Cycling Ligand Adsorber

Introduction Water contaminated with heavy metals is detrimental to both the environment and human health. Heavy metal contamination commonly arises from many industrial processes. Removal of heavy metals from wastewater is a key part of environmental cleanup operations and is vital for regulatory compliance in industry. Remediation of contaminated water is expensive by traditional methods, such as activated carbon filters, which are difficult to reactivate, non-selective, and costly to dispose. Technology description Scientists at the University of Washington have invented a method of specifically removing solutes, such as heavy metals, from aqueous solutions. This removal is performed by immobilized polypeptides that are cycled for further binding after removal of ligand. Reactivation of the bioremediator is a cheap and easy process, thus bringing down the total cost of remediation compared to multi-step procedures. During the reactivation process the removed solutes are available in concentrated form. Applications include waste stream treatment and fermentation product recovery. Protein generation costs are minimized when this technology is combined with an automated protein bioreactor (a technology OTT #10-86-76 also available for license from the University of Washington). Business opportunity This discovery is an improved method of removing heavy metals from aqueous solutions. Stage of development Columns that specifically remove phosphate and cadmium have been developed using this technology.

Patents:
US 4,909,944
US 4,969,995
US 5,089,470

Type of Offer: Licensing



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