US Patent Issued to Chevron Phillips Chemical on Oct. 7 for "Combination clay stabilizer having an alkali metal asphalt sulfonate and quaternary ammonium salt" (Texas Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 8 -- United States Patent no. 12,435,256, issued on Oct. 7, was assigned to Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP (The Woodlands, Texas).

"Combination clay stabilizer having an alkali metal asphalt sulfonate and quaternary ammonium salt" was invented by Marshall D. Bishop (Conroe, Texas), Elan Watson (Montgomery, Texas) and Katrina I. Schultz (Spring, Texas).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Clay-containing soils and shale are treated with a combination clay stabilizer having an alkali metal asphalt sulfonate in combination with a quaternary ammonium salt to reduce swelling of the clay component of the soil and shale."

The patent was filed on Aug. 22, 2024, under Application No....