MIPOS Pty Ltd has developed a technology to revolutionize the dehydration step, the time of which has been reduced to less than three minutes. The MagbagTM is a device and method, for the safe and rapid removal of water from non-aqueous liquids, by the use of a desiccant held inside a porous container. Having potential applications in fields such as; synthetic chemistry, petroleum dehydration and industrial chemical processing.

In laboratory environments an integral step of most reactions is the dehydration of the non-polar solvent after aqueous work-up, which wets the solvent. The dehydration step is usually performed by the addition of a drying agent such as magnesium sulphate. Following agitation, the hydrophilic agent absorbs all the water, including large droplets, fine emulsions and dissolved water. Removal of the loose powder requires filtration, performed using either a specific funnel incorporating a porous sieve or filter paper. Both the sieve and filter paper need to be rinsed with non-polar solvent to ensure maximum recovery of the compound being synthesized. This process can take in excess of 15 minutes, but only 2-3 minutes using the MagBag^TM technology.

The technology enables the rapid removal of water from dry solutions using a method which is much quicker and more convenient than existing methods.

The technology has a priority date of 28^th June 2004 and is granted in Au and is pending in the USA.

• Achieved test market sales
• Disposable laboratory device, which is cheap to manufacture
• Quick and simple to use and removes the danger associated with handling hazardous solutions
• Improved methodology to current laboratory practices
• Meets industry and gold standard laboratory practices

• Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies
• Petroleum companies involved in fuel production
• Teaching and research laboratories
• Chemical manufacturers
• Manufacturers of solvents and paints

An early model of the device has been manufactured and achieved test sales in Ireland and Australia.

A licensing opportunity exists for the co-development of this technology by a company capable of undertaking the manufacturing and distribution required to deliver this product to market.