ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 21 -- United States Patent no. 12,766,045, issued on Oct. 20, was assigned to Kimberly-Clark Worldwide Inc. (Neenah, Wis.).
"Auto-biodegradable absorbent articles" was invented by Stephen Quirk (Alpharetta, Ga.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An auto-biodegradable absorbent article formed at least in part from a biodegradable polymer is provided that includes an inactivated microorganism product. The absorbent article contains one or more microorganisms that are designed to secrete an enzyme that degrades the biopolymer, which can be a polyhydroxybutyrate polymer. The microorganism can naturally secrete the enzyme or can be genetically modified to secrete the enzyme. The ...