Systems and methods associated with biomass decomposition are generally described. Certain embodiments are related to adjusting a flow rate of a fluid comprising oxygen into a reactor in which biomass is decomposed. The adjustment may be made, at least in part, based upon a measurement of a characteristic of the reactor and/or a characteristic of the biomass. Certain embodiments are related to cooling at least partially decomposed biomass. The biomass may be cooled by flowing a gas over an outlet conduit in which the biomass is cooled, and then directing the gas to a reactor after it has flowed over the outlet conduit. Certain embodiments are related to systems comprising a reactor and an outlet conduit configured such that greater than or equal to 75% of its axially projected cross-sectional area is occupied by a conveyor. Certain embodiments are related to systems comprising a reactor comprising an elongated compartment having a longitudinal axis arranged substantially vertically and an outlet conduit comprising a conveyor.

Devices and methods for determining the cumulative distribution of a polymer property in a reactor without physical separation of reaction subcomponents. The device includes a means of measuring an instantaneous property of the polymers being produced in a reaction vessel a plurality of times during a polymerization reaction as well as a means of determining the corresponding change in polymer concentration in the reaction vessel between measurements of the instantaneous polymer property. The device also includes a means of computing a statistical distribution appropriate to the polymer characteristic and applying the statistical distribution to a recently measured instantaneous value of the polymer property so as to have an instantaneous distribution of the polymer property and a means of adding together the instantaneous distributions of the polymer property in order to obtain the cumulative distribution of the polymer property in the reactor.

The present disclosure relates a system of preparing a phthalonitrile-based compound using a continuous process, the preparation system including: a first reaction unit filled with a mixture including a phthalic acid-based compound and a nitrile-based compound; a second reaction unit connected to the first reaction unit; and a discharge unit connected to the second reaction unit, and in the second reaction unit, there is a fluid flow from the first reaction unit direction to the discharge unit direction, wherein the length of the second reaction unit in the fluid flow direction is 10 fold or more the mean square root of the cross-sectional area perpendicular to the fluid flow direction; and a method of preparing a phthalonitrile-based compound using the same.

A process for producing acetic acid that involves operating the flash vessel and first column at the lowest possible pressure for a given production rate is described. Low pressures are achieved by operating on a back pressure established by a vapor discharge from an absorbing system. This reduces the pressure differential to allow steady and efficient acetic acid production.

A fuel reformer for producing a steam reforming reaction between fuel and water on a reforming catalyst includes a fuel injection part that injects and supplies fuel into the reforming catalyst, and an injection control part that controls an injection amount of fuel by the fuel injection part. The injection control part controls the injection amount in order that a temperature of the reforming catalyst is not lower than a preset given temperature. The fuel reformer further includes a temperature obtaining part that measures or estimates the temperature of the reforming catalyst, and a target value calculation part that calculates a target value of the injection amount, such that the temperature of the reforming catalyst after fuel is injected by the fuel injection part is equal to or higher than the given temperature. The fuel injection part is controlled such that the injection amount coincides with the target value.

Processes for producing high biogenic concentration Fischer-Tropsch liquids derived from the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes (MSW) feedstock that contains a relatively high concentration of biogenic carbon (derived from plants) and a relatively low concentration of non-biogenic carbon (derived from fossil sources) wherein the biogenic content of the Fischer-Tropsch liquids is the same as the biogenic content of the feedstock.

Methods and systems for temperature-controlled, on-site generation of peracids, namely peroxycarboxylic acids and peroxycarboxylic acid forming compositions are disclosed. In particular, methods for using an adjustable biocide formulator or generator system overcome the limitations of temperature on the kinetics of the peracid generation and/or peracid decomposition inside an adjustable biocide formulator or generator system. The methods include the controlling of the temperature of at least one raw starting material, namely water, to improve upon methods of on-site generation of peracids. The methods allow for the generation of user-selected chemistry without regard to the ambient temperatures of the raw starting materials and/or the biocide formulator or generator system.

A hydrogen generator includes: a reformer configured to generate a hydrogen-containing gas by a reforming reaction of a material gas; a combustor configured to heat the reformer by diffusion combustion of the material gas and combustion air; a supplementary air flow rate adjuster configured to adjust the flow rate of supplementary air added to the material gas; and a controller configured to control the supplementary air flow rate adjuster such that the flow rate of a mixture gas of the material gas and the supplementary air becomes a predetermined value.

A method for controlling the catalytic oxidation of cellulose includes using a heterocyclic nitroxyl compound as catalyst oxidizing cellulose in a reaction mixture comprising liquid medium, the catalyst and hypochlorite as main oxidant analyzing one or more oxidative chlorine species dependent on the hypochlorite concentration of the reaction mixture on line in the reaction mixture or in a gas composition which is in contact with the reaction mixture; and controlling supply of hypochlorite to the reaction mixture on the basis of the analysis.

Systems and methods are provided for controlling chemical production and/or petroleum processing reaction systems to allow for improved control of control variables relative to desired set points. The improved control can be achieved by use of a modified proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller or a similar type of controller that includes dynamic tuning logic. The modified PID controller can be operated using different coefficients based on the relative values of a control variable and a reasonable progress curve determined based on the values of the control variable.