphoramidite or nucleoside H-phosphonate. The nanofiltration membrane is preferably a polyimide membrane having a molecular weight cut off of 400.

Process for purifying oligonucleotide synthons

There is provided a process for removing and recovering one or more unassociated phenolic compounds dissolved in aqueous fluid, the process comprising the steps of: (a) transferring the one or more unassociated phenolic compounds from the aqueous fluid to an alkaline stripping solution, wherein transfer of the one or more unassociated phenolic compounds from the aqueous fluid to the alkaline stripping solution occurs across a membrane; wherein the membrane is a non porous, selectively permeable membrane; (b) regulating the volume of alkaline stripping solution employed relative to the volume of aqueous fluid treated so that the total phenolic compound concentration in the alkaline stripping solution, comprising the sum of the dissociated and unassociated phenolic compound concentrations, is above the solubility of the phenolic compounds in the acidified stripping solution of step (d); (c) regulating the pH of the alkaline stripping solution in contact with the membrane to a value at least 0.5 pH units above the acidic dissociation constant of the phenolic compound; (d) adjusting the pH of the phenolic compound containing alkaline stripping solution to a value below the alkaline dissociation constant of the phenolic compound and (e) separating the resulting phenolic compound rich phase and the alkaline stripping solution.

Process for removing and recovering of phenolic compounds from aqueous fluids

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London, United Kingdom

Andrew Timothy Boam