An oil extraction apparatus includes an ultrasonication vessel that receives raw plant material and ethanol. An ultrasonication probe ultrasonicates the raw plant material received in the ultrasonication vessel and generates a mixture including ultrasonicated raw plant material, plant oil, and ethanol. A collection vessel is in fluid communication with the ultrasonication vessel. The collection vessel receives a mixture including plant oil and ethanol from the ultrasonication vessel. A heater heats the collection vessel to separate ethanol from the mixture including plant oil and ethanol. A reclamation vessel is in fluid communication with the collection vessel. The reclamation vessel receives separated ethanol from the mixture including plant oil and ethanol. An ethanol collection tube is connected with the reclamation vessel. The ethanol collection tube is arranged to carry separated ethanol from the mixture including plant oil and ethanol to the reclamation vessel from the collection vessel.

An oil extraction apparatus includes an ultrasonication vessel that receives raw plant material and ethanol. An ultrasonication probe ultrasonicates the raw plant material received in the ultrasonication vessel and generates a mixture including ultrasonicated raw plant material, plant oil, and ethanol. A collection vessel is in fluid communication with the ultrasonication vessel. The collection vessel receives a mixture including plant oil and ethanol from the ultrasonication vessel. A heater heats the collection vessel to separate ethanol from the mixture including plant oil and ethanol. A reclamation vessel is in fluid communication with the collection vessel. The reclamation vessel receives separated ethanol from the mixture including plant oil and ethanol. An ethanol collection tube is connected with the reclamation vessel. The ethanol collection tube is arranged to carry separated ethanol from the mixture including plant oil and ethanol to the reclamation vessel from the collection vessel.

A method for separating biological entities in a fluid sample, which contains small, medium, and large biological entities, includes the steps introducing the fluid sample into a first microfluidic device as two streams along two sidewalls thereof; applying a first power to the first microfluidic device to exert a first acoustic radiation pressure to produce a first output fluid having a higher relative fraction of the large biological entities than the fluid sample and a second output fluid having a lower relative fraction of the large biological entities than the fluid sample; introducing the second output fluid into a second microfluidic device as two streams along two sidewalls thereof; and applying a second power, which is higher than the first power, to the second microfluidic device to exert a second acoustic radiation pressure to produce a third output fluid having a higher relative fraction of the medium biological entities than the fluid sample.

The invention relates to a method for carrying out solid-phase peptide synthesis, to an automated parallel solid-phase peptide synthesis, and to a device designed to carry out such a method.

According to the invention, ultrasound with a frequency of more than 25 kHz acts at least intermittently during the method on the reaction medium in which the solid-phase peptide synthesis takes place.

A microfluidic system, including: a container, an ultrasound transmitter assembly, and a phononic crystal plate. The container is configured to accommodate a solution containing microparticles. The ultrasound transmitter assembly is configured to transmit ultrasonic waves to the phononic crystal plate, where the ultrasonic waves have a frequency which is the same as a resonance frequency of the phononic crystal plate. The phononic crystal plate is placed in the solution, and configured to generate a local acoustic field on a surface of the phononic crystal plate under excitation of the ultrasonic waves, and induce an acoustic microstreaming vortex to generate an acoustic streaming shear stress on the microparticles. The phononic crystal plate defines therein cavities, the respective cavities are arranged periodically in the phononic crystal plate, and all the respective cavities are filled with gas.

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 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.

Disclosed is a method for preparing -phenylethanol. The method comprises the following steps: (1) reducing a catalyst in a reactor in advance; (2) introducing pre-heated hydrogen gas to warm the reactor to a predetermined temperature; and (3) introducing a raw material styrene oxide to perform a hydrogenation reaction so as to obtain the -phenylethanol. The catalyst is NiCu/Al.sub.2O.sub.3 nanosized self-assembled catalyst. The reactor is an ultrasonic field micro-packed bed reactor. The method of the present invention enables the selectivity of the -phenylethanol to reach 99% or more.

A method of loading material within a microchannel device, the method comprising: (a) loading particulates into a plurality of microchannels; and, (b) ultrasonically packing the particulates into the plurality of microchannels using a portable, compact ultrasonic densification unit.

The invention providing methods of loading and unloading particulate from micorchannels in apparatus that contains multiple microchannels, typically apparatus that is designed to operate with hundreds or thousands of particulate-containing microchannels. Aligning a sonicating head at one end of a set of microchannels provides a particularly effective mode for densifying particulate in microchannels.