A reactor for gas-liquid mass transfer between a gas and a liquid or slurry includes a tank for receiving the liquid or slurry having a wall; a drive shaft; an upward pumping impeller; and an aerating apparatus disposed above the upward pumping impeller and extending between the drive shaft and the wall of the tank at a first distance (d1) from the drive shaft and at a second distance (d2) from the wall of the tank, the aerating apparatus encircling the drive shaft at least partially. The aerating apparatus has an outward inclined or curved inner surface for directing at least a part of the flow over the inner surface.

Methods and apparatus for compact and easily maintainable waste reformation. Some embodiments include a rotary oven reformer adapted and configured to provide synthesis gas from organic waste. Some embodiments include a rotary oven with simplified operation both as to reformation of the waste, usage of the synthesized gas and other products, and easy removal of the finished waste products, preferably in a unit of compact size for use in austere settings. Yet other embodiments include Fischer-Tropsch reactors of synthesized gas. Some of these reactors include heat exchanging assemblies that provide self-cleaning effects, efficient utilization of waste heat, and ease of cleaning.

Methods and apparatus for compact and easily maintainable waste reformation. Some embodiments include a rotary oven reformer adapted and configured to provide synthesis gas from organic waste. Some embodiments include a rotary oven with simplified operation both as to reformation of the waste, usage of the synthesized gas and other products, and easy removal of the finished waste products, preferably in a unit of compact size for use in austere settings. Yet other embodiments include Fischer-Tropsch reactors of synthesized gas. Some of these reactors include heat exchanging assemblies that provide self-cleaning effects, efficient utilization of waste heat, and ease of cleaning.

Process for reclaiming useful products from a waste oil, comprising a thermal separation step performed in a vessel at conditions, of temperature and pressure, allowing to substantially avoid cracking of the waste oil and to assure the separation of said heated waste oil into a first heavy oil fraction and into a second light oil fraction having, in comparison with the waste oil, a low content in solids and/or in other contaminants that are different from water and from inert gas. The process is further characterized in that while, during the thermal separation treatment, the waste oil is heated to a temperature about the boiling temperature of the heavy oil fraction, and below the cracking temperature of the waste oil, and at a pressure that is preferably below the atmospheric pressure, the heavy oil fraction of the vapours existing the vessel, in contact with a cooler surface, condenses and falls back into the vessel, while the second fraction, in a gaseous state, is eventually submitted to at least one further separation treatment. When water is present in the waste oil, said water is used to improve the amount of recovered light oils; and/or when no water is present in the waste oil, water or at least one inert gas or at least one component that may become an inert gas by heating may be added to the waste oil or to the thermal separation unit. Uses of the process for environmental applications and for treating used oils and to prepare oil products. Systems for reclaiming useful products from waste oils comprising at least one rotating kiln and at least one self-refluxing condenser and/or at least one dephlegmator.

Compartmentalized reactor which makes possible the oligomerization of olefins to give linear olefins and preferably to give linear -olefins, comprising a reaction chamber and at least one heat exchanger(s). The compartmentalized reactor is also employed in an oligomerization process.

A process for polymerization of vinyl chloride may include contacting vinyl chloride, demineralized water, at least one stabilizer agent, at least one dispersing agent, an initiator and optionally one or more comonomers; continuously feeding the vinyl chloride, demineralized water, at least one stabilizer agent, at least one dispersing agent, an initiator and optionally one or more comonomers into a tubular reactor having a length of at least 20 times an internal diameter of the tubular reactor; and continuously polymerizing the vinyl chloride, and optionally the one or more comonomers.

A combined reactor and condenser for the synthesis of urea from ammonia and carbon dioxide, including a condenser section coupled to a reaction section, comprising inputs directed to said condenser section for a gaseous stream comprising ammonia and carbon dioxide and for a solution containing ammonium carbamate and liquid ammonia, and wherein the effluent of the condenser section is sent to the reaction section; the reaction section comprises a plurality of compartments and a plurality of mixers, at least one inside each of said compartments.

A reactor and its internals used for the thermal processing of a liquid mixture. The reactor comprises plates and at least part of the surface of said plates is used to perform the thermal processing. The reactor and its internals are used for the thermal processing of various liquid mixtures containing organic compounds. The processes, for thermal processing the mixture comprising organic compounds, comprising the steps of feeding the reactor and its internals and being useful for treating wastes oils and/or for destroying hazardous and/or toxic products; and/or for reusing waste products in an environmentally acceptable form and/or way, and/or for cleaning contaminated soils or beaches, and/or cleaning tar pits, and/or use in coal-oil co-processing, and/or recovering oil from oil spills, and/or PCB free transformed oils. A process for fabricating the reactor and its internals is also proposed.

The invention relates to an hydrolysis vessel (200) used during amidification step of acetone cyanohydrin (ACH), in the industrial process for production of a methyl methacrylate (MMA) or methacrylic acid (MAA). The hydrolysis vessel (200) is used for hydrolyzing acetone cyanohydrine with sulfuric acid to produce a mixture comprising -sulfatoisobutyramide (SIBAM). It comprises at least one cooling system (212; 244) on its internal annular periphery area and it is divided into at least two stages, preferably three, along its vertical wall, each stage (S1 to S3) comprising a ACH feeding inlet (201, 202, 203). Such vessel allows controlling both homogeneity and temperature of the mixture, and thus obtaining a high yield for the hydrolyzing reaction in very safe conditions.

A method for separating a dissolved product from a liquid is disclosed. A carrier liquid is cooled in a direct-contact exchanger, the direct-contact exchanger using a liquid coolant to cool the carrier liquid. The carrier liquid comprises a dissolved product. The carrier liquid and the liquid coolant are substantially immiscible. A portion of the dissolved product is condensed, frozen, deposited, desublimated, or a combination thereof out of the carrier liquid as a solid product at a liquid-liquid interface between the liquid coolant and the carrier liquid. The solid product is entrained in the carrier liquid, the liquid coolant, or a combination thereof. The solid product is separated from the carrier liquid, the liquid coolant, or a combination thereof.