Shell has been granted a patent for a method and apparatus for quantitatively analyzing a gaseous process stream, specifically in the production of ethylene carbonate and/or ethylene glycol. The invention involves calibrating a detector in an analytical apparatus by providing a standard gas with known concentrations of the components to be analyzed, and using a gas blending system to obtain diluted standard gas samples with different concentrations. The detector outputs for these samples are combined to generate a calibration curve. The gas blending system includes flow restrictor devices, a diluent gas flow selector, and mixing zones to produce different mixing ratios of standard gas and diluent gas. GlobalData’s report on Shell gives a 360-degree view of the company including its patenting strategy. Buy the report here.
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According to GlobalData’s company profile on Shell, was a key innovation area identified from patents. Shell's grant share as of September 2023 was 68%. Grant share is based on the ratio of number of grants to total number of patents.
Calibrating a detector in an analytical apparatus for gaseous streams
A recently granted patent (Publication Number: US11774420B2) describes a method for calibrating a detector in an analytical apparatus used for quantitatively analyzing components in a gaseous stream. The method involves several steps, including providing a standard gas containing the components to be analyzed in a fixed concentration, feeding the standard gas and an inert diluent gas to a gas blending system to obtain a diluted standard gas sample with a known concentration, and recording the detector output for the sample. This process is repeated multiple times to obtain a series of diluted standard gas samples with different concentrations and corresponding detector outputs. The corresponding detector outputs are then combined to generate a calibration curve for the detector.
The gas blending system used in this method includes a first mass flow controller or a forward pressure controller for separately controlling the flow rate or pressure of the standard gas supplied to two or more different flow restrictor devices arranged in parallel. These flow restrictor devices produce different controlled volumetric flow rates of the standard gas. The system also includes a second mass flow controller for controlling the flow rate of a diluent gas supplied to a multi-port flow selector device. This device has at least two selector outlets for removing the diluent gas at a controlled volumetric flow rate. The system further includes two or more mixing zones, each located downstream of a respective flow restrictor device and the multi-port flow selector device. These mixing zones receive standard gas from the restrictor outlet of the flow restrictor device and diluent gas from one of the selector outlets of the multi-port flow selector device, and discharge a diluted standard gas sample.
Additionally, the patent claims that the analytical apparatus may include a first detector with a non-linear response to analyte concentration and a second detector with a linear response to analyte concentration. The analyte concentrations detected by the first detector are lower than those detected by the second detector. The linear response of the second detector is used to validate the accuracy of the calibration of the first detector.
Overall, this patent presents a method for calibrating a detector in an analytical apparatus for analyzing components in a gaseous stream. The method involves using a gas blending system with flow restrictor devices, a multi-port flow selector device, and mixing zones to obtain a series of diluted standard gas samples with different concentrations. The patent also suggests the use of multiple detectors with different response characteristics to validate the calibration.
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GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.
