Micro instruments evaluation

The preceding chapters in Parts I and 11 show that the value of micro-instrumentation is being demonstrated broadly and that recent research results continue to improve on the ability of these devices to play an increasingly important role in both research and manufacturing environments. As the value of micro-unit operations is realized, there will be an increased evaluation of these devices to replace macro-units or to be incorporated within macro-imit operations. The superior mass and heat transfer capability frequently leads to significant quality, energy and environmental benefits. 

It is anticipated that micro-instrumentation will allow for effective evaluation and eventual use of continuous processes in areas where batch approaches have been traditional. The expected impact of this will be significant on energy savings and in environmental and productivity aspects of commercial processing. The areas where this will show early benefits are in pharmaceuticals, but it is envisioned that biotechnology will incorporate the advantages of continuous processing. This will have a broad impact on medicinal bio-products as well as biochemical and biofuel production. 

Physical properties of calcined catalysts were investigated by N2 adsorption at 77 K with an AUTOSORB-l-C analyzer (Quantachrome Instruments). Before the measurements, the samples were degassed at 523 K for 5 h. Specific surface areas (,S BEX) of the samples were calculated by multiplot BET method. Total pore volume (Vtot) was calculated by the Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) method from the desorption isotherm. The average pore diameter (Dave) was then calculated by assuming cylindrical pore structure. Nonlocal density functional theory (NL-DFT) analysis was also carried out to evaluate the distribution of micro- and mesopores. 

Fig. 4. Profile of a differential scanning calorimetry experiment done on a synthetic lysozyme. The heat capacity (kilocalories per degree per mole) of the unfolding process was monitored as a function of temperature on a Micro-Cal MC2 instrument. The transition midpoint of protein unfolding corresponds to the temperature at the peak of the curve, and the thermodynamic parameters A H and A Cp are evaluated by the procedure of Privalov.33...

Accurate micro- and nanoscale fluid metering is important since it serves as a basis for evaluating the performance of microfluidic devices and thus is critical to the quality control of those devices and systems using them. Establishment of a traceability chain and evaluation of the measurement uncertainty for flow rate and droplet volume metering instruments are important, especially for levels of liquid quantity that cannot feasibly be dealt with by gravimetric methods. Moreover, reliable methods to measure extremely small liquid volumes, for example, 10 nl or below, are yet to be developed. 

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