Biomass (e.g., plant biomass, animal biomass, and municipal waste biomass) is processed to produce useful products, such as fuels. For example, systems can use feedstock materials, such as cellulosic and/or lignocellulosic materials and/or starchy or sugary materials, to produce ethanol and/or butanol, e.g., by fermentation.

The invention concerns a method (100) for recovering and/or recycling a bituminous product by means of pulsed power, the bituminous product comprising bitumen and elements to be separated, involving the following steps: supplying (101) a reactor (11) inside which at least two electrodes (13) extend with the bituminous product and a liquid medium of which at least one liquid component has Hansen solubility parameters , and d such that the bitumen is at least partially soluble in the liquid medium, the elements to be separated being insoluble, generating (102) a series of electromagnetic pulses between the electrodes (13) in the reactor (11) so as to produce, as a result of the power, the frequency and the switching time of the electromagnetic pulses, at least one shock wave and at least ultraviolet radiation, in such a way as to disperse and dissolve the bitumen in the liquid medium, and to separate the bitumen and the insoluble elements, the liquid medium preventing the reconstitution of the bitumen.

A solar thermochemical processing system is disclosed. The system includes a first unit operation for receiving concentrated solar energy. Heat from the solar energy is used to drive the first unit operation. The first unit operation also receives a first set of reactants and produces a first set of products. A second unit operation receives the first set of products from the first unit operation and produces a second set of products. A third unit operation receives heat from the second unit operation to produce a portion of the first set of reactants.

A preparation method of a polyurethane resin including the following steps is provided. A liquid polyamine compound is placed in a continuous reaction system, and the liquid polyamine compound is circulated in the continuous reaction system. A solid bis(cyclic carbonate) and a solid catalyst are placed in the continuous reaction system to mix the solid bis(cyclic carbonate), solid catalyst, and liquid polyamine compound to form a heterogeneous mixture. The heterogeneous mixture is heated in the continuous reaction system in a microwave manner, such that the heterogeneous mixture reacts to form a polyurethane resin.

A system for extracting two dimensional materials from a bulk material by functionalization of the bulk material in a reactor.

This invention provides an innovative method to manufacture graphene layers or quantities and graphene oxide layers or quantities from graphite, coal slags, asphalt, and other carbon-rich sold materials in nature. The present invention uses controllable microwave irradiation to heat the mixtures of basic material, graphite, or coal slags, or asphalt, or their combinations with ionic liquids and surfactant plus environmentally friendly oxidation agents. This invention can generate the said-products of graphene layers and graphene oxides in a short time period of one second to 300 seconds. The present invention does not involve any concentrated sulfuric acid, nitric acid, nor huge water quantities needed for the purification, unlike the prior art. The as-produced graphene-based materials can be used for preparing conductive films for touch screens, producing graphene carbon fibers and three-dimensional porous graphene nanomaterials, and preparing graphene-based other intelligent nanocomposites for super-light-weight machines and vehicles.

The present invention provides a method for producing substoichiometric titanium oxide fine particles, in which the degree of oxidation/reduction of substoichiometric titanium oxide fine particles can be adjusted and which can produce high purity nano-sized substoichiometric titanium oxide fine particles by dispersing substoichiometric titanium oxide (TiOx) fine particles, and especially titanium dioxide (TiO.sub.2), in a liquid substance containing a carbon source, adding water so as to form a slurry, forming the slurry into liquid droplets, supplying the liquid droplets to a hot plasma flame that does not contain oxygen, reacting titanium dioxide with carbon in a substance generated by the hot plasma flame so as to produce substoichiometric titanium oxide, and rapidly cooling the produced substoichiometric titanium oxide so as to produce substoichiometric titanium oxide fine particles.

Supported chromium catalysts with an average valence less than +6 and having a hydrocarbon-containing or halogenated hydrocarbon-containing ligand attached to at least one bonding site on the chromium are disclosed, as well as ethylene-based polymers with terminal alkane, aromatic, or halogenated hydrocarbon chain ends. Another ethylene polymer characterized by at least 2 wt. % of the polymer having a molecular weight greater than 1,000,000 g/mol and at least 1.5 wt. % of the polymer having a molecular weight less than 1000 g/mol is provided, as well as an ethylene homopolymer with at least 3.5 methyl short chain branches and less than 0.6 butyl short chain branches per 1000 total carbon atoms.

A fluid device includes: a flow path through which a fluid flows; a pressure chamber spaced apart from the flow path in a first direction (Y direction) orthogonal to a flowing direction of the fluid in the flow path; a communication path that is formed along the Y direction and that communicates the flow path with the pressure chamber; and an ultrasonic wave transmitter configured to transmit ultrasonic waves to the fluid in the pressure chamber to generate a standing wave along the Y direction in the flow path.

A solar thermochemical processing system is disclosed. The system includes a first unit operation for receiving concentrated solar energy. Heat from the solar energy is used to drive the first unit operation. The first unit operation also receives a first set of reactants and produces a first set of products. A second unit operation receives the first set of products from the first unit operation and produces a second set of products. A third unit operation receives heat from the second unit operation to produce a portion of the first set of reactants.