2362 results about "Chemical process" patented technology

Methods and apparatus relating to very large scale FET arrays for analyte measurements. ChemFET (e.g., ISFET) arrays may be fabricated using conventional CMOS processing techniques based on improved FET pixel and array designs that increase measurement sensitivity and accuracy, and at the same time facilitate significantly small pixel sizes and dense arrays. Improved array control techniques provide for rapid data acquisition from large and dense arrays. Such arrays may be employed to detect a presence and / or concentration changes of various analyte types in a wide variety of chemical and / or biological processes. In one example, chemFET arrays facilitate DNA sequencing techniques based on monitoring changes in hydrogen ion concentration (pH), changes in other analyte concentration, and / or binding events associated with chemical processes relating to DNA synthesis.

A method for restoring a dielectric constant of a layer of a silicon-containing dielectric material having a first dielectric constant and at least one surface, wherein the first dielectric constant of the layer of silicon-containing dielectric material has increased to a second dielectric constant, the method comprising the steps of: contacting the at least one surface of the layer of silicon-containing dielectric material with a silicon-containing fluid; and exposing the at least one surface of the layer of silicon-containing dielectric material to an energy source selected from the group consisting of: UV radiation, heat, and an electron beam, wherein the layer of silicon-containing dielectric material has a third dielectric constant that is lower than the second dielectric constant after exposing the layer of silicon-containing dielectric material to the energy source.

A high-intensity light source is formed by a micro array of a semiconductor light source such as a LEDs, laser diodes, or VCSEL placed densely on a liquid or gas cooled thermally conductive substrate. The semiconductor devices are typically attached by a joining process to electrically conductive patterns on the substrate, and driven by a microprocessor controlled power supply. An optic element is placed over the micro array to achieve improved directionality, intensity, and / or spectral purity of the output beam. The light module may be used for such processes as, for example, fluorescence, inspection and measurement, photopolymerzation, ionization, sterilization, debris removal, and other photochemical processes.

Systems and methods are provided for monitoring, diagnosis and condition-based maintenance of mechanical systems. The disclosed systems and methods employ intelligent model-based diagnostic methodologies to effectuate such monitoring, diagnosis and maintenance. According to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the intelligent model-based diagnostic methodologies combine or integrate quantitative (analytical) models and graph-based dependency models to enhance diagnostic performance. The disclosed systems and methods may be employed a wide variety of applications, including automotive, aircraft, power systems, manufacturing systems, chemical processes and systems, transportation systems, and industrial machines / equipment.

The present invention describes methods and systems for extracting, capturing, reducing, storing, sequestering, or disposing of carbon dioxide (CO2), particularly from the air. The CO2 extraction methods and systems involve the use of chemical processes, mineral sequestration, and solid and liquid sorbents. Methods are also described for extracting and / or capturing CO2 via condensation on solid surfaces at low temperature.

Graphical user interfaces, computer readable media, and computer systems for monitoring a chemical process. An administration module sets a plurality of user preferences associated with the chemical process. A people management module defines a user role in the chemical process. An organization module defines an organizational structure of an organization that runs the chemical process. An equipment module defines equipment used in the chemical process. A material module controls a chemical used in the chemical process. A process module defines a chemical reaction in the chemical process.

New microfluidic devices, useful for carrying out chemical reactions, are provided. The devices are adapted for on-chip solvent exchange, chemical processes requiring multiple chemical reactions, and rapid concentration of reagents.

A method for fabricating a capacitor arrangement which includes at least three electrodes is described. The capacitor arrangement is fabricated using a number of lithography methods that is smaller than the number of electrodes. A capacitor arrangement extending over more than two or more interlayers between metallization layers has a high capacitance per unit area and can be fabricated in a simple way is also described. The circuit arrangement has a high capacitance per unit area and can be fabricated in a simple way. An electrode layer is first patterned using a dry-etching process and residues of the electrode layer are removed using a wet-chemical process, making it possible to fabricate capacitors with excellent electrical properties.

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) compositions and EPA-rich polar lipids for prophylactic or therapeutic applications are described. Production from certain cultured micro-organisms (like Nitzschia laevis) promotes synthesis of EPA, including polar lipids including EPA. The EPA-rich polar lipids themselves may be used as polar compounds. EPA can be selectively hydrolysed from particular positions in isolated polar lipids by lipase activity, then optionally further purified. The process bypasses reliance on diminishing fish stocks and on physico-chemical processes that may not adequately separate desirable n-3 HUFAs from unwanted products like DHA also found in fish oil and cultured organisms.

Integrated processes of preparing industrial chemicals starting from seed oil feedstock compositions containing one or more unsaturated fatty acids or unsaturated fatty acid esters, which are essentially free of metathesis catalyst poisons, particularly hydroperoxides; metathesis of the feedstock composition with a lower olefin, such as ethylene, to form a reduced chain olefin, preferably, a reduced chain α-olefin, and a reduced chain unsaturated acid or ester, preferably, a reduced chain α,Ω-unsaturated acid or ester. The reduced chain unsaturated acid or ester may be (trans)esterified to form a polyester polyolefin, which may be epoxidized to form a polyester polyepoxide. The reduced chain unsaturated acid or ester may be hydroformylated with reduction to produce an α,Ω-hydroxy acid or α,Ω-hydroxy ester, which may be (trans)esterified with a polyol to form an α,Ωpolyester polyol. Alternatively, the reduced chain unsaturated acid or ester may be hydroformylated with reductive amination to produce an α,Ω-amino acid or α,Ω-amino ester, which may be (trans)esterified to form an α,Ωpolyester polyamine.

An integrated heat exchange system on a microfluidic card. According to one aspect of the invention, the portable microfluidic card has a heating, cooling and heat cycling system on-board such that the card can be used portably. The microfluidic card includes one or more reservoirs containing exothermic or endothermic material. Once the chemical process of the reservoir material is activated, the reservoir provides heat or cooling to specific locations of the microfluidic card. Multiple reservoirs may be included on a single card to provide varying temperatures. The assay chemicals can be moved to the various reservoirs to create a thermal cycle useful in many biological reactions, for example, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) or rtPCR. According to another aspect of the invention, the integrated heat exchanger is an adjacent microfluidic circuit containing fluid that is either independently heated or cooled, or is an exothermic or endothermic material, such that the fluid in the adjacent circuit imparts a change in temperature to the assay fluid in an independent circuit. According to yet another aspect of the invention, a thermal electric cooler (TEC) is used for thermocycling the amplification chamber of a disposable microfluidic card.

A unitary humidity exchange cell (HUX) is dislosed that includes at least one composite membrane, disposed between at least one first chamber for flow of the first fluid therethrough and at least one second chamber for flow of the second fluid therethrough. The composite membrane include an at least partially sulfonated humidity-conducting polymer comprising residues derived from at least one arylvinyl monomer; and a reinforcing substrate bonded thereto. The product finds utility in a variety of physical and chemical processes and products whereby moisture or other highly polar liquid or gas transfer, exchange removal or delivery is important. A notable application is the Membrane Energy Recovery Ventilator (MERV) in which both heat, ions and moisture is transferred between two air streams, one intake and one exhaust, from an air-conditioned building.

A chemical processing system and a method of using the chemical processing system to treat a substrate with a mono-energetic space-charge neutralized neutral beam-activated chemical process is described. The chemical processing system comprises a first plasma chamber for forming a first plasma at a first plasma potential, and a second plasma chamber for forming a second plasma at a second plasma potential greater than the first plasma potential, wherein the second plasma is formed using electron flux from the first plasma. Further, the chemical processing system comprises a substrate holder configured to position a substrate in the second plasma chamber.

The present invention provides an apparatus and method for performing heat-exchanging reactions on an electro wetting-based micro fluidic device. The apparatus provides one or multiple thermal contacts to an electro wetting-based device, where each thermal contact controls the part of the electro wetting-based device it communicates with to a designed temperature. The electrowetting-based device can be used to create, merge and mix liquids in the format of droplets and transport them to different temperature zones on the micro fluidic device. The apparatus and methods of the invention can be used for heat-exchanging chemical processes such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and other DNA reactions, such as ligase chain reactions, for DNA amplification and synthesis, and for real-time PCR.

An apparatus for producing hydrogen may include a collector of radiation to concentrate solar radiation on a converter having an absorptivity to convert the solar radiation to thermal energy to drive a chemical process using a feedstock to dissociate into an output chemical and a byproduct. A separator separates the output and byproduct, after which a reactor reacts the output to form a storage chemical, reactive to produce energy but sufficiently stable for safe handling outside designation as an energetic material. The separator may have a porosity to substantially pass hydrogen and block oxygen and water. A sweep gas may sweep hydrogen away from the separation barrier to change equilibrium. Catalysts may reduce temperature of dissociation and a subsequent reaction to combine it in a more stable, storable form.

Disclosed is a process for the preparation of superheated of steam by transferring heat from at least a fraction of a high pressure steam to a lower pressure steam to produce a superheated, lower pressure steam. The high pressure steam can be generated by recovering heat from a heat producing chemical process such as, for example, the partial oxidation of carbonaceous materials. The lower pressure steam can be generated by reducing the pressure of a portion of the high pressure steam or by recovering heat from one or more chemical processes. The superheated, lower pressure steam may used to generate electricity in a steam turbine, operate a steam turbine drive, or as a heat source. Also disclosed is a process for driving a steam turbine using superheated steam produced by the process of the invention.

A high-intensity light source is formed by a micro array of a semiconductor light source such as a LEDs, laser diodes, or VCSEL placed densely on a liquid or gas cooled thermally conductive substrate. The semiconductor devices are typically attached by a joining process to electrically conductive patterns on the substrate, and driven by a microprocessor controlled power supply. An optic element is placed over the micro array to achieve improved directionality, intensity, and / or spectral purity of the output beam. The light module may be used for such processes as, for example, fluorescence, inspection and measurement, photopolymerzation, ionization, sterilization, debris removal, and other photochemical processes.

The present invention provides a nano-integrated system assembly that offers both convenience and cost-efficiency, where multiple fluidic, electronic and mechanical components or chemical processes are optimally embraced effectively and efficiently in a systematic modularized manner. Furthermore, the nano-integrated system assembly has a generic configuration so as to enable and accommodate a wide spectrum of differently combined sequences of analyzing / processing operations to be performed on the identical nano-integrated system assembly.

A wet chemical process for preparing iron lithium phosphate includes mixing the solution or suspensions of Li source compound, Fe source compound, P source compound, doping element compound or electric conducting agent, and precipitant, reaction at 5-120 deg.C for 0.5-24 hr while stirring, filtering, washing, baking to obtain nano precursor, quickly heating to 500-800 deg.C in non-air or non-oxidizing atmosphere, calcining for 5-48 hr, and cooling. Its advantages are easy control, high uniformity and electric conductivity.

A method and a system capable of removing carbon dioxide directly from ambient air, and obtaining relatively pure CO2. The method comprises the steps of generating usable and process heat from a primary production process;applying the process heat from said primary process to water to co-generate substantially saturated steam, alternately repeatedly exposing a sorbent to removal and to capture and regeneration system phases, wherein said sorbent is alternately exposed to a flow of ambient air during said removal phase, thereby enabling said sorbent to sorb, and therefore remove, carbon dioxide from said ambient air, and to a flow of the co-generated steam during the regeneration and capture phase, after the sorbent has adsorbed the carbon dioxide, thereby enabling regeneration of such sorbent, and the resultant capture in relatively pure form of the adsorbed carbon dioxide. This process can also be carried out in more efficient form by admixing with the air a minor amount of a flue gas or an effluent gas containing a higher concentration of carbon dioxide than exists in the atmosphere, most preferably following a pre-treatment. The carbon dioxide can be stored for further use, or sequestered permanently following the capture: The adsorbent is exposed to air at substantially ambient conditions and the adsorbent is exposed to the co-generated steam at a temperature in the range of not greater than about 130° C. The system provides the sorbent substrate and equipment for carrying out the above method, and provides for obtaining purified carbon dioxide for further use in agriculture and chemical processes, including manufacturing hydrocarbon fuels, or for permanent sequestration, as needed.

A method by which silicon nanostructures may be selectively coated with molecules or biomolecules using an electrochemical process. This chemical process may be employed as a method for coating many different nanostructures within a circuit, each with a different molecular or biomolecular material. The density of devices within a circuit of devices that can be coated with different molecules is limited only by the ability to electronically address each device separately. This invention has applications toward the fabrication of molecular electronic circuitry and toward the fabrication of nanoelectronic molecular sensor arrays.

An integrated heat exchange system on a microfluidic card. According to one aspect of the invention, the portable microfluidic card has a heating, cooling and heat cycling system on-board such that the card can be used portably. The microfluidic card includes one or more reservoirs containing exothermic or endothermic material. Once the chemical process of the reservoir material is activated, the reservoir provides heat or cooling to specific locations of the microfluidic card. Multiple reservoirs may be included on a single card to provide varying temperatures. The assay chemicals can be moved to the various reservoirs to create a thermal cycle useful in many biological reactions, for example, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) or rtPCR. According to another aspect of the invention, the integrated heat exchanger is an adjacent microfluidic circuit containing fluid that is either independently heated or cooled, or is an exothermic or endothermic material, such that the fluid in the adjacent circuit imparts a change in temperature to the assay fluid in an independent circuit. According to yet another aspect of the invention, a thermal electric cooler (TEC) is used for thermocycling the amplification chamber of a disposable microfluidic card.

Microparticles 8 includes an optical substrate 10 having at least one diffraction grating 12 disposed therein. The grating 12 having a plurality of colocated pitches Λ which represent a unique identification digital code that is detected when illuminated by incident light 24. The incident light 24 may be directed transversely from the side of the substrate 10 with a narrow band (single wavelength) or multiple wavelength source, in which case the code is represented by a spatial distribution of light or a wavelength spectrum, respectively. The code may be digital binary or may be other numerical bases. The micro-particles 8 can provide a large number of unique codes, e.g., greater than 67 million codes, and can withstand harsh environments. The micro-particles 8 are functionalized by coating them with a material / substance of interest, which are then used to perform multiplexed experiments involving chemical processes, e.g., DNA testing and combinatorial chemistry.

System and method for chemical manufacture utilizing a dynamic optimizer for a chemical process including upstream and downstream processes. The dynamic optimizer includes a maximum feed calculator, operable to receive one or more local constraints on the downstream processes and one or more model offsets, and execute steady state models for the downstream processes in accordance with the local constraints and the offsets to determine maximum feed capacities of the downstream processes; and a feed coordinator, operable to receive the maximum feed capacities, and execute steady state models for the upstream processes in accordance with the maximum feed capacities and a specified objective function, subject to global constraints, to determine upstream production parameters for the upstream processes, which are usable to control the upstream processes to provide feeds to the downstream processes in accordance with the determined maximum feeds and the objective function subject to the global constraints.

The invention provides a fuzzy curve analysis based soft sensor modeling method using time difference Gaussian process regression, it is suitable for application in chemical process with time delay characteristics. This method can extract stable delay information from the historical database of process and introduce more relevant modeling data sequence to the dominant variable sequence. First of all, the method of fuzzy curve analysis (FCA) can intuitively judge the importance of the input sequence to the output sequence, estimate the time-delay parameters of process, and such offline time-delay parameter set can be utilized to restructure the modeling data. For the new input data, based on the historical variable value before a certain time, the current dominant value can be predicted by time difference Gaussian Process Regression (TDGPR) model. This method does not encounter the problem of model updating and can effectively track the drift between input and output data. Compared with steady-state modeling methods, this invention can achieve more accurate predictions of the key variable, thus improving product quality and reducing production costs.

A simulation system includes at least one processor configured to execute a computer program product, stored upon a storage medium. The computer program product includes a spreadsheet application, a process simulation application, and an integration tool (e.g., eSim), where the spreadsheet application and the process simulation application are discrete, stand alone products. The process simulation application can simulate chemical processes using at least one flowsheet, which models a general flow of chemical plant processes and equipment. The integration tool can map process simulation application objects and properties to spreadsheet application objects, can convey information between mapped objects, can perform case management functions, and can perform orchestrated calculation functions.

The present invention discloses a thermal module with heat reservoir, which is arranged with respect to a chip, and the thermal module comprises: a housing, disposed at a appropriate position corresponding to the chip and made of a material of high heat conductivity; a phase change material, disposed within the housing, capable of changing from a first state to a second state by absorbing heat and changing from the second state to the first state by releasing the heat stored therein; wherein the thermal module can be either mounted on the chip at an appropriate location or disposed at a location separated from the chip by an appropriate distance, in addition, the phase change process of the phase change material changing between the first state and the second state can be either a physical process or a chemical process.