Dow and Fuji Xerox Join Eco-Patent Commons

Xerox pledges additional patent to help the planet.

GENEVA .- The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) (NYSE: DOW) and Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. (Fuji Xerox), a joint venture between Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) and FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, have joined the Eco-Patent Commons, a first-of-a-kind business effort coordinated by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) to help the environment by pledging environmentally beneficial patents to the public domain.

The newly pledged patents include:

-- A technology developed by Dow to enable more efficient production of olefins by reducing energy and material consumption in the process. Olefins are basic building blocks for many materials used in packaging, electronics, adhesives, and durable goods, among other applications. These patents offer several advantages over existing technology that make olefin production more efficient - including increased catalyst lifetimes, and less increase in pressure drop over time in the reactor, which reduces the frequency of catalyst replacement.

-- Wastewater treatment method developed by Fuji Xerox.

“We are delighted to welcome The Dow Chemical Company and Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. to the Eco-Patent Commons,” said the WBCSD’s President, Bjorn Stigson. “By making available their patents in this way, by sharing the results of their investment in research and development, companies are showing real leadership in sustainable development. Eco-Patent Commons continues to grow, and added together, the available patents make up a valuable resource for those individuals and companies working in areas such as energy efficiency, water treatment and waste reduction.”

Pledged patents by Dow

The two patents describe catalysts comprising a pre-shaped porous support material with an active compound for the preparation of and use in the dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons.

Dehydrogenation of compounds like hydrocarbons is a widely used and large scale process. Examples include: the dehydrogenation of alkanes to alkenes, such as propane to propene and butane to butene, and the dehydrogenation of alkyl-aromatic hydrocarbons to alkenyl-aromatic hydrocarbons, such as from ethylbenzene to styrene.

Pledged patents by Fuji Xerox

Fuji Xerox pledged two patents that effectively treat wastewater. The wastewater treatment processes enable efficient treatment of wastewater discharged from factories by coagulation and separation of specific chemical substances in wastewater utilizing Polysilicato-Iron or separating surfactant, and reduce quantities of the coagulant and the resulted sludge without harming the environment.

Xerox pledges an additional patent

Xerox Corporation became a member of the Eco-Patent Commons last year and at the time pledged eleven patents that cover a process that cuts the time it takes to remove toxic waste from soil and water from years to months. Today the company pledged an additional patent that covers technology that makes magnetic refrigeration less harmful to the environment. Xerox’s US Patent 5,641,424 describes how to make and apply a magnetized solution in magnetic refrigeration that eliminates the need for ozone depleting refrigerants and energy-consuming compressors. Conventional magnetic refrigeration processes often use chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) and hydrofluorocarbon (HFC), chemicals that have a considerable greenhouse effect.

Since the launch of the Eco-Patent Commons in January 2008 by IBM, Nokia, Pitney Bowes and Sony in partnership with the WBCSD, eleven companies representing a variety of industries worldwide have publicly shared innovation through Eco-Patent Commons to help contribute in areas such as energy efficiency and conservation, waste reduction and recycling: Bosch, Dow, DuPont, Fuji Xerox, IBM (NYSE: IBM), Nokia, Pitney Bowes, Ricoh, Sony, Taisei and Xerox.

Membership in the Eco-Patent Commons is open to all individuals and companies willing to pledge their patents. The selection and submission of each organization’s patents for pledging is at the organization’s discretion. Member companies and the WBCSD invite other interested companies to become members of the Eco-Patent Commons and participate in this initiative promoting innovation and collaboration to help protect the planet.

The pledged portfolio and the instructions on how to become a member are available on a dedicated, public Web site hosted by the WBCSD at http://www.wbcsd.org/web/epc.