US Patent Issued to Stellenbosch University on April 15 for "Method of depolymerising phenolic polymers" (South African Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 5 -- United States Patent no. 12,275,697, issued on April 15, was assigned to Stellenbosch University (Stellenbosch, South Africa).

"Method of depolymerising phenolic polymers" was invented by Ndumiso Sibanda (Stellenbosch, South Africa), Harold Pasch (Stellenbosch, South Africa) and Helen Pfukwa (Stellenbosch, South Africa).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The invention provides a method for depolymerising a phenolic polymer, the method comprising reacting the phenolic polymer with dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO) and a hydrogen halide. The phenolic polymer may be selected from the group consisting of lignin and derivatives thereof. The hydrogen halide may be HBr. The quantity of...