1. A method of testing catalysts and catalyst systems via a plurality of stations, in which each station can accommodate a common reactor module in order to accomplish unattended, automated, rapid serial experimentation comprising the following steps:
providing within one or more purged chambers a storage station of pre-loaded catalyst reactors, a hydrocarbon reaction station, a post-treatment station in series with said hydrocarbon reaction station, and a robotic means for moving catalyst reactors within said one or more purged chambers,
moving with said robotic means a pre-loaded catalyst reactor from said storage station to said hydrocarbon reaction station,
reacting said pre-loaded catalyst reactor with a hydrocarbon reactant in said hydrocarbon reaction station under controlled time, temperature, flow rate and pressure conditions,
moving with said robotic means said pre-loaded catalyst reactor from said hydrocarbon reaction station to said post-treatment station,
post-treating said pre-loaded catalyst reactor with a treatment gas in said post-treatment station under controlled time, temperature, flow rate and pressure conditions,
moving with said robotic means said pre-loaded catalyst reactor from said post-treatment station to said storage station, and
repeating the foregoing steps such that reacting and post-treating steps occur simultaneously for two different pre-loaded catalyst reactors.
2. The method of claim 1 in which said common reactor module is a pre-loaded catalyst reactor or an array of pre-loaded catalyst reactors.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein said post-treating step is performed on said common reactor module in bulk to enable faster cycle times in said hydrocarbon reaction station.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein said pre-loaded catalyst reactors are loaded with a catalyst selected from the group consisting of zeolites, mixed metal oxides, metal sulfides, metal nitrides, metal carbides, supported metals and combinations thereof.
5. The method of claim 1 in which said hydrocarbon reaction station and said post-treatment station are contained within one purged chamber.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein said hydrocarbon reactant is selected from the group consisting of methane, higher alkanes, olefins, aromatics, alcohols, ethers, oxygenates, carbon containing compounds, hydrogen containing compounds and oxygen containing compounds.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein said post-treating step is selected from the group consisting of decoking, drying, passivation, oxidation, reduction, carburization, sulfidation, nitridation, and phosphoridation.
8. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:
providing a catalyst aging station in series with said hydrocarbon reaction station and said post-treatment station,
moving with said robotic means said pre-loaded catalyst reactor from one of said storage station, hydrocarbon reactant station, and post-treatment station to said catalyst aging station, and
subjecting said pre-loaded catalyst reactor in said catalyst aging station to thermal treatment, hydrothermal treatment, reduction, oxidation, carburization processes or combinations thereof.
9. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:
providing a catalyst characterization station in series with said hydrocarbon reaction station and said post-treatment station,
moving with said robotic means said pre-loaded catalyst reactor from one of said storage station, hydrocarbon reactant station, and post-treatment station to said catalyst characterization station, and
subjecting said pre-loaded catalyst reactor in said catalyst characterization station to gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, chemisorption, acidity testing, adsorption, desorption, BET analysis, BJH analysis, surface area, pore volume, XRD, XRF, ICP, temperature programmed oxidation, temperature programmed reaction and temperature programmed reduction.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein said programmable logic controller or computer collects, analyzes and reports catalyst property data from said catalyst characterization station.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein said robotic means is controlled by a programmable logic controller or computer.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein said programmable logic controller or computer further controls station temperatures, test times, gas flow rates, and pressures.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein said programmable logic controller or computer collects and stores a queue of said pre-loaded catalyst reactors to be moved between said storage station, said hydrocarbon reaction station and said post-treatment station to optimize utilization of each station.
14. The method of claim 1 wherein said purged chamber is purged with nitrogen, hydrogen, helium, argon, or mixtures thereof.
15. A method of testing catalysts and catalyst systems via a plurality of stations, in which each station can accommodate a common reactor module in order to accomplish unattended, automated, rapid serial experimentation comprising the following steps:
providing within one or more purged chambers a storage station of pre-loaded catalyst reactors, a pre-treatment station, a hydrocarbon reaction station in series with said pre-treatment station, and a robotic means for moving catalyst reactors within said one or more purged chambers,
moving with said robotic means a pre-loaded catalyst reactor from said storage station to said pre-treatment station,
pre-treating said pre-loaded catalyst reactor with a treatment gas in said pre-treatment station under controlled time, temperature, flow rate and pressure conditions,
moving with said robotic means said pre-loaded catalyst reactor from said pre-treatment station to said hydrocarbon reaction station,
reacting said pre-loaded catalyst reactor with a hydrocarbon reactant in said hydrocarbon reaction station under controlled time, temperature, flow rate and pressure conditions,
moving with said robotic means said pre-loaded catalyst reactor from said hydrocarbon reaction station to said storage station, and
repeating the foregoing steps such that said pre-treating and reacting steps occur simultaneously for two different pre-loaded catalyst reactors.
16. The method of claim 15 in which said common reactor module is a pre-loaded catalyst reactor or an array of pre-loaded catalyst reactors.
17. The method of claim 16 wherein said pre-treating step is performed on said common reactor module in bulk to enable faster cycle times in said hydrocarbon reaction station.
18. The method of claim 15 wherein said pre-loaded catalyst reactors are loaded with a catalyst selected from the group consisting of zeolites, mixed metal oxides, metal sulfides, metal nitrides, metal carbides, supported metals and combinations thereof.
19. The method of claim 15 in which said hydrocarbon reaction station and said pre-treatment station are contained within one purged chamber.
20. The method of claim 15 wherein said pre-treating step is selected from the group consisting of decoking, drying, passivation, oxidation, reduction, carburization, sulfidation, nitridation, and phosphoridation.
21. The method of claim 15 wherein said hydrocarbon reactant is selected from the group consisting of methane, higher alkanes, olefins, aromatics, alcohols, ethers, oxygenates, carbon containing compounds, hydrogen containing compounds and oxygen containing compounds.
22. The method of claim 15 further comprising the steps of:
providing a catalyst aging station in series with said pre-treatment station and said hydrocarbon reaction station,
moving with said robotic means said pre-loaded catalyst reactor from one of said storage station, hydrocarbon reactant station, and pre-treatment station to said catalyst aging station, and
subjecting said pre-loaded catalyst reactor in said catalyst aging station to thermal treatment, hydrothermal treatment, reduction, oxidation, carburization processes or combinations thereof.
23. The method of claim 15 further comprising the steps of:
providing a catalyst characterization station in series with said hydrocarbon reaction station and said pre-treatment station,
moving with said robotic means said pre-loaded catalyst reactor from one of said storage station, hydrocarbon reactant station, and pre-treatment station to said catalyst characterization station, and
subjecting said pre-loaded catalyst reactor in said catalyst characterization station to gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, chemisorption, acidity testing, adsorption, desorption, BET analysis, BJH analysis, surface area, pore volume, XRD, XRF, or ICP.
24. The method of claim 23 wherein said programmable logic controller or computer collects, analyzes and reports catalyst property data from said catalyst characterization station.
25. The method of claim 15 wherein said robotic means is controlled by a programmable logic controller or computer.
26. The method of claim 25 wherein said programmable logic controller or computer further controls station temperatures, test times, gas flow rates, and pressures.
27. The method of claim 15 wherein said programmable logic controller or computer collects and stores a queue of said pre-loaded catalyst reactors to be moved between said storage station, said hydrocarbon reaction station and said pre-treatment station to optimize utilization of each station.
28. The method of claim 15 wherein said purged chamber is purged with nitrogen, hydrogen, helium, argon, or mixtures thereof.
29. A method of testing catalysts and catalyst systems via a plurality of stations, in which each station can accommodate a common reactor module in order to accomplish unattended, automated, rapid serial experimentation comprising the following steps:
providing within one or more purged chambers a storage station of pre-loaded catalyst reactors, a pre-treatment station, a hydrocarbon reaction station in series with said pre-treatment station, a post-treatment station in series with said hydrocarbon reaction station, and a robotic means for moving catalyst reactors within said one or more purged chambers,
moving with said robotic means a pre-loaded catalyst reactor from said storage station to said pre-treatment station,
pre-treating said pre-loaded catalyst reactor with a treatment gas in said pre-treatment station under controlled time, temperature, flow rate and pressure conditions,
moving with said robotic means said pre-loaded catalyst reactor from said pre-treatment station to said hydrocarbon reaction station,
reacting said pre-loaded catalyst reactor with a hydrocarbon reactant in said hydrocarbon reaction station under controlled time, temperature, flow rate and pressure conditions,
moving with said robotic means said pre-loaded catalyst reactor from said hydrocarbon reaction station to said post-treatment station,
post-treating said pre-loaded catalyst reactor with a treatment gas in said post-treatment station under controlled time, temperature, flow rate and pressure conditions,
moving with said robotic means said pre-loaded catalyst reactor from said post-treatment station to said storage station, and
repeating the foregoing steps such that said pre-treating, reacting and post-treating steps occur simultaneously for two different pre-loaded catalyst reactors.
30. The method of claim 29 in which said common reactor module is a pre-loaded catalyst reactor or an array of pre-loaded catalyst reactors.
31. The method of claim 30 wherein said pre-treating step is performed on said common reactor module in bulk to enable faster cycle times in said hydrocarbon reaction station.
32. The method of claim 31 wherein said post-treating step is performed on said common reactor module in bulk to enable faster cycle times in said hydrocarbon reaction station.
33. The method of claim 29 wherein said pre-loaded catalyst reactors are loaded with a catalyst selected from the group consisting of zeolites, mixed metal oxides, metal sulfides, metal nitrides, metal carbides, supported metals and combinations thereof.
34. The method of claim 29 in which said pre-treatment station, said hydrocarbon reaction station and said post-treatment station are contained within one purged chamber.
35. The method of claim 29 wherein said pre-treating step is selected from the group consisting of decoking, drying, passivation, oxidation, reduction, carburization, sulfidation, nitridation, and phosphoridation.
36. The method of claim 29 wherein said hydrocarbon reactant is selected from the group consisting of methane, higher alkanes, olefins, aromatics, alcohols, ethers, oxygenates, carbon containing compounds, hydrogen containing compounds and oxygen containing compounds.
37. The method of claim 29 wherein said post-treating step is selected from the group consisting of decoking, drying, passivation, oxidation, reduction, carburization, sulfidation, nitridation, and phosphoridation.
38. The method of claim 29 further comprising the steps of:
providing a catalyst aging station in series with said pre-treatment station, said hydrocarbon reaction station, and said post-treatment station,
moving with said robotic means said pre-loaded catalyst reactor from one of said storage station, hydrocarbon reactant station, pre-treatment station and post-treatment station to said catalyst aging station, and
subjecting said pre-loaded catalyst reactor in said catalyst aging station to thermal treatment, hydrothermal treatment, reduction, oxidation, carburization processes or combinations thereof.
39. The method of claim 29 further comprising the steps of:
providing a catalyst characterization station in series with said pre-treatment station, said hydrocarbon reaction station and said post-treatment station,
moving with said robotic means said pre-loaded catalyst reactor from one of said storage station, post-treatment station, hydrocarbon reactant station, and pre-treatment station to said catalyst characterization station, and
subjecting said pre-loaded catalyst reactor in said catalyst characterization station to gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, chemisorption, acidity testing, adsorption, desorption, BET analysis, BJH analysis, surface area, pore volume, XRD, XRF, or ICP.
40. The method of claim 39 wherein said programmable logic controller or computer collects, analyzes and reports catalyst property data from said catalyst characterization station.
41. The method of claim 29 wherein said robotic means is controlled by a programmable logic controller or computer.
42. The method of claim 41 wherein said programmable logic controller or computer further controls station temperatures, test times, gas flow rates, and pressures.
43. The method of claim 29 wherein said programmable logic controller or computer collects and stores a queue of said pre-loaded catalyst reactors to be moved between said storage station, said pre-treatment station, said hydrocarbon reaction station and said post-treatment station in order to optimize utilization of each station.
44. The method of claim 29 wherein said purged chamber is purged with nitrogen, hydrogen, helium, argon, or mixtures thereof.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for distributing an encryption key using Yuen encryption, the method for sending an encryption key by making use of effects of noise caused at the time of transmitting or receiving a signal, wherein
a transmission signal attenuated in the signal transmission channel between each amplifier is recovered by using a plurality of amplifiers installed on the signal transmission channel; and
a transmitter and a receiver transmits and receives the encryption key over a long distance in a manner that a relationship between the transmission signal and noise is being maintained at a level enough to satisfy predetermined criteria for security measures against eavesdropping activities.
2. An encryption key distribution system distributing an encryption key using Yuen encryption comprising
encryption key transmitting means for transmitting an encryption key on a signal transmission channel,
encryption key receiving means for receiving the encryption key transmitted by the encryption key transmitting means,
a signal transmission channel, interposed between the encryption key transmitting means and the encryption key receiving means, for transmitting a signal,
a plurality of amplifiers, installed on the signal transmission channel, having a gain for recovering an attenuation of the signal in the signal transmission channel, and
a front-end amplifier, coupled to an input side of the encryption key receiving means, having a gain higher than the gain of said amplifier, wherein
each of said plurality of amplifiers recovers a transmission signal attenuated in the signal transmission channel between each amplifier,
the encryption key transmission means and the encryption key receiving means transmits and receives the encryption key in a manner that a relationship between the transmission signal and noise is being maintained at a level enough to satisfy predetermined criteria for security measures against eavesdropping activities.
3. The encryption key distribution system according to claim 2, wherein the encryption key transmitting means and the encryption key receiving means transmits and receives an optical signal by using intensity modulation and direct detection (IMDD) scheme, and the amplifier has a gain for recovering an attenuation in a transmission channel having a short distance of about 5 km or less.
4. The encryption key distribution system according to claim 3, wherein
as the front-end amplifier, a front-end amplifier having a gain greater than that of the amplifiers in the signal transmission channel and equal to or greater than a gain available to an eavesdropper is used.
5. The encryption key distribution system according to claim 3, comprising
as the front-end amplifier, a front-end amplifier having a gain of about 50 dB.