A method of upgrading an overflash stream from a vacuum distillation unit comprising the steps of separating the overflash stream from an atmospheric residue stream, the overflash stream comprises an overflash fraction having a T10% between 475 and 530° C. and a T90% between 600 and 700° C.; introducing the reactor feed to a supercritical reactor at a temperature between 380° C. and 500° C. and a pressure between 25 MPa and 30 MPa; maintaining upgrading reactions in the supercritical reactor to upgrade the overflash fraction such that a reactor effluent comprises upgraded hydrocarbons relative to the overflash fraction; reducing a temperature of a reactor effluent in a cooling device to produce a cooled stream; reducing a pressure of the cooled stream in a depressurizing device to produce a discharged stream; and separating the discharged stream in a gas-liquid separator to produce a liquid phase product.

The present invention relates to a pressure vessel (1) having a pressure vessel wall (1a) which completely surrounds a reaction chamber (2) as a pressure space for the initiation and/or promotion of chemical and/or physical pressure reactions of a sample (P) to be heated which is accommodated in the reaction chamber (2), wherein the pressure vessel wall (1a) has an infrared-permeable high-pressure window (30) which extends away outward in a direction from the reaction chamber (2) and which is supported in the pressure vessel wall (1a) with respect to a pressure in the reaction chamber (2), wherein the pressure vessel (1) furthermore has an infrared to temperature sensor (40) which is situated directly opposite the high-pressure window (30), in order to measure the temperature of a sample (P), accommodated in the reaction chamber (2), during a pressure reaction through the high-pressure window (30).

A supercritical water separation process and system is disclosed for the removal of metals, minerals, particulate, asphaltenes, and resins from a contaminated organic material. The present invention takes advantage of the physical and chemical properties of supercritical water to effect the desired separation of contaminants from organic materials and permit scale-up. At a temperature and pressure above the critical point of water (374° C., 22.1 MPa), nonpolar organic compounds become miscible in supercritical water (SCW) and polar compounds and asphaltenes become immiscible. The process and system disclosed continuously separates immiscible contaminants and solids from the supercritical water and clean oil product solution. The present invention creates a density gradient that enables over 95% recovery of clean oil and over 99% reduction of contaminants such as asphaltenes and particulate matter depending on the properties of the contaminated organic material.

Steam cracking of ethane, a non-catalytic thermochemical process, remains the dominant means of ethylene production. The severe reaction conditions and energy expenditure involved in this process incentivize the search for alternative reaction pathways and reactor designs which maximize ethylene yield while minimizing cost and energy input. According to the present invention, ethylene yields as high as 68% were obtained with a quartz open tube reactor without the use of a catalyst or a cofed stream of oxidizing agents. The open tube reactor design promotes simplicity, low cost, and negligible coke formation. Reactor designs can be optimized to improve the conversion of ethane to ethylene via non-oxidative dehydrogenation, an approach which shows promise for decentralized production of ethylene from natural gas deposits.

A system and a method for producing silicon from a SiO.sub.2-containing material that includes solid SiO.sub.2. The method uses a reaction vessel including a first section and a second section in fluid communication with said first section. The method includes: heating the SiO.sub.2-containing material that includes the solid SiO.sub.2 to a SiO.sub.2-containing material that includes liquid SiO.sub.2, at a sufficient temperature to convert the solid SiO.sub.2 into the liquid SiO.sub.2; converting, in the first section, the liquid SiO.sub.2 into gaseous SiO.sub.2 that flows to the second section by reducing the pressure in the reaction vessel to a subatmospheric pressure; and reducing, in the second section, the gaseous SiO.sub.2 into liquid silicon using a reducing gas. The reducing of the pressure is performed over a continuous range of interim pressure(s) sufficient to evaporate contaminants from the SiO.sub.2-containing material, and removing by vacuum, the one or more evaporated gaseous contaminants.

The present invention provides systems, apparatuses, and methods for the treatment of containerized waste, such as hazardous, radioactive and/or mixed waste. The apparatuses and methods employ a combination of thermal decomposition and specialized lances.

Provided are an apparatus and a method for manufacturing high-pressure method low-density polyethylene, the apparatus and the method having excellent characteristics that a chain transfer agent can be supplied by a simpler apparatus, a deviation (variation) of the concentration of the chain transfer agent supplied to a reactor can be reduced, and compression energy of the chain transfer agent can be reduced. An apparatus for manufacturing high-pressure method polyethylene includes a chain transfer agent supply line that is a line connected to a low pressure recycle ethylene supply line for supplying a chain transfer agent.

Embodiments of a method for reducing unreacted ethylene monomer in a low density polyethylene (LDPE) polymerization process comprises: delivering a monomer feedstock comprising ethylene monomer to a compressor system to produce a pressurized feedstock having a pressure of at least 2000 bar; passing the pressurized feedstock to at least one free radical polymerization reactor to produce a reactor effluent comprising the LDPE and unreacted ethylene monomer; and delivering the reactor effluent to a separation system comprising a first separation vessel, a second separation vessel, and a third separation vessel in series, the third separation vessel having an operating pressure of less than or equal to 0.05 bar, wherein the third separation vessel produces a separation product comprising LDPE and less than or equal to 50 ppm of the unreacted ethylene monomer, wherein there is no stripping agent added upstream of the third separation vessel.

A method for removing boron is provided, which includes (a) mixing a carbon source material and a silicon source material in a chamber to form a solid state mixture, (b) heating the solid state mixture to a temperature of 1000° C. to 1600° C., and adjusting the pressure of the chamber to 1 torr to 100 torr. The method also includes (c) conducting a gas mixture of a first carrier gas and water vapor into the chamber to remove boron from the solid state mixture, and (d) conducting a second carrier gas into the chamber.

An apparatus for depolymerization of polymers, in particular polyesters, polyamides, polyurethanes and polycarbonates, comprises a microwave depolymerization reactor having a reaction chamber; a microwave generation and transport system to send microwaves into the reaction chamber and comprising a microwave generator and a guide device housed in the reaction chamber to convey and distribute microwaves in the reaction chamber; a mixing device, rotating around the axis in the reaction chamber and configured so as to dynamically distribute inside the reaction chamber a mixture of liquids and solids contained in the reaction chamber; and a pressurization system configured to vary the pressure within the reaction chamber.