Disclosed herein is a solar reactor comprising a reactor member; an aperture for receiving solar radiation, the aperture being disposed in a plane on a wall of the reactor member, where the plane is oriented at any angle other than parallel relative to the centerline of the reactor member; a plurality of absorber tubes, wherein the absorber tubes are oriented such that their respective centerlines are at an angle other than 90° relative to the centerline of the reactor member; and wherein the aperture has a hydraulic diameter that is from 0.2 to 4 times a hydraulic diameter of at least one absorber tube in the plurality of absorber tubes; and a reactive material, the reactive material being disposed in the plurality of absorber tubes.

A method for providing .sup.11C-labeled cyanides from .sup.11C labeled oxides in a target gas stream retrieved from an irradiated high pressure gaseous target containing O.sub.2, wherein .sup.11C labeled oxides are reduced with H.sub.2 in the presence of a nickel catalyst under a pressure and a temperature sufficient to form a product stream comprising at least about 95% .sup.11CH.sub.4, the .sup.11CH.sub.4 is then combined with an excess of NH.sub.3 in a carrier/reaction stream flowing at an accelerated velocity and the combined .sup.11CH4 carrier/reaction stream is then contacted with a platinum (Pt) catalyst particulate supported on a substantially-chemically-nonreactive heat-stable support at a temperature of at least about 900° C., whereby a product stream comprising at least about 60% H.sup.11CN is provided in less than 10 minutes from retrieval of the .sup.11C labeled oxide.

A process for ring hydrogenation of a benzenepolycarboxylic acid or derivative thereof, includes contacting a feed stream comprising the acid or derivative thereof with a hydrogen containing gas in the presence of a catalyst under hydrogenation conditions to produce a hydrogenated product, wherein the catalyst contains rhodium and ruthenium.

An on-board Flex-Fuel H.sub.2 reforming apparatus provides devices and the methods of operating these devices to produce H.sub.2 and CO from hydrocarbons and bio-fuels. One or more parallel autothermal reformers are used to convert the fuels into H.sub.2 over the Pt group metal catalysts without external heat and power. The produced reformate is then cooled and the dry gas is compressed and stored in vessels at a pressure between 1 to 100 atmospheres. For this system, the pressure of the storage vessels and the flow control curves are used directly to control the amount of the reformers' reformate output.

To improve thermal efficiency of a mobile vehicle or a distributed power generator, portion of the reformate from the storage vessels is used to mix with the primary fuels and air as part of a lean burn fuel mixture for the engine/gas turbine. Also, this on-board Flex-Fuel H.sub.2 reforming apparatus can provide H.sub.2 to regenerate the NO.sub.x and diesel particulate traps for diesel engines, and/or it can provide H.sub.2 for a mobile or a portable fuel cell power generator.

A catalytic reactor comprises a particle separator the reactor internals by means which makes the fluid flow stream perform a radial outwards and upwards S-curve flow path, which enables the particles to be extracted and settle in a collection section with low flow activity and turbulence.

The present disclosure generally relates to processes for preparation of n-butanol, n-octanol and n-decanol from a reaction mixture comprising ethanoi and n-hexanol by Guerbet condensation. In some aspects, the present disclosure relates to improvements in n-octanol and n-decanol yield and selectivity by the selection of process reaction conditions such as, but not limited to, mole ratio of n-hexanol to ethanol. The present disclosure further generally relates to integrated processes for preparation of n-butanol in a n-butanol reactor from a reaction mixture comprising ethanol and hydrogen to produce a n-butanol product stream by Geurbet condensation comprising n-butanol and n-hexanol and for preparation of n-octanol in a n-octanol reactor from a reaction mixture comprising ethanol, n-hexanol and hydrogen to produce a n-octanol product stream by Geurbet condensation comprising n-butanol, n-hexanol and n-octanol. A predominant proportion of the n-hexanol contained in the n-butanol and n-octanol product streams is isolated and recycled to the n-octanol reaction mixture. In some aspects, the present disclosure relates to improvements in n-octanol and n-butanol yield and selectivity by the selection of process reaction conditions such as, but not limited to, mole ratio of n-hexanol to ethanol and recovery and recycle of n-hexanol.

A system for reducing dioxygen (O.sub.2) present in vapors from oil storage tanks. The system may include an inlet that receives vapors from the tanks; a heating device coupled with the inlet that heats vapors to a first temperature to form heated vapor; and a vessel coupled receiving heated vapor and containing at least one catalyst to reduce dioxygen from the heated vapor. The catalyst may include palladium, and the vessel may include zinc oxide to remove sulfur from the heated vapor. A compressor may be used to compress the vapors. A controller may be provided to monitor O.sub.2 concentration in heated vapor, and the controller directs flow of heated vapor to a gas pipeline if the O.sub.2 concentration is below a predetermined level; or if the O.sub.2 concentration is unacceptably high, the controller directs flow of vapor to be re-circulated within the system to further reduce O.sub.2 concentration therein.

Disclosed herein is a method and a reactor for the conversion of a hydrocarbon gas to syngas. The method and reactor utilizes a oxy-hydrogen flame to partially oxidize hydrocarbon gas to syngas by provide an excess flow of oxygen gas. The oxy-hydrogen flame is generated by a multi-tubular oxy-hydrogen burner.

The present invention relates to a saturator. The present invention further relates to a method for reusing a waste water stream from a Fischer-Tropsch reactor. The invention further relates to system for recycling waste water from a Fischer-Tropsch reactor preferably within a gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant.

The present invention provides a process for preparing furfural and furfural derivatives using a furfural-derived solvent.