Process for treating and/or forming a non-newtonian fluid using microchannel process technology
First Claim
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1. A process, comprising:
- conducting unit operations in at least two process zones in a process microchannel to treat and/or form a non-Newtonian fluid, a different unit operation being conducted in each process zone; and
applying an effective amount of shear stress to the non-Newtonian fluid to reduce the viscosity of the non-Newtonian fluid in each process zone, the average shear rate in one process zone differing from the average shear rate in another process zone by a factor of at least about 1.2;
wherein the unit operations are selected from conducting a chemical reaction using two or more fluids to form a non-Newtonian fluid, conducting a chemical reaction using one or more non-Newtonian fluids as a reactant or a combination of two or more thereof.
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Abstract
The disclosed invention relates to a process, comprising: conducting unit operations in at least two process zones in a process microchannel to treat and/or form a non-Newtonian fluid, a different unit operation being conducted in each process zone; and applying an effective amount of shear stress to the non-Newtonian fluid to reduce the viscosity of the non-Newtonian fluid in each process zone, the average shear rate in one process zone differing from the average shear rate in another process zone by a factor of at least about 1.2.
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49 Claims
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1. A process, comprising:
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conducting unit operations in at least two process zones in a process microchannel to treat and/or form a non-Newtonian fluid, a different unit operation being conducted in each process zone; and applying an effective amount of shear stress to the non-Newtonian fluid to reduce the viscosity of the non-Newtonian fluid in each process zone, the average shear rate in one process zone differing from the average shear rate in another process zone by a factor of at least about 1.2; wherein the unit operations are selected from conducting a chemical reaction using two or more fluids to form a non-Newtonian fluid, conducting a chemical reaction using one or more non-Newtonian fluids as a reactant or a combination of two or more thereof. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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Specification