A conduit contactor for conducting chemical reactions or chemical extractions between immiscible liquids includes a conduit having a hollow interior, a first open end, and a second open end opposite the first open end; a separator in fluid communication with and proximate the second open end; and a plurality of fibers disposed within the conduit. A total surface area of the fibers per volume of the hollow interior of the conduit is from 100 cm.sup.2/cm.sup.3 to 490 cm.sup.2/cm.sup.3.

The present invention relates to a device for treatment of material transported through the device having a specific design.

A carbonylation process for producing acetic acid including: (a) carbonylating methanol or its reactive derivatives in the presence of a Group VIII metal catalyst and methyl iodide promoter to produce a liquid reaction mixture including acetic acid, water, methyl acetate and methyl iodide; (b) feeding the liquid reaction mixture at a feed temperature to a flash vessel which is maintained at a reduced pressure; (c) flashing the reaction mixture to produce a crude product vapor stream.

A liquid treatment apparatus (10) for processing a liquid includes an inlet nozzle (12) having an orifice (16) for directing a flow of liquid through the orifice (16) to define a fluid jet, and a concial diffuser (18) including a tip (20), a base portion (22), and a curved surface (26) therebetween. The conical diffuser (18) is generally aligned with the orifice (16) such that the fluid jet impacts upon the tip (20) of the conical diffuser (18). Moreover, the curvature of the curved surface (26) is selected to maintain a substantially constant Froude number of the liquid along the conical diffuser (18).

Photocatalytic device to dissociate an aqueous phase to product hydrogen gas, said device being set up in such a way that at least one photocatalytic system in contact with said aqueous phase can be irradiated by a light source to producethrough an oxidation reaction in said aqueous phaseoxygen gas, electrons and protons at a means of electron capture, said device comprising: a first zone comprising said aqueous phase, and a means for reducing said protons set up to carry out a reduction reaction on said protons by said electrons in order to generate hydrogen gas.
said device being characterised in that said means for proton reduction is a proton exchange interface with a front side facing said means of electron capture, and a back side, with only said back side of said proton exchange interface bearing at least one catalyst and/or at least one catalytic system.

A carbonylation process for producing acetic acid including: (a) carbonylating methanol or its reactive derivatives in the presence of a Group VIII metal catalyst and methyl iodide promoter to produce a liquid reaction mixture including acetic acid, water, methyl acetate and methyl iodide; (b) feeding the liquid reaction mixture at a feed temperature to a flash vessel which is maintained at a reduced pressure; (c) heating the flash vessel while concurrently flashing the reaction mixture to produce a crude product vapor stream, wherein the reaction mixture is selected and the flow rate of the reaction mixture fed to the flash vessel as well as the amount of heat supplied to the flash vessel is controlled such that the temperature of the crude product vapor stream is maintained at a temperature less than 90 F. cooler than the feed temperature of the liquid reaction mixture to the flasher and the concentration of acetic acid in the crude product vapor stream is greater than 70% by weight of the crude product vapor stream.

A carbonylation process for producing acetic acid including: (a) carbonylating methanol or its reactive derivatives in the presence of a Group VIII metal catalyst and methyl iodide promoter to produce a liquid reaction mixture including acetic acid, water, methyl acetate and methyl iodide; and (b) feeding the liquid reaction mixture at a feed temperature to a flash vessel which is maintained at a reduced pressure.

A method for the continuous manufacture of bisphenol A comprising i) feeding one or more feed streams comprising phenol and acetone to a reactor and reacting said acetone and phenol in the presence of an ion-exchange resin catalyst thereby forming a product stream comprising bisphenol A, phenol, acetone, water and by-products, ii) crystallising bisphenol A and/or bisphenol A/phenol adduct crystals from said product stream in one or more crystallisation units thereby forming a slurry consisting of said crystals and a mother liquor, iii) separating the mother liquor from the crystals in one or more solid-liquid separation units, iv) heating the mother liquor in a heat recovery unit and feeding the heated mother liquor to a distillation column, v) separating the mother liquor in the distillation column thereby forming a bottom stream comprising phenol and a top stream comprising water, vi) cooling the bottom stream in said heat recovery unit.

A trough reactor, including an elongated trough shaped enclosure, a stock feed inlet, a reactant feed-in and distribution system, at least one separation plate extending downwardly underneath the elongated trough shaped enclosure and at least one separation column forming a continuous gravitational decanter with at least one outlet and a posterior outlet, as well as a method of catalyzing a reaction in a trough reactor, including horizontally inclining an elongated trough shaped enclosure, supplying a feed of substrate into the elongated trough shaped enclosure, supplying and distributing a feed-in of a reactant into the elongated trough shaped enclosure; disposing a separation plate essentially vertically in the elongated trough shaped enclosure, substantially obstructing a spontaneous gravitational flow along the elongated trough shaped enclosure by the separation plate, providing a separation column of an essentially hollow vertical structure, separating the substrate or reactant or a product by a means of continuous gravitational decantation process, draining from an outlet at a bottom portion of the separation column an excessive portion of the substrate or reactant or a product and draining a portion of the substrate or reactant or a product from a posterior outlet, are described.

A system including a catalytic heat exchanger reactor configured to carry out exothermic decomposition of stable chemical species possessing positive heats of formation. In an embodiment, the reactor is configured to enhance decomposition reaction rates by contacting gas entering with a hot surface. The catalytic heat exchanger is configured to receive N.sub.2O and create N.sub.2 and O.sub.2. A torch is created by fuel together with the hot N.sub.2 and the O.sub.2. In an embodiment, the reactor is configured to, after an initial period of time, to allow a rapid transfer of products of the decomposition reaction into an engine. In an embodiment, the reactor is configured to enhance decomposition reaction rates by contacting gas entering with a hot surface, and the catalytic heat exchanger reactor is configured to promote the atomization and vaporization of liquid and gelled fuels with gas. Other embodiments are also disclosed.