ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 15 -- United States Patent no. 12,600,897, issued on April 14, was assigned to LignoSol IP Ltd. (San Gwann, Malta).
"Lignin-based diluent and related methods" was invented by Desmond Alexander Somerville (San Gwann, Malta) and Patrick Dieter Waibel (San Gwann, Malta).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Diluents are provided for heavy oil treatment applications, in particular for treating bitumen. In some embodiments, the diluents comprise lignin, in particular technical lignin, and at least one strain of bacteria capable of biosurfactant production and/or a biosurfactant produced by at least one such isolated strain of bacteria."
The patent was filed on April 5, 2022, under ...