A method of hydrating a dry powdered viscosifier such as a powdered polymer is disclosed. The method includes mixing the powdered viscosifier with a solvent such as water to form a mixture; moving the mixture through a cavitation zone; inducing energetic shock waves and pressure fluctuations in the mixture by mechanically inducing cavitation events within the mixture, the shock waves and pressure fluctuations untangling, separating, and straightening polymer molecule chains and distributing the chains throughout the mixture, and extracting the resulting hydrated viscosifier from the cavitation zone.

Provided herein are methods, devices and systems for processing of carbonaceous compositions. The processing may include the manufacture (or synthesis) of oxidized forms of carbonaceous compositions and/or the manufacture (or synthesis) of reduced forms of oxidized carbonaceous compositions. Some embodiments provide methods, devices and systems for the manufacture (or synthesis) of graphite oxide from graphite and/or for the manufacture (or synthesis) of reduced graphite oxide from graphite oxide.

Provided herein are methods, devices and systems for processing of carbonaceous compositions. The processing may include the manufacture (or synthesis) of oxidized forms of carbonaceous compositions and/or the manufacture (or synthesis) of reduced forms of oxidized carbonaceous compositions. Some embodiments provide methods, devices and systems for the manufacture (or synthesis) of graphite oxide from graphite and/or for the manufacture (or synthesis) of reduced graphite oxide from graphite oxide.

A process for washing a particulate substance comprising: (i) combining a particulate substance and a first washing medium in a first vessel to form a slurry and washing the particulate substance with said washing medium; (ii) transferring the slurry to a hydrocyclone; (iii) removing a first by-product stream depleted in particulate substance and a first product stream enriched in particulate substance from the hydrocyclone; (iv) transferring the first product stream to a second vessel and in the presence of a second washing medium forming a slurry and washing the particulate substance with said second washing medium e.g. by agitation thereof; (v) transferring the slurry to a hydrocyclone; (vi) removing a second by-product stream depleted in particulate substance and a second product stream enriched in particulate substance from the hydrocyclone.

A continuous slurry-bed tank reactor, comprising a tank reactor body, an agitator, and tubular separation membranes. A method of using the continuous slurry-bed tank reactor comprising adding a catalyst, feeding reactants, stopping feeding the reactants, starting a heating system, changing directions of the reactants flowing through the tubular separation membranes.

An inflow base which is permeable to process air and includes openings for the process air which flows thought the inflow base. The inflow base is arranged in the fluidizing apparatus in a manner rotatable about an axis Z of the fluidizing apparatus and subdivides this into a distribution chamber and into a vortex chamber. The inflow base of the fluidizing apparatus includes at least a first and a second inflow base plate, wherein one of the inflow base plates at its outer end includes or forms a sealing element.

A reactor for coating particles includes a stationary vacuum chamber to hold a bed of particles to be coated, a vacuum port in an upper portion of the chamber, a chemical delivery system configured to inject a reactant or precursor gas into a lower portion of the chamber, a paddle assembly, and a motor to rotate a drive shaft of the paddle assembly. The lower portion of the chamber forms a half-cylinder. The paddle assembly includes a rotatable drive shaft extending through the chamber along the axial axis of the half cylinder, and a plurality of paddles extending radially from the drive shaft such that rotation of the drive shaft by the motor orbits the plurality of paddles about the drive shaft.

A method for manufacturing solketal ((2,2-Dimethyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl)methanol) includes: (1) milling starting reagents, including at least: glycerol, a catalyst selected from a hard Lewis acid including at least one transition metal, and acetone, the molar ratio (glycerol):(acetone) being less than or equal to 0.8; preferably less than or equal to 0.7, at an ambient temperature greater than or equal to 50° C., preferably greater than or equal to 56° C., in a three-dimensional microbead mill in a liquid phase for a residence time less than or equal to 15 minutes, preferably less than or equal to 10 minutes, and in particular less than or equal to 5 minutes; (2) recovering, as output from the mill, a final composition including solketal and, where appropriate, one or more sub-products corresponding to the starting reagents that have not reacted and/or to 1,3-O-isopropylidene-glycerol, and (3) optionally, separating the solketal from the one or more sub-products.

The present invention is concerned with a process for providing a homogeneous particle-containing slurry comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a vessel comprising at least one impeller rotating around a vertical axis of the vessel, the vessel further comprising an inlet and an outlet;
(b) introducing the particle-containing slurry into the vessel or introducing components forming the particle-containing slurry into the vessel;
(c) rotating the at least one impeller at least around the vertical axis for homogenizing and/or maintaining a homogeneous particle distribution within the slurry;
(d) withdrawing the homogeneous particle-containing slurry via the outlet;
(e) stopping the at least one impeller for a maximum time T, whereby T is calculated according to the following relations:

[00001]$\begin{array}{cc}{u}_T=\sqrt{\frac{4g\left({\rho }_p-{\rho }_f\right)D_p}{3{\rho }_f{C}_D}}& \left(1\right)\\ C_D=\frac{24}{\mathrm{Re}}\left[1+0.173{\mathrm{Re}}^{0.657}\right]& \left(2\right)\\ T=\frac{h}{u_T}& \left(3\right)\end{array}$

A mixing tee assembly suitable for phosphate acid attack reaction is described. The mixing tee assembly comprises an outer pipe having a mixing end and a tee end, wherein a tee structure is formed near the tee end to connect with additional piping; an inner pipe comprising a nozzle end connected to a nozzle and a open end; wherein the inner pipe is lined with a corrosion-resistant material on its inside surface; wherein when the inner pipe is assembled within the outer pipe, the nozzle extends beyond the mixing end of the outer pipe by at least ⅓ of the inside diameter of the outer pipe.