A plug suitable to be inserted into a refill-opening on a tube, whereby the plug is at least partially made of a refractory material, preferably of firebrick.

A system for contacting gases and liquids comprises a vessel containing inert particles, wherein the total volume of the inert particles is from 1 to 20% of the total working volume of the vessel.

A continuous acoustic chemical microreactor system is disclosed. The system includes a continuous process vessel (CPV) and an acoustic agitator coupled to the CPV and configured to agitate the CPV along an oscillation axis. The CPV includes a reactant inlet configured to receive one or more reactants into the CPV, an elongated tube coupled at a first end to the reactant inlet and configured to receive the reactants from the reactant inlet, and a product outlet coupled to a second end of the elongated tube and configured to discharge a product of a chemical reaction among the reactants from the CPV. The acoustic agitator is configured to agitate the CPV along the oscillation axis such that the inner surface of the elongated tube accelerates the one or more reactants in alternating upward and downward directions along the oscillation axis.

A biochar production system includes a reactor body, a central rod disposed within the reactor body, a leveling arm extending from the central rod and configured to rotate about the central rod, and a bed level sensor system. The bed level sensor system includes a float configured to move from a resting position on a biomass in the reactor to an ending position upon contact with the leveling arm, and a level sensor coupled to the float via a connector. The level sensor is configured to correspondingly move with the float. A controller is configured to detect bed levels of the biomass within the reactor body, and determine a plurality of sample readings based on the detected bed levels.

A method for controlling a process comprising a steam system coupled to a reactor system, wherein the steam system comprises a steam vessel that feeds a stream of liquid water under pressure to the reactor system to cool the reactor system, thereby generating a steam stream, and receives the steam stream from the reactor system, the method comprising the steps of (i) obtaining a first total liquid level measurement in the steam vessel using an inferred level device, (ii) obtaining a second total liquid level measurement in the steam vessel using a direct level measurement device, (iii) calculating a difference between the first and second total liquid level measurements using a control system, and (iv) initiating an alarm using the control system when the difference between the first and second total liquid level measurements is 1% of the lower of the first and second total liquid level measurements.

The present invention relates to an arrangement of a tube-bundle reactor (1) and a sensor device (2), wherein the tube-bundle reactor (1) comprises a bundle of vertically arranged reaction tubes (3), which are open on top through upper openings and are fillable with particles of a catalyst material (4). The sensor device (2) comprises an ultrasonic sensor (6) and an evaluation device (7), wherein the ultrasonic sensor (6) is designed to emit an ultrasonic signal from above into one of the reaction tubes (3) and to receive the ultrasonic signal reflected in the reaction tube (3). The evaluation device (7) is coupled with the ultrasonic sensor (6) via a data connection (8) and is designed to ascertain the distance of the surface of the particles of the catalyst material (4) received by the one reaction tube (3) to the ultrasonic sensor (6) from the time-of-flight of the received ultrasonic signals and to ascertain a fill level height of the catalyst material (4) in the reaction tube (3) therefrom.

A system and a method for carbonization processes, and to a loop reactor arrangement for such processes. A loop reactor arrangement according to the invention includes a slurry inlet, at least one elongated reactor, at least one pump, at least one continuous separator, and a CO.sub.2 inlet. The elongated reactor and the continuous separator form a loop.