Multi-mode piston: a chemical engineering building block

A multi-purpose fluid handling MMP apparatus, comprising a system of multi-mode pistons, (MMPs), each MMP designed as a building block for a complex industrial chemical processes involving fluids, built as a fluid container formed as a capsule which contains a quantum of one or more fluid ingredients and which is constructed with a fluid-entrance plate of an arbitrary shape, and a fluid-exit plate of the same arbitrary shape,

• where fluid enters into the capsule through the entrance-plate and leaves the capsule through the exit plate;
• where the plates are placed at a perpendicular distance d one from the other, and where an envelope of the capsule separates the volume between the plates from the outside;
• the capsule containing a piston moving inside the capsule between the entrance plate and the exit plate, such that the envelope fits smugly over the moving piston, which has a same shape as the plates,
• the piston configured for lateral movement from plate to plate;
• the piston optionally being constructed as an external ring enveloping an internal circular part of the piston, in the shape of a disc, forming a ‘disc unit’ wherein the disc is independently rotating around the axis of the piston's lateral movement;
• the disc and the two plates being constructed with holes forming fluid passageways through their surface, where each hole is of an arbitrary size and placed in an arbitrary location, and each hole is configured to be independently switched between a state of fully open, states of partially open, and a state of closed;
• and
• wherein at any moment in time the piston may be at a certain lateral position, a certain rotational state, and each of its holes is in a certain state in the open/closed range;
• each piston being constructed such that when the holes in the plates are closed, and the holes in the piston are open then when the piston moves between the plates the fluid contained within the capsule is moving through holes of the piston;
• and such that as the fluid that flows through the opened holes of the piston is undergoing a specified process it gains momentum in the direction opposite the motion of the piston, and it interacts with the inner surface of the hole through which it flows;
• the apparatus also comprising an MMP controller such that the pistons are controlled by an MMP controller (MMPC) that, such that for each piston the controller:
• moves the piston to a lateral position L(t) at time point, t, across the distance d between the plates,
• rotates the piston to a rotational position, R(t), and
• wherein the controller determines the open/closed status of each of its h holes:
• O1(t), O2(t), . . . On(Q), on the piston and the plates, where the piston moves throughout a range of time from a preset Tstart to a preset Tfinish,
• T
• start
• <
• ¯
• t
• <
• ¯
• T
• finish
• :
• the width of the MMP, w, being arbitrary, wherein optionally the inner walls of the holes are lined up with fluid-impact media, (FIM), that changes certain attributes of the passing fluid and the holes are either empty or stuffed with a fluid-impact porous (FIP) media;
• the MMP being operable for performing (i) catalysis of a chemical reaction within the fluid, (ii) reaction between the fluid and the fluid-impact media, and (iii) separation between ingredients within the fluid;
• the MMP pistons being combined so that fluid emerging from one MMP piston flows as input to the next MMP piston, or to a plurality of MMP pistons, which further feed fluid to receiving MMP pistons, iteratively, to carry out an industrial chemical fluid handling process to produce one or more final products from raw materials, the MMP pistons being centrally controlled to optimize the industrial chemical process as a whole.