A"patented secret"?

Within a post titled "On the road to grassoline," one finds the text

"The catalyst is [George] Huber's patented secret"

It is axiomatic that what is patented is not a secret.

Here, one notes US Patent 8,277,643 to among others George Huber.  One notes Huber is

• Co-founder of a start-up company (Anellotech) that is commercializing technology developed in the Huber research group. 
  

Fast forward to February 2015. And one finds opposition to a test facility for the biofuel plant:

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PEARL RIVER – A Facebook group dedicated to stop a company's plan to expand its biofuel facility has more than 1,100 members. A group of Orangetown residents filed a lawsuit against the Town Board after it deemed the project safe.

At a recent public hearing, the Orangetown and Clarkstown supervisors urged the company to address residents' fears: that the facility could emit dangerous chemicals into the air as it produces benzene, xylene and toluene from sawdust.

But David Sudolsky, president of Anellotech Inc., a technology-based startup at the Pfizer campus, stands firm in his belief that his company is doing the right thing for the community and the environment.

"It's a matter of time until we get information out and, hopefully, people will look at the facts and see otherwise," said Sudolsky, who has been trying to explain to opponents that the proposed testing unit would serve only for research and development purposes and that a 15-foot-high vent pipe on top of the unit, which some refer to as a "smokestack," would emit mostly carbon dioxide, water and nitrogen and would not pollute the environment.

(...)

Aside from the Triumvirate study, two different reports — one from Trinity Consultants and another from the state Department of Environmental Conservation — found that the facility meets all state and federal air quality requirements and that the level of potentially harmful chemicals emitted from the vent pipe is significantly less than state and federal guidelines.

For construction of its testing unit, Anellotech was awarded a $750,000 grant from the state Regional Economic Development Council initiative. Once built, the unit will be in operation continually for an 18- to 36-month period to generate data to be used by future licensees who would build commercial units elsewhere, Sudolsky said. After that, the Pearl River test unit will be operated periodically, he said.

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Story by  Akiko Matsuda, amatsuda@lohud.com12:06 a.m. EST February 8, 2015