Abstract:
A microporous plug is provided which serves to seal a vessel so as to prevent the bulk flow of gases through an outlet. The pores of said microporous plug are sized so as to permit the transport of gases to and from the vessel interior by Knudsen diffusion. In preferred embodiments, the pores of the plug are sized so as to release helium from the interior of a vessel and restrict the transport of carbon dioxide into the vessel from the surrounding atmosphere by Knudsen diffusion. Such embodiments are particularly useful on Mars where the helium is transported into an environment of higher pressure. In other embodiments, the microporous plug is used in conjunction with an absorber positioned within the vessel to react with atmospheric gases that pass through the plug, such as carbon dioxide. Also provided are radioisotope thermoelectric generators that incorporate a microporous plug and optionally an absorber.
Abstract:
The present invention is directed to an annular gel reactor suitable for the production and observation of spatiotemporal patterns created during a chemical reaction. The apparatus comprises a vessel having at least a first and second chamber separated one from the other by an annular polymer gel layer (or other fine porous medium) which is inert to the materials to be reacted but capable of allowing diffusion of the chemicals into it.
Abstract:
An electrocatalytic process is described for producing unsaturated hydrocarbon compounds from saturated hydrocarbon compounds. The process is conducted in an electrogenerative cell and generally comprises the steps of(A) providing a fuel cell comprising a solid electrolyte having a first surface coated with conductive metal, metal oxide or mixtures thereof capable of catalyzing the reduction of oxygen to oxygen ions, and a second surface coated with metal, metal oxide or mixtures thereof, the two conductive coatings being connected by an external circuit,(B) passing an oxygen-containing gas in contact with the first conductive coating while,(C) passing the saturated hydrocarbon compound-containing feed gas in contact with the second conductive coating, and(D) recovering unsaturated hydrocarbons.In a preferred embodiment, the conductive metal coating on the first and second surfaces comprises a silver-containing metal composition. In another preferred embodiment, the invention comprises a continuous process for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene and acetylene while generating electricity in an electrogenerative reactor.
Abstract:
A catalyst device comprises a porous catalytically active inorganic membrane, means for presenting a fluid reactant to a first surface of the membrane and means for recovering a fluid reaction product from the second surface of the membrane. The membrane is preferably an anodic aluminum oxide membrane with a deposit of catalytically active material present within the pores, preferably concentrated in the ends of the pores adjacent the second surface of the membrane.
Abstract:
An apparatus for aerosol direct fluorination is disclosed in which a material to be fluorinated is formed into an aerosol prior to fluorination by introducing a vapor stream of the material to be fluorinated centrally into converging flows of carrier particles suspended in a gas and condensing the vapor onto the particles. Fluorine is contacted with the aerosol in an elongated fluorination reactor having microporous walls providing a substantially continuous influx of fluorine-containing gas which creates an increasing fluorine concentration gradient as the aerosol moves through the reactor and provides a barrier to prevent contact of the aerosol with the microporous walls. A photochemical stage includes an elliptical reflector with a light source of one focus and a flow of aerosol and fluorine at the others.
Abstract:
The present invention relates to a novel method for conducting phase transfer catalysis in a multiphase reaction system wherein the different phases are separated by a membrane permeable to the phase transfer catalyst and its various reaction complexes. The invention also relates to membranes and a membrane-containing apparatus useful in carrying out phase transfer catalysis.
Abstract:
The instant invention is directed to a lipid osmotic pump, comprising:(A) a core, comprising:(i) a beneficial amount of at least one substantially water insoluble active agent which is lipid soluble and/or lipid wettable;(ii) a sufficient amount of at least one water immiscible lipid carrier, which is liquid at the temperature of intended use, to dissolve and/or suspend said active agent; and(iii) a sufficient amount of at least one osmotic agent to ensure release of said lipid carrier from the pump; and(B) surrounded by a water insoluble wall:(i) having a thickness of about 1 to 1000 microns;(ii) which is preferentially wetted by said lipid carrier over an aqueous solution of said osmotic agent;(iii) having a water permeability of about 1.times.10.sup.-18 to 4.times.10.sup.-15 cm.sup.3 sec/g;(iv) prepared from at least one polymer permeable to water but substantially impermeable to said osmotic agent; and(v) having a means for said active agent and lipid carrier to be released through said water insoluble wall.
Abstract:
Reagent is added to liquid chromatographic effluent to increase detection sensitivity of sample bands, or to enhance sensitivity with respect to interfering bands which overlap sample bands of interest, using one or more hollow fibers immersed within mobile reagent which is permeated through the walls of the fibers and, thus, ultimately diffused into the column effluent.
Abstract:
A method is disclosed for delivering a drug substantially free of rapid precipitation from an osmotic device. The osmotic device comprises a semipermeable wall surrounding a compartment, housing (1) a drug that exhibits limited solubility under neutral and acid conditions; and (2) a compound capable of evolving carbon dioxide in the presence of an acid in the environment of use. The method comprises, (a) imbibing fluid through the wall into the compartment at a rate determined by the permeability of the wall and the osmotic pressure gradient across the wall, (b) forming in the compartment a basic solution containing drug and compound, which solution is delivered from the compartment through the passageway, (c) reacting the compound with the acid in the environment at the device-environment interface for evolving carbon dioxide, thereby, (d) providing an effervescent suspension in the environment that delivers the drug in a finely dispersed form to the environment of use over time. Also, a composition is disclosed comprising the drug and the compound.
Abstract:
Osmotically driven active agent dispenser for use in an aqueous environment that pumps a solution of active agent, such as a drug, at a predetermined, constant rate. The dispenser is in the form of a coated tablet comprising: a core of an osmotically effective active agent composition; and an inexpandable wall that encloses the core, has a controlled permeability to water and includes means, such as brittleness or sites of structural weakness, that is responsive to the pressure generated within the dispenser by imbibition of water from the environment by the core through the wall to form at least one, and usually many, passageways in situ in the wall through which the active agent composition in solution is pumped osmotically at a rate that is substantially dependent of the rate at which water is being imbibed into the dispenser.