Neutralization energetics

If the water quantity added as feed increases up to a value corresponding to neutral energetic balance between exothermic and endothermic reaction steps, the overall process is denominated autothermal reformer (ATR). This approach combines both SR and POX catalytic processes and it has been recently proposed to optimize the performance in terms of compactness and efficiency of small-medium production plants. This technology could permit a compromise between the good efficiency of SR and the fast start up of POX. However, it needs a careful control of in going mass stream [6, 7]. 

In the hydropulper tanks, the ERH hydrolysate fluid is mixed with the dry material produced from shredding and micronizing the organic dunnage and other waste materials to produce a slurry. The hydropulper tanks are continuously stirred and periodically sampled prior to the transfer of their contents to the hydrolysate storage tank, from which the slurried dunnage and neutralized energetics are pumped to the two SCWO reactors. 

Step 15 of the GATS process is the treatment of the slurried dunnage and neutralized energetics in one of two dedicated SCWO reactors. These reactors are different units from those described in Step 11 but are similar in design and function. 

As with the quadmpole ion trap, ions with a particular m/z ratio can be selected and stored in tlie FT-ICR cell by the resonant ejection of all other ions. Once isolated, the ions can be stored for variable periods of time (even hours) and allowed to react with neutral reagents that are introduced into the trapping cell. In this maimer, the products of bi-molecular reactions can be monitored and, if done as a fiinction of trapping time, it is possible to derive rate constants for the reactions [47]. Collision-induced dissociation can also be perfomied in the FT-ICR cell by tlie isolation and subsequent excitation of the cyclotron frequency of the ions. The extra translational kinetic energy of the ion packet results in energetic collisions between the ions and background... 

The multiple energetic collisions cause molecules to break apart, eventually to form only atoms, both charged and neutral. Insertion of sample molecules into a plasma discharge, which has an applied high-frequency electric field, causes the molecules to be rapidly broken down into electronically excited ions for all of the original component atoms. 

Ions can be induced to fragment by increasing an electric potential known as a cone voltage, which speeds them. Accelerating the ions causes them to collide more energetically with neutral molecules, a process that causes them to fragment (collision-induced decomposition). 

A discharge ignited in argon and coupled inductively to an external high-frequency electromagnetic field produces a plasma of ions, neutrals, and electrons with a temperature of about 7000 to 10,000°C. Samples introduced into the plasma under these extremely energetic conditions are fragmented into atoms and ions of their constituent elements. These ions are examined by a mass analyzer, frequently a quadrupole instrument. 

Static Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) involves the bombardment of a sample with an energetic (typically 1-10 keV) beam of particles, which may be either ions or neutrals. As a result of the interaction of these primary particles with the sample, species are ejected that have become ionized. These ejected species, known as secondary ions, are the analytical signal in SIMS. 

Sputtered Neutral Mass Spectrometry (SNMS) is the mass spectrometric analysis of sputtered atoms ejected from a solid surface by energetic ion bombardment. The sputtered atoms are ionized for mass spectrometric analysis by a mechanism separate from the sputtering atomization. As such, SNMS is complementary to Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS), which is the mass spectrometric analysis of sputtered ions, as distinct from sputtered atoms. The forte of SNMS analysis, compared to SIMS, is the accurate measurement of concentration depth profiles through chemically complex thin-film structures, including interfaces, with excellent depth resolution and to trace concentration levels. Genetically both SALI and GDMS are specific examples of SNMS. In this article we concentrate on post ionization only by electron impact. 

Previous studies of the interaction of energetic particles with suri ces have made it clear that under nearly all conditions the majority of atoms or molecules removed from a surface are neutral, rather than charged. This means that the chained component can have large relative fluctuations (orders of magnitude) depending on the local chemical matrix. Calibration with standards for surfaces is difficult and for interfaces is nearly impossible. Therefore, for quantification ease, the majority neutral component of the departing flux must be sampled, and this requires some type of ionization above the sample, often referred to as post-ionization. SALI uses effi-... 

Relative photoionization cross sections for molecules do not vary gready between each other in this wavelength region, and therefore the peak intensities in the raw data approximately correspond to the relative abundances of the molecular species. Improvement in quantification for both photoionizadon methods is straightforward with calibration. Sampling the majority neutral channel means much less stringent requirements for calibrants than that for direct ion production from surfaces by energetic particles this is especially important for the analysis of surfaces, interfaces, and unknown bulk materials. 

The atom flux sputtered from a solid surface under energetic ion bombardment provides a representative sampling of the solid. Sputtered neutral mass spectrometry has been developed as method to quantitatively measure the composition of this atom flux and thus the composition of the sputtered material. The measurement of ionized sputtered neutrals has been a significant improvement over the use of sputtered ions as a measure of flux composition (the process called SIMS), since sputtered ion yields are seriously affected by matrix composition. Neutral panicles are ionized by a separate process after sputter atomization, and SNMS quantitation is thus independent of the matrix. Also, since the sputtering and ionization processes are separate, an ionization process can be selected that provides relatively uniform yields for essentially all elements. 

Figura 1 Schematic of SNMS analysis. Neutral atoms and molecules sputtered from the sample surface by energetic ion bombardment are subsequently ionized for mass spectrometric analysis.

In secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), a beam of energetic primary ions is focused onto the surface of a solid. Some of the ions are reflected but most of the energy of the primary ions is dissipated in the surface by binary collisions that cause neutrals, excited neutrals, and ions (positive and negative) to be ejected or sputtered from the surface. The secondary ions can be analyzed by a mass spectrometer to provide information about the surface composition of the solid. 

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