ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,654,118, issued on June 16, was assigned to NAM YANG NON-WOVEN FABRIC Co. LTD. (Ansan-si, South Korea).

"Biodegradable composite filter media for air filters and manufacturing method thereof" was invented by Young Hyun Yoon (Anyang-si, South Korea) and Heon Byung Chae (Ansan-si, South Korea).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present invention relates to a thermally bonded biodegradable filter support and a biodegradable composite filter media for an air filter and a mask using the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to an environmentally-friendly dry nonwoven fabric or thermally bonded biodegradable filter support and ...