Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for separation of diols from a mixture comprising diols and polyols, for example, from a reaction mixture obtained from hydrogenolysis of sorbitol. In particular, the present invention relates to separation of diols from the mixture using a combination of a wiped-film evaporator and a molecular evaporator to obtain diols in a high yield.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for separation of diols from a mixture comprising diols and polyols, for example, from a reaction mixture obtained from hydrogenolysis of sorbitol. In particular, the present invention relates to separation of diols from the mixture using a combination of a wiped-film evaporator and a molecular evaporator to obtain diols in a high yield.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a slurry reactor system suitable for continuous multiphase reaction/separation, as well as a method for continuous reaction/separation of a multiphase reaction in a slurry reactor system. The system includes a reaction vessel, a separation device that includes a separation chamber and a filter element, and an agitation device. The filter element includes a filter, which is in contact with a slurry in the reaction vessel and on the surface of which a solid material from the slurry forms a filter cake in the reaction vessel. The agitation device generates a flow of the slurry in the reaction vessel. A flux of a liquid product from the slurry in the reaction vessel across the filter and into the separation chamber is maintained at a substantially constant level for long term continuous reaction/separation without interruption.

Abstract: A method and apparatus is provided for hosting within a search engine, large-scale heterogeneous repositories of searchable and navigable content. Customers of the hosting platform are customers wanting to outsource the management of their searchable content. Content domain experts from each customer independently define a taxonomy of categories and attributes for their structured content that form a hierarchical set of nodes (a directed graph) that are mapped to a common physical search engine infrastructure. The mapping algorithm that maps unique attributes across potentially very different subject domains onto the same physical infrastructure is introduced. Once the physical structure is created, the search engine can use it for searching or navigating just within one customer's domain or users can search across multiple customer domains.