What is claimed is:
1. A biosensor, comprising:
a substrate member;
a receptive material layer generally uniformly covering a side of said substrate member, said receptive material being specific for an analyte of interest;
a pattern of active and inactive areas of said receptive material defined on said layer, said active and inactive areas formed by a masking process wherein a mask is placed over said substrate member such that areas exposed by said mask define said pattern of inactive areas of said receptive material and said areas protected by said mask define said pattern of active areas of receptive material; and
wherein when said biosensor is exposed to a medium containing said analyte of interest, the analyte binds to said receptive material in said active areas and subsequently facilitate diffraction of transmitted or reflected light in a diffraction pattern corresponding to said active areas.
2. The biosensor as in claim 1, wherein said inactive areas of said receptive material have been irradiated with an energy source through the mask in the masking process.
3. The biosensor as in claim 1, wherein said substrate comprises a material from the list of materials consisting of plastics, metal coated plastics and glass, functionalized plastics and glass, silicon wafers, glass, and foils.
4. The biosensor as in claim 1, wherein said substrate member comprises a polymer film coated with a metal.
5. The biosensor as in claim 4, wherein said polymer film comprises polyethylene-terephthalate.
6. The biosensor as in claim 4, wherein said metal is selected from the group consisting of gold, silver, chromium, nickel, platinum, aluminum, iron, copper, titanium, gold oxide, chromium oxide, silver oxide, or zirconium.
7. The biosensor as in claim 4, wherein said metal is gold.
8. The biosensor as in claim 1, wherein said diffraction pattern is visible to the naked eye.
9. The biosensor as in claim 1, wherein said receptive material is protein based.
10. The biosensor as in claim 9, wherein said receptive material is an antibody.
11. The biosensor as in claim 1, wherein said substrate member is irradiated with UV light at a wavelength sufficient for deactivating said receptive material exposed through said mask.
12. The biosensor as in claim 1, wherein said receptive material is at least one of antigens, antibodies, nucleotides, chelators, enzymes, bacteria, yeasts, fungi, viruses, bacterial pili, bacterial flagellar materials, nucleic acids, polysaccharides, lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, metals, hormones, aptamers, peptides, and respective receptors for said materials.
13. The biosensor as in claim 1, wherein said analyte of interest is at least one of a bacteria, yeast, fungus, virus, rheumatoid factor, IgG, IgM, IgA, IgD and IgE antibodies, carcinoembryonic antigen, streptococcus Group A antigen, viral antigens, antigens associated with autoimmune disease, allergens, tumor antigens, streptococcus group B antigen, HIV I or HIV II antigen, antibodies viruses, antigens specific to RSV, an antibody, antigen, enzyme, hormone, polysaccharide, protein, lipid, carbohydrate, drug, nucleic acid, Neisseria meningitides groups A, B, C, Y and W sub 135, Streptococcus pneumoniae, E. coil K1, Haemophilus influenza type AB, an antigen derived from microorganisms, PSA and CRP antigens, a hapten, a drug of abuse, a therapeutic drug, an environmental agents, or antigens specific to Hepatitis.
14. A method of making a biosensor, comprising the steps of:
forming a receptive material layer generally uniformly over a surface of a substrate member, the layer containing a receptive material specific for an analyte of interest;
placing a mask over the substrate member, the mask having a configuration so as to cover at least one underlying area of the substrate member while exposing at least one adjacent area;
irradiating the substrate member and mask combination with an energy source sufficient to deactivate the receptive material in areas exposed by the mask;
removing the mask from the substrate member; and
wherein a resulting pattern of active and inactive areas of the receptive material are defined, the inactive areas corresponding to the areas exposed by the mask and the active areas corresponding to the areas underlying the mask such that when the biosensor is exposed to a medium containing the analyte of interest, the analyte binds to the receptive material in the active areas and subsequently facilitates diffraction of transmitted or reflected light in a diffraction pattern corresponding to the active areas.
15. The method as in claim 14, comprising selecting the substrate member from the group of materials consisting of plastics, metal coated plastics and glass, functionalized plastics and glass, silicon wafers, glass, and foils.
16. The method as in claim 14, wherein the substrate member comprises a polymer film coated with a metal.
17. The method as in claim 16, wherein the polymer film comprises polyethylene-terephthalate.
18. The method as in claim 16, comprising selecting the metal from the group consisting of gold, silver, chromium, nickel, platinum, aluminum, iron, copper, titanium, gold oxide, chromium oxide, silver oxide, and zirconium.
19. The method as in claim 16, wherein the metal is gold.
20. The method as in claim 19, comprising depositing the gold coating onto the polymer film at a thickness between about 1 nanometer and 1000 nanometers.
21. The method as in claim 14, comprising viewing the diffraction pattern of active areas with the naked eye.
22. The method as in claim 14, wherein the receptive material is protein based.
23. The method as in claim 22, wherein the receptive material is an antibody.
24. The method as in claim 14, comprising irradiating the substrate member with UV light at a wavelength sufficient for deactivating the receptive material exposed through the mask openings.
25. The method as in claim 14, comprising selecting the receptive material from at least one of antigens, antibodies, nucleotides, chelators, enzymes, bacteria, yeasts, fungi, viruses, bacterial pili, bacterial flagellar materials, nucleic acids, polysaccharides, lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, metals, hormones, aptamers, peptides, and respective receptors for said materials.
26. The method as in claim 14, wherein the analyte of interest is selected from at least one of a bacteria, yeast, fungus, virus, rheumatoid factor, IgG, IgM, IgA, IgD and IgE antibodies, carcinoembryonic antigen, streptococcus Group A antigen, viral antigens, antigens associated with autoimmune disease, allergens, tumor antigens, streptococcus group B antigen, HIV I or HIV II antigen, antibodies viruses, antigens specific to RSV, an antibody, antigen, enzyme, hormone, polysaccharide, protein, lipid, carbohydrate, drug, nucleic acid, Neisseria meningitides groups A, B, C, Y and W sub 135, Streptococcus pneumoniae, E. coli K1, Haemophilus influenza type AB, an antigen derived from microorganisms, PSA and CRP antigens, a hapten, a drug of abuse, a therapeutic drug, an environmental agents, or antigens specific to Hepatitis.
27. The method as in claim 14, further comprising defining a plurality of openings through the mask in a desired pattern, the openings defining the pattern of inactive areas.
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 process for converting biomass, the process comprising the steps of:
flowing the biomass and a gas through a process unit;
providing a default value for a frequency of measuring a process condition in the process unit;
measuring the process condition according to the frequency to obtain process condition measurements;
evaluating the process condition measurements to assess the stability of the process condition; and
determining whether to change the default value depending on the stability of the process condition.
2. The process of claim 1 wherein the process unit includes an instrument tap, wherein measuring the process condition comprises measuring the process condition through the instrument tap, and wherein the process further comprises purging the instrument tap while measuring the process condition.
3. The process of claim 2 wherein purging the instrument tap comprises flowing a purge gas from a purge gas source through a measuring line to the instrument tap.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein measuring the process condition comprises measuring the process condition with a measuring instrument fluidly connected to the process unit by the measuring line.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein fluid communication through the measuring line is selectively opened by a valve, and wherein measuring the process condition comprises opening the valve according to the frequency.
6. The process of claim 5 wherein evaluating the process condition measurements comprises evaluating the process condition measurements with a controller electronically connected to the valve and the measuring instrument, wherein determining whether to change the default value comprises determining whether to change the default value with the controller, and wherein measuring the process condition comprises opening the valve in response to an open signal from the controller.
7. The process of claim 1 wherein measuring the process condition comprises measuring the process condition at a first location in the process unit and at a second location in the process unit according to the frequency to obtain process condition measurements.
8. The process of claim 7 wherein the process unit includes a first instrument tap at the first location and a second instrument tap at the second location, wherein measuring the process condition comprises measuring the process condition at the first location through the first instrument tap and at the second location through the second instrument tap, and wherein the process further comprises:
purging the first instrument tap while measuring the process condition at the first location; and
purging the second instrument tap while measuring the process condition at the second location.
9. The process of claim 8 wherein purging the first instrument tap comprises flowing purge gas from a purge gas source through a first measuring line to the first instrument tap, wherein purging the second instrument tap comprises flowing purge gas from the purge gas source through a second measuring line to the second instrument tap, and wherein measuring the process condition comprises measuring the process condition at the first location through the first measuring line and at the second location through the second measuring line.
10. A process for monitoring a fluidized solid stream comprising:
contacting a gas with solids to form the fluidized solid stream;
intermittently opening fluid communication with the fluidized solid stream through a tap at a first frequency; and
measuring a process condition at the tap to obtain measured process conditions and simultaneously purging solids from the tap while fluid communication with the fluidized solid stream is open.
11. The process of claim 10 wherein intermittently opening fluid communication with the fluidized solid stream comprises selectively opening a valve, wherein the valve opens fluid communication between the tap and a measuring instrument and between the tap and a gas source, and wherein measuring the process condition comprises measuring the process condition with the measuring instrument.
12. The process of claim 11 wherein intermittently opening fluid communication is performed by a controller that is adapted to selectively open the valve.
13. The process of claim 12 further comprising:
monitoring the measured process conditions with the controller;
determining a second frequency for opening fluid communication with the fluidized solid stream based on the measured process conditions using the controller; and
opening fluid communication with the fluidized solid stream through the tap according to the second frequency.
14. The process of claim 10 wherein intermittently opening fluid communication comprises intermittently opening fluid communication between the fluidized solid stream and a measuring instrument adapted to measure a process condition in the fluidized solid stream, and wherein the process further comprises:
monitoring the measured process conditions with a controller electronically connected to a valve and to the measuring instrument; and
determining with the controller a second frequency for opening the valve based on the process condition, wherein the controller selectively opens the valve based on the second frequency.
15. The process of claim 10 further comprising:
monitoring the process condition; and
determining a second frequency for opening fluid communication with the fluidized solid stream based on the process condition.
16. The process of claim 10 further comprising connecting a gas source to the tap, wherein purging solids from the tap comprises flowing a gas from the gas source to the tap to purge solids therefrom.
17. The process of claim 10 wherein contacting a gas with solids comprises contacting biomass, heat transfer medium, and a carrier gas to form the fluidized solid stream.
18. The process of claim 10 wherein the tap is a first tap, and wherein intermittently opening fluid communication with the fluidized solid stream comprises opening fluid communication with the fluidized solid stream through a second tap, measuring another process condition at the second tap, and simultaneously purging solids from the second tap.
19. The process of claim 18 wherein intermittently opening fluid communication with the fluidized solid stream through the first tap and through the second tap comprises selectively opening a first valve and a second valve, wherein the first valve opens fluid communication between the first tap and a measuring instrument and between the first tap and a gas source, and wherein the second valve opens fluid communication between the second tap and the measuring instrument and between the second tap and the gas source, wherein the process condition is pressure; and wherein the process further comprises:
calculating pressure differentials between the pressure at the first tap and the pressure at the second tap with a controller electronically coupled to the first valve, the second valve, and the measuring instrument;
monitoring the pressure differentials with the controller; and
determining a second frequency for opening the first valve and the second valve with the controller based on the pressure differentials, wherein the controller simultaneously opens the first valve and the second valve according to the second frequency.
20. An apparatus for converting a feedstock to bio-oil comprising:
a conversion reactor for receiving the feedstock and including a reaction zone adapted to convert the feedstock to bio-oil;
a tap connected to the reaction zone;
a measuring instrument fluidly connected to the tap by a conduit, the measuring instrument configured for measuring a condition in the reaction zone;
a valve connected to the conduit between the measuring instrument and the tap for selectively opening and closing fluid communication therebetween;
a gas source connected to the conduit between the valve and the measuring instrument for purging the tap of solids; and
a controller electronically connected to the measuring instrument and the valve, wherein the controller is configured to intermittently open the valve to obtain a condition measurement and to simultaneously purge the tap of solids.