Australian bio-materials company Nanollose has secured its first US patent covering the pulping of microbial cellulose for use in the production of viscose fibres.
The patent was approved by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) under its application titled Methods For Producing a Viscose Dope from Microbial Cellulose (US Patent Number 11,597,779).
The successful application marks the company’s first granted patent in the United States, and third globally. It is also the first relating specifically to the company's fibre technologies, and examination of this family of patents remains ongoing in other jurisdictions.
The patent expands the company’s IP footprint across its product suite and provides protection from potential competitors in the world’s largest consumer market.
Nanollose is an Australian-based biotechnology company advancing new technologies relating to the production, processing and applications of microbial cellulose.
Along with its three granted patents to-date, Nanollose filed a joint application with Grasim Industries, subsidiary of the multinational Indian conglomerate Aditya Birla Group and parent company of Birla Cellulose, Nanollose’s long-term research partner in the development of the Tree-Free Nullarbor™ lyocell process.
This patent, titled A High Tenacity Regenerated Cellulosic Fibre, was filed globally via the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) as WO 2022/153170A1 in January 2022.
Together with its existing granted and pending patents, the joint application with Birla Cellulose forms part of the Company’s targeted strategy to establish formal patent protection across its intellectual property (IP) portfolio.
Both parties remain committed to their long-term development partnership for the Nullarbor™ lyocell production process, which was formally established in January 2020.
Nanollose executive chairman Dr Wayne Best said that as well as expanding its international IP portfolio, the granted US patent validates the company’s sustainable fibre technologies
“With patent approval now secured in the US for our microbial cellulose process for viscose, we remain excited by our pending patent suite, which includes the joint patent application filed globally with our long-term research partner Birla Cellulose, in connection with the ongoing development of Nanollose’s Tree-Free nullarbor™ lyocell process,” Dr Best said.
“We look forward to providing more updates on that R&D program and other pending patent applications over the coming year.”