A device for generating bubbles, comprising a porous material having at least one hydrophilic surface (1), arranged such that a liquid (7) in which the bubbles (6) are intended to be formed may contact the hydrophilic surface (1) and at least one hydrophobic surface (2), arranged such that a gas (5) used to generate the bubbles (6) may flow past the hydrophobic surface (2) before it flows past the hydrophilic surface (1). The device may be used for creating fine bubbles in numerous applications, such as wastewater treatment, plant cultivation, aquafarming, aeration systems, bioreactors, fermeters, oil extraction or fuel cells.

The present invention provides for precision stirrers and mixers which are precision devices for the control of mixing and stirring in liquid and non-liquid systems. As will become obvious, the devices provided for in the present invention may be used for mixing or stirring by adjusting the device configurations and allow precise desired ingredient addition.

The invention provides a method for validating the functioning of an apparatus with a static mixing device for mixing two liquid streams for producing nanoparticles. The static mixing device may be a jet impingement reactor. The method is based on the use of PLA, PLG or PLGA for producing polymeric nanoparticles with highly reproducible particle sizes. The invention further provides kits and liquid compositions for carrying out the method.

A roller brake comprising: (a) a roller shaft that supports one or more ends of the roller brake; (b) a roller tube extending over all or a portion of the roller shaft; (c) a magnet; (d) a conductor located opposite the magnet and the conductor being in communication with the roller shaft when the magnet is in communication with the roller tube and the conductor being in communication with the roller tube when the magnet is in communication with the roller shaft; and (e) an air gap separating the magnet and the conductor; and wherein the conductor includes one or more recesses that are an absence of material in the conductor.

Embodiments of the disclosure produce a method and system for deasphalting a hydrocarbon feed. The hydrocarbon feed and a first solvent is combined using a Taylor-Couette mixer to form a mixed stream. The mixed stream and a second solvent are introduced to an extractor to produce a first deasphalted oil stream and a pitch stream. The first deasphalted oil stream is introduced to a solvent recovery unit to recover the first solvent and the second solvent via a recovered solvent stream and to produce a second deasphalted oil stream.

The invention provides a method for validating the functioning of an apparatus with a static mixing device for mixing two liquid streams for producing nanoparticles. The static mixing device may be a jet impingement reactor. The method is based on the use of PLA, PLG or PLGA for producing polymeric nanoparticles with highly reproducible particle sizes. The invention further provides kits and liquid compositions for carrying out the method.

A method of producing lipid-based micro/nano bubbles includes steps of (a) preparing a lipid mixture including one or more first lipids with different phase transition temperature, and a second lipid bonding with a hydrophilic polymer moiety or molecules capable of getting across a lipid membrane and decreasing van der Waals forces between lipid bilayers; (b) emulsifying the lipid mixture with a solvent, to form a transparent lipid carrier solution; (c) placing the transparent lipid carrier solution in a closed vessel with halo-substituted hydrocarbon; (d) manipulating temperature of the transparent lipid carrier solution to be close to a main phase transition temperature thereof; and (e) agitating in a mechanical manner the vessel containing the transparent lipid carrier solution to form micro/nano bubbles within the closed vessel. This method contributes to form micro/nano bubbles with desired diameters in a way of optimal material utilization efficiency.

Embodiments of the disclosure produce a method and system for deasphalting a hydrocarbon feed. The hydrocarbon feed and a first solvent is combined using a Taylor-Couette mixer to form a mixed stream. The mixed stream and a second solvent are introduced to an extractor to produce a first deasphalted oil stream and a pitch stream. The first deasphalted oil stream is introduced to a solvent recovery unit to recover the first solvent and the second solvent via a recovered solvent stream and to produce a second deasphalted oil stream.

Systems and methods of using a surrogate machine learning model, based on a CFD model, to predict the mixing quality in steady state mixing tanks are provided. An exemplary method includes generating a plurality of training CFD models for a plurality of training steady state mixing configurations based on a plurality of steady state mixing factors associated with each training steady state mixing configuration; calculating a mixing quality for each training steady state mixing configuration using each respective training CFD model; generating a training dataset that includes the steady state mixing factors associated with each training steady state mixing configuration, and the calculated mixing quality for each training steady state mixing configuration; and training a machine learning model, using the training dataset, to predict mixing qualities for steady state mixing configurations based on based on steady state mixing factors associated with the steady state mixing configurations.

A method of producing lipid-based micro/nano bubbles includes steps of (a) preparing a lipid mixture including one or more first lipids with different phase transition temperature, and a second lipid bonding with a hydrophilic polymer moiety or molecules capable of getting across a lipid membrane and decreasing van der Waals forces between lipid bilayers; (b) emulsifying the lipid mixture with a solvent, to form a transparent lipid carrier solution; (c) placing the transparent lipid carrier solution in a closed vessel with halo-substituted hydrocarbon; (d) manipulating temperature of the transparent lipid carrier solution to be close to a main phase transition temperature thereof; and (e) agitating in a mechanical manner the vessel containing the transparent lipid carrier solution to form micro/nano bubbles within the closed vessel. This method contributes to form micro/nano bubbles with desired diameters in a way of optimal material utilization efficiency.