Wednesday, September 24, 2008
2008 R&D 100 Winner
Many important devices, such as automotive catalysts, fuel reformers, and fuel cells, have small reaction spaces that cannot be probed by conventional analytical instruments. Facilitating these measurements is the SpaciMS: Spatially Resolved Capillary Inlet Mass Spectrometer, developed by Cummins, Inc., Columbus, Ind., jointly with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tenn., Queen’s Univ. Belfast, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, UK, Hiden Analytical, Warrington, UK, and Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, Tenn. SpaciMS is an instrument for minimally invasive sampling of transient species distributions inside operating confined-space reactors. Its capillary system measures variations in species concentration from point to point within small operating reactors. Conventional analytical instruments only measure the composition of reactor exhaust and thus do not capture the spatially and temporally rich intra-reactor chemistry resolved by SpaciMS. By resolving this detail, SpaciMS provides a huge increase in the ability to understand reactor and catalyst chemistry which allows for improved design of catalyst formulations, catalyst distributions, system integration, control strategies, and monitoring protocols for device health as well as increasing efficiency and performance.
Technology
Mass spectrometer
Developers
Cummins, Inc.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Queen’s Univ.
Hiden Analytical
Y-12 National Security Complex
