Posted by Ben Proudlove on Mon, Jul 19, 2010 @ 11:16 AM
Merrow Scientific are pleased to announce this year is the 20th Anniversary of the formation of Rubotherm GmbH.
Rubotherm are the manufacturers of the unique patented magnetic suspension balance used for high pressure gravimetric sorption. Originally this instrument was developed in the world renown Thermodynamics Dept in the Ruhr University, Bochum (Germany) when they had a specific application and found that nothing commerically available would allow them to measure at raised pressures and to the accuracy required. After this successful first project a spin out company was formed from the Ruhr Uni Bochum Thermodynamics Dept (you can see where the name comes from now!!) and since then for the last 20 years the Rubotherm MSB gravimetric system has been supplied worldwide for many applications, including:
- gas sorption
- measurement of gas density
- corrosion and degradation studies
- vapour sorption
- separation
- catalyst characterisation
- supercritical extraction
- thermo gravimetric analysis
There are countless applications possible and many leading research groups using the system for cutting edge work - please look at the Rubotherm section of this blog for further information.
Due to the unique design of the Rubotherm system we can very accurately measure small mass changes of sample while dosing gases or vapours across in all conditions - from ultra high vacuum to 2000bar; from 4K up to 1600degC; and in corrosive environments. In addition due to the expertise and knowledge built up at Rubotherm over the last 20+ years the accuracy and versatility of the system can be fine tuned to suit the exact research requirements - including unique high pressure thermodynamics expertise not available elsewhere.
Merrow Scientific are the exclusive partner in the UK and Ireland for Rubotherm and to celebrate 20 years of Rubotherm leading the way for high pressure sorption we have a number of special deals available - please contact us for further information.
Posted by Ben Proudlove on Tue, Jun 29, 2010 @ 10:49 AM
New research carried out by the Kitagawa group has resulted in the development of a new porous coordination polymer that is essentially triggered (in terms of its adsorption behaviour) as temperature increases - opposite to the behaviour of most porous materials. Further work has shown that oxygen is adsorbed more as temperature increases, whereas little adsorption of argon takes place so potentially this material could be used for separation of argon and oxygen (normally difficult due to similarities of these molecules).
Further details on this work can be seen here where they used BEL volumetric and Rubotherm gravimetric systems in combination with other techniques for characterising the material.
Posted by Ben Proudlove on Mon, Mar 22, 2010 @ 12:11 PM
Professor Critoph's group at Warwick University have just taken delivery of their new state of the art Rubotherm system for measuring binary vapour sorption.
Situated in their recently refurbished laboratory with their existing Rubotherm system this Magnetic Suspension Balance gravimetric system and dosing system is specifically designed to allow two vapours to be created and mixed (to known amounts) before dosing over a sample to measure selective sorption. The system can also be used for single vapour or gas dosing and also mixtures of gases where temperature control is important when they are pressurised (e.g. CO2 for carbon capture work)
Posted by Ben Proudlove on Mon, Mar 08, 2010 @ 10:10 AM
Available in the UK and Ireland from Merrow Scientific (elsewhere in the world from Rubotherm) the Isosorp HyGrA range is an economically priced range allowing researchers with limited budgets the opportunity to utilise the Rubotherm patented technology to carry out gravimetric studies while subjecting samples to a wide range of conditions.
No longer are researchers limited to doing research to 20bar - simply because that's all the instrument can go to; the Isosorp HyGrA system allows sample mass change to be measured from Ultra High Vacuum to 200bar and from 77K to 770K (a wide range of other conditions including much higher pressures can be analysed using other systems from the Rubotherm range)
Systems are available for sorption research using gases, vapours and supercritical fluids so opening a wide range of applications such as hydrogen, CO2, methane storage; vapour adsorption and supercritical extraction. Further information can be seen on the economical gravimetric sorption analysis page
Posted by Ben Proudlove on Mon, Feb 08, 2010 @ 11:03 AM
Hopefully you'll have already seen on our website on pages such as this, this and this what a versatile system the Rubotherm Gravimetric Analyser is.
Because of the patented magnetic suspension coupling between the high precision balance and the sample this means that the sample is contained in a separate chamber or reactor to the balance. So what does that really mean? Well it means that you can subject your sample to any conditions that you wish to without worrying about your balance. So we can look at high pressure sorption of hydrogen into MOFs, CO2 into Zeolites or whatever you want to really....So your research isn't limited by your instrumentation you don't have to stop at 20bar if you don't want to...
So not just gas or vapour sorption but we can look at real time changes in a sample (by measuring extremely small mass changes) while subjecting it to conditions that perhaps simulate the actual process or environment the sample/product will be utilised in. So for example we can study biomass or coal gasification at various pressures and temperatures to see how the sample degrades (with a special gas sampling tube located near the sample to monitor what is given off at the various stages) - e.g. at 1100degC and 40bar.
So that takes me on to the title of this article. Polymers are used in many downhole applications and they need to withstand conditions in such an environment without degrading. So by placing a sample in the Rubotherm system and subjecting it to, say, 1000bar and 200degC while dosing sour gas across it we can accurately measure its degradation. Vital information for component development and the Rubotherm system is a great alternative to using many samples in pressure vessels.
And this approach can be applied to many other applications such as corrosion testing of metals or carbon build up on catalysts during steam reforming processes.
Contact us with your application requirements.
Posted by Ben Proudlove on Tue, Dec 01, 2009 @ 12:17 PM
Further to their interview with Professor Kitagawa's group Science Watch have followed this up with an interesting Q&A session with Professor Kimoon Kim discussing the work at POSTECH in Korea looking at rigid and flexible MOFs for such applications as hydrogen or CO2 storage.
Metal Organic Frameworks (also known as Porous Coordination Polymers) can be designed and synthesised to meet many application demands and current research is pushing the boundaries in terms of being able to meet the hydrogen storage capacity requirements set by the US guidelines as well as being useful for the capture of CO2...
Posted by Ben Proudlove on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 @ 06:59 AM
Really interesting interview with Professor Omar Yaghi on the Yaghi Laboratory Website.
Professor Yaghi is one of the leaders in the field of Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) and here he discusses their use for CO2 capture. The specific MOF he mentions 1g of the material has a surface area the size of 60-70 tennis courts! And this porous framework can be "designed" to selectively allow sorption of CO2 rather than other gases.
You may also be interested in having a look at our MOF research instrumentation page.
Posted by Ben Proudlove on Thu, Nov 12, 2009 @ 11:20 AM
Researchers at Columbia University in New York have found that adding CO2 in place of 30% of the steam used for biomass gasification improves the efficiency of the process and also potentially means a a beneficial use for waste CO2 in the environment. Full details on the research can be seen on this Global Impact page.
So broadly speaking that means more efficient production of a new fuel source while at the same time make use of an unwanted material in the environment. A win/win situation????
For details of how our systems can be used for research into biomass gasification, and conversion of syngas to synthetic fuels please have a look at our biomass gasification page.
Posted by Ben Proudlove on Tue, Nov 03, 2009 @ 08:10 AM
Interesting website detailing the work being carried out by Professor Critoph and his team at the Warwick Energy Research at Warwick University. Using a range of equipment including the Rubotherm gravimetric sorption analysers they are looking at the research and development of adsorption cycle heat pumps, refrigerators and air conditioners.
One such system they are working on is using the waste heat from car engine exhausts to drive a modular thermal wave adsorption air conditioner. You'll find a great presentation on their site of the work they're currently researching.
Typically it's estimated current air conditioning units can lower the car's fuel consumption by over 10mpg, so having potentially quite an effect on the environment if every car owner drives around with their air conditioning on. I would assume that this new research from Warwick would potentially mean that in the future car drivers can keep cool in hot weather without any negative affects on their fuel economy, thus having huge potential benefits for the climate.
Posted by Ben Proudlove on Mon, Sep 07, 2009 @ 02:11 PM
Since we represent a number of overseas instrumentation manufacturers in the UK we have a rather unique portfolio of catalyst characteristion systems available to our customers.
So these include reactors (stirred, fixed bed and multi-reactor systems), volumetric sorption analysers (surface area, porosity, chemisorption) and gravimetric sorption instruments (gas sorption, vapour sorption, TGA etc).
Please have a look at the options listed on http://www.merrowscientific.com/catalyst and see what you think. I’m sure if you’re involved in catalysts in any way that there will be something of interest. So have a look and if you have any questions or need anything at all let us know….