Toray Industries, Inc., announced today that the Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation has chosen the company as the winner of the 2024 National Commendation for Invention Award’s WIPO Award for creating a durable reverse osmosis (RO) membrane delivering exceptional water permeability and removal efficiency and chemical resistance. The patent number of the membrane is 6032011. The inventors, all from Toray Group, are Kiyohiko Takaya, Masahiro Kimura, Takao Sasaki, Koji Nakatsuji, and Harutoki Shimura.
This award-winning RO membrane recycles industrial waste and sewage water. Toray developed it to address the issue of deterioration of the membrane structures caused by chemical cleaning using acids and alkalis, which leads to degradation of water quality.
Toray concluded that two improvements were necessary. The first was to enhance structural stability against acids and alkalis. The second was to control pore sizes to ensure selective water permeability. The company therefore precisely controlled the membrane formation process. This effort culminated in a practical RO membrane that combines exceptional water permeability and removal efficiency and chemical resistance.
RO membranes incorporating this technology serve in plants in more than 100 countries to produce industrial, agricultural, and drinking water. They help provide safe and reliable supplies that help the international community to alleviate water shortages.
Toray’s five joint inventors received the WIPO Award (see note) at a ceremony on Thursday, June 11, in the presence of Her Imperial Highness Princess Hitachi.
Note: The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is a United Nations agency that fosters the development of an international intellectual property system. The WIPO Sponsorship and WIPO Award (1st prize category) were added to the award program in 2023.
Toray will keep leveraging its core technologies of synthetic organic and polymer chemistry, biotechnology, and nanotechnology to innovate materials in keeping with its commitment to delivering new value and contributing to social progress.
Award Overview
1. Invention title
Invention of durable reverse osmosis membrane that combines exceptional water permeability and removal efficiency and chemical resistance.
2. Patent number
No. 6032011
3. Award recipients
2024 National Commendation for Invention Award’s WIPO Award category
Kiyohiko Takaya, Senior Research Chemist, Global Environment Research Laboratories, Toray Industries, Inc.
Masahiro Kimura, Senior Director, Toray Industries, Inc.
Takao Sasaki, General Manager on Special Assignment, Membrane Technical Department, Toray Industries, Inc.
Koji Nakatsuji, Assistant General Manager, Water Treatment Technical Department, Toray Industries, Inc.
Harutoki Shimura, Senior Membrane Engineer, Water Treatment Technical Department, Toray Industries, Inc.
4. Features of award-winning technology
RO membranes selectively filter dissolved salts and other substances from water. They make it possible to desalinate seawater and brine and reuse industrial and sewage wastewater. A key challenge with wastewater and sewage reuse is that these membranes need frequent acid and alkali cleaning to remove dirt on their surfaces, which can degrade their structures and the quality of water produced.
Toray hypothesized that controlling membrane charge repulsion is essential to stabilize pore structures that selectively let water through. It thus precisely controlled the membrane formation process to create pore structures smaller than a nanometer (one billionth of a meter), enhancing membrane chemical resistance. This resulted in a high-performance, long-lasting RO membrane that can deliver stable supplies of high-quality water for such applications as reusing industrial wastewater and producing of agricultural and drinking water in areas where water quality is poor.