ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,227,718, issued on Feb. 18, was assigned to Ecolab USA Inc. (St. Paul, Minn.).
"Surfactant compositions and use thereof" was invented by Ashish Dhawan (Aurora, Ill.), Carter Martin Silvernail (Lakeville, Minn.), Sukhwan Soontravanich (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) and Ali Marie Bichler (Burnsville, Minn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Surfactants capable of releasing and/or dissolving polymers to form water-soluble or water-dispersible polymer solutions are disclosed. In addition, polymer compositions containing a water-in-oil emulsion comprising the surfactant are provided and can be used, for example, in methods of dissolving a polymer. ...