Innovation Portfolio
Paul Scherrer Institut
Switzerland's largest research institute for natural and engineering sciences, operating unique large-scale research facilities. Excellence in materials science, energy and environment research, and human health applications.
213
Patents
430
Inventors
17
Active Spin-offs
-
Licensing Deals
Patent Portfolio
Analysis of our organization's intellectual property assets
Patents by Technology Area
Portfolio Highlights
Total Patents
213
Recent Patent Publications (2024 & 2025)
5
Top Inventors
Patent Portfolio
Featured Technologies
Discover our latest patented technologies
Method and System for Flexible Production of Hydrogen and Hydrocarbons From Product Gas
It is desirable to design a plant such that it is flexible with respect to the product spectrum and to flexible integration of hydrogen as fuel besides biomass, while minimizing the capital costs by e.g. multipurpose reactors. Even on the feedstock side, some flexibility could be useful, i.e. using besides hydrogen also CO2 as feed for the production of storable energy carriers, e.g. hydrocarbons, while using the stored energy carrier at least as partial feedstock in times when hydrogen production is desired.This objective is achieved according to the present invention by a method/system for producing hydrogen and/or methanol, comprising :a) thermochemically converting in terms of gasification and/or pyrolysis a carbonaceous feedstock from biomass or wastes yielding a product gas that comprises at least CO, H2 and optionally unsaturated hydrocarbons, such as ethylene, acetylene, benzene;b) optionally providing a gas cleaning section to remove catalyst poisons, e.g. Sulphur species, from the product gas;c) bringing the product gas into a fluidized bed reactor and reacting the product gas in the presence of a catalyst and/or a sorbent based on e.g. copper, molybdenum and/or iron that supports the conversion of CO and H2O to hydrogen and CO2 or to methanol depending on the operation conditions that are controllable in terms of the catalyst and/or sorbents used and/or the pressure and/or the temperature and/or the heat exchange in the fluidized bed reactor;d) guiding the reacted product gas to an upgrading section that comprises a particle filter, an optional condensation step and at least one separation unit, such as a membrane, a scrubber, an absorption, a pressure swing adsorption or a temperature swing adsorption, a chemisorption, a liquefaction or combinations thereof, thereby separating a hydrogenrich stream or a methanol-rich stream from the effluent of the fluidized bed reactor.This method and this system thus allow to use one single fluidized bed reactor to flexibly decide for the production of hydrogen or methanol thereby enabling a production that for example is enabled to reflect the availability of green hydrogen and/or renewable energy.
Method for Recovering Phosphorous and Metal Ions From Dilute Aqueous Feeds Using Cementitious Adsorbents
A robust and economically viable technology is developed for the phosphorus (P) and metals recovery from dilute aqueous feeds. This is one of the first efforts to recover P and contaminants from the wastewater streams using adsorbents without the need of incineration and acid leaching of the sludge. P is becoming very critical raw material and nutrient for the agricultural and industrial uses and most of the produced materials are lost in the water bodies. The process technology addresses the P management using the cementitious inorganic adsorbent containing transition and alkali metals like Al, Fe, Mg, Ca, Na and S, but not limited to this. The sequence of interconversion in solution chemistry via inorganic sulphates and hydroxides can produce the economic products such as phosphoric acid and struvite or transition metal salts. The developed technology has the potential for scale up on industrial scale, re-use of components and preconcentration of dilute P and metal contents as well as extended use for recovering from other industrial aqueous feeds after the corresponding optimization. The clear advantage with the claimed process is that it can avoid the use of strong mineral acid and high temperature pyrometallurgical treatments to reach the similar products without negative environmental impact.
Use of a Metal And/or Metalloid-Comprising Ketoacidoximate And/or a Metal-Compound-Comprising Ketoacidoximate As a Patterning Agent
The present invention relates to the use of a metal or metal-compound comprising ketoacidoximate as a patterning agent, preferably a photoresist agent, in photolithography and/or electron beam patterning. Preferably, the metal or metal-compound comprising ketoacidoximate has one of the following structural forms:wherein:R1 and R2 stand for hydrogen (H), organic compounds, such as aliphatic C1 to C10, aromatic, cyclic, polymerizable, such as acrylate, methacrylate, vinyl, etc., or a combination of these; andM stands for a central metal or metalloid atom that is attached to the ketoacidoximate group, and/or for a central metal atom being attached to other groups such as oxide, hydroxide, etc., or a central metal atom being attached to a further group R3 which is a carboxylate such as acetate, etc., a glycinate, a xanthate, an alkyl, an aryl, or the like.
Success Stories
Featured Spin-off Companies
Companies founded based on our organization's technologies
Focal Biosciences AG
Focal Biosciences AG develops AI-driven chromatin reprogramming technologies to reverse and cure chronic diseases.
Tandem Therapeutics
Tandem Therapeutics is a Swiss biopharmaceutical company developing precision therapies targeting the extracellular matrix to treat fibrotic diseases.
XRnanotech GmbH
XRnanotech is a Swiss deep-tech company specializing in advanced X-ray optics and nanotechnology, delivering high-precision nanostructures and optics for scientific, industrial, and commercial applications.
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