Abstract: An apparatus for manufacturing an organic material includes an outer tube including an internal accommodating space, and at least one loading inner tube and at least one collecting inner tube disposed in the accommodation space, the loading inner tube including a mesh boat disposed in a first direction in which the loading inner tube extends.

Abstract: The invention relates to methods of capturing carbon by microbial fermentation of a gaseous substrate comprising CO. The methods of the invention include converting CO to one or more products including alcohols and/or acids and optionally capturing CO2 to improve overall carbon capture. In certain aspects, the invention relates to processes for producing alcohols, particularly ethanol, from industrial waste streams, particularly steel mill off-gas.

Abstract: Described herein are novel nucleic acids, proteins and methods that can be used to provide new catalysts with desirable traits for industrial processes. In particular, novel reductases isolated from the environment using PCR methods are described.

Abstract: A single furnace system integrates, in combination, two or more distinct heating environments (which in the preferred embodiments include a conduction heating environment and a convection heating environment) integrated such that the multiple environments define a continuous heating chamber through which a moving workpiece (such as a casting) transitions from one heating environment to the other without being exposed to the atmosphere. In accordance with the preferred methods, the transitioning of the casting from one environment to the other is accomplished with no meaningful change in temperature.

Abstract: A hot shelf tower dryer includes a casing having substantially parallel shelves which alternately extend from opposite ends of the tower casing to form a repetitively convoluted passage. At least one of the shelves has a hollow interior or chamber. Disposed in the chamber is at least one electrical heating element, where the power supplied to the heating element is regulated by a control system. As controlled, the electrical heating elements provide sufficient output to the tower casing which result in a substantially constant temperature throughout the passage. With the heating elements, the hot shelf tower dryer does not require the burning of natural gas or some other fossil fuel to heat the tower dryer unless such heating is desired to heat the forced air that conveys the cotton through dryer. As a result, in comparison with hot shelf tower dryer's that use fossil fuels as a heating source, pollutant emissions, such as nitrous oxide (NOx) emissions, are eliminated or at least significantly reduced.

Abstract: A hot shelf tower dryer includes a casing having substantially parallel shelves which alternately extend from opposite ends of the tower casing. As configured, the dryer includes a repetitively convoluted passage. At least one of the shelves has a hollow interior or chamber. Disposed in the chamber is at least one electrical heating element, where the power supplied to the heating element is regulated by a control system. As controlled, the electrical heating elements provide sufficient output to the tower casing which result in a substantially constant temperature throughout the passage. With the heating elements, the hot shelf tower dryer does not require the burning of natural gas or some other fossil fuel to heat the tower dryer unless such heating is desired to heat the forced air that conveys the cotton through dryer. As a result, in comparison with hot shelf tower dryer's that use fossil fuels as a heating source, pollutant emissions, such as nitrous oxide (NO.sub.

Abstract: The invention relates to apparatus for gentle thermal treatment of flaky or granulated material with vapors in continuous operation, wherein the vapors are introduced from the bottom and conducted in countercurrent to the material falling downwardly by gravity and by the aid of additional mechanical means through one treatment stage or a plurality of treatment stages, the individual treatment stages being defined by perforated plates to which the material to be treated is fed by horizontal motion, the space below the lowermost, unheated perforated plate serving to distribute the gases or vapors and to admit the latter uniformly to the entire treatment space, the bores of the openings or perforations in the plates having a cross-section which allows the vapors, but not the material being treated, to pass therethrough, in order, on the one hand, to achieve optimum vapor exploitation and, on the other hand, to prevent any damage to the material being treated (FIG. 1).

Abstract: A scraper flight conveyor for preheating thermoplastic bulk material and feeding it to a screw extruder comprises a succession of controllably heated slideways arranged in superposed series, a plurality of scraper flights in sliding contact with each slideway and spaced along a path of travel over the surface thereof, and a drive operable to move the scraper flights on each slideway along the path of travel. The scraper flights push discrete portions of the thermoplastic bulk material along the path of travel. The delivery rate of the material to the slideways is controlled.

Abstract: A multiple tier oven which comprises a plurality of superimposed oven chambers, each being of tunnel character having an ingress at one end and an egress at the opposite end; each oven being heated at its top and bottom, and individually controllable heating means for each oven to allow of preselected temperature differentials. Associated with each oven chamber and surfacewise aligned with the floor thereof is a service deck for introduction of articles or products to be heated, such as, for example, food, into the related oven chamber and for receipt of heated articles from the egress end thereof. Endless conveyor means are associated with each deck and having a preselected number of sweep arms engageable thereon for directing articles into, through, and from each oven chamber.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for heating a granular aggregate for mixture with asphalt by means of a flue gas being chemically inert to the aggregate. The aggregate is moved intermittently within the gas under control of the stationary periods of driven screw conveyors. The apparatus has several heating sections, each section having a conveyor, a thermostat with a sensing device at the end of the section, and possibly also an oil burner, the thermostat being connected to the driving means of the conveyor.

Abstract: An oven for heating tubular parisons to a target or orientation temperature. A first plenum on one side of the oven and a second plenum on the opposite side of the oven, both exhaust to a common chamber disposed therebetween. The parisons are heated by a high velocity fluid above the target temperature in the zone defined by the first plenum and the chamber and the parisons are tempered by a lower velocity fluid at the target temperature in the zone defined by the second plenum and the chamber.