A portable oxygen concentrator designed for medical use where the sieve beds, adsorbers, are designed to be replaced by a patient. The concentrator is designed so that the beds are at least partially exposed to the outside of the system and can be easily released by a simple user-friendly mechanism. Replacement beds may be installed easily by patients, and all gas seals will function properly after installation.

A method and system for producing methanol that employs an integrated oxygen transport membrane based reforming system is disclosed. The integrated oxygen transport membrane based reforming system carries out a primary reforming process, a secondary reforming process, and synthesis gas conditioning to produce synthesis gas having a desired module of between about 2.0 and 2.2 for a methanol production process thereby optimizing the efficiency and productivity of the methanol plant.

An oxygen concentrator comprises a product tank that is fluidly coupled to at least one sieve bed, and a product gas accumulator tank that is fluidly coupled to the product tank via a first conduit and to an outlet port via a second conduit, wherein the first conduit and the second conduit are disposed to allow at least a portion of product gas to flow from the product tank to the outlet port through the accumulator tank.

An oxygen generation apparatus of the first embodiment includes an outer container, a container lid, a piercing member, and an inner container. An annular flange is formed inside the inner container, and a surface of the annular flange is provided with two sealing films to accommodate an oxygen generating agent. The piercing member may move from a first position to a second position relative to the container lid, so as to break the sealing films to mix the oxygen generating agents to generate oxygen; an oxygen generation apparatus of the second embodiment includes two inner containers, where an annular flange is formed on one inner container to dispose a sealing film to accommodate an oxygen generating agent, a bottom surface of another inner container is provided in a concave manner with an accommodation space which accommodates the piercing member.

A system for extracting oxygen from a fluid includes a separator allowing a fluid to pass lengthwise through the separator to produce a mixture with the fluid having at least a portion of oxygen removed from the fluid. The separator includes a wall surrounding an interior portion of a tube. The wall has at least one aperture formed in the wall. The separator also includes at least one magnet positioned adjacently to the at least one aperture. The magnet has a north pole end and a south pole end. A magnetic field gradient is formed between the north pole end and the south pole end, and extends into an interior portion of the tube. The system also includes a storage tank fluidly coupled to the at least one aperture for storing the at least a portion of the oxygen removed from the fluid via the separator.

An oxygen generation device having a compressed air supply device, air cooling coil, a fan, pneumatic valve system, a housing, at least one media insert, an on-off switch, a printed circuit board, and a touch screen. The pneumatic valve system includes an air inlet port, a first air outlet port connected to the inlet of the first media insert, a second air outlet port connected to the inlet of the second media insert. The air inlet port receives compressed air from the compressed air supply device and alternatingly provides the compressed air to one of the first media insert and the second media insert. The lower housing includes check valve ball moveable between the first position and the second position and alternatingly controlling a flow of compressed air through the first media insert and the second media insert.

A noble metal-free water oxidation electrocatalyst can be stable and obtained from earth-abundant materials, e.g., using copper-colloidal nanoparticles. The catalyst may contain nanobead and nanorod morphological features with narrow size distribution. The onset for oxygen evolution reaction can occur at a potential of 1.45 V.sub.RHE (η=220 mV). Such catalysts may be stable during long-term water electrolysis and/or exhibit a high electroactive area, e.g., with a Tafel slope of 52 mV/dec, TOF of 0.81 s.sup.−1, and/or mass activity of 87 mA/mg. The copper may also perform CO.sub.2 reduction at the cathode side. The Cu-based electrocatalytic system may provide a flexible catalyst for electrooxidation of water and for chemical energy conversion, without requiring Pt, Ir, or Ru.

A portable oxygen generating system is provided that comprises a reaction chamber, a feed system for providing and controlling hydrogen peroxide solution to the reaction chamber, and a cooling/condensing system for cooling the hot oxygen and water vapor leaving the reactor and condensing and removing water. The portable chemical oxygen generation system produces humidified, breathable oxygen, that is substantially free of hydrogen peroxide and other contaminants, at a controlled flow and temperature over an extended period of time.

Photocatalysts and methods of using photocatalysts for producing hydrogen and oxygen from water are disclosed. The photocatalysts include an iodide modified photoactive material having an electrically conductive material attached to the iodide ions.

Systems and methods are provided for separating oxygen from air using a sorption/desorption cycle that includes a reduced or minimized difference between the maximum and minimum pressures involved in the sorption/desorption cycle. The reduced or minimized difference in pressures can be achieved in part by using valves that can allow for commercial scale flow rates while avoiding large pressure drops for flows passing through the valves. A rotary wheel adsorbent is an example of a system that can allow for a sorption/desorption cycle with reduced and/or minimized pressure drops across valves associated with the process. Stationary adsorbent beds can also be used in combination with commercially available valves that have reduced and/or minimized pressure drops.