Each March, Equilibar conducts an annual survey of scholarly articles to learn more about how our technology is used to enable scientific progress. We’re happy to report that since March of 2024, approximately 120 scientific articles have cited our devices. These papers describe experimental work being done not only at US universities, but also at government, private and corporate research institutions around the world.
Just as in 2024, a significant portion of the research relates to mitigating climate change and other sustainability efforts. Our devices have also been used in research conducted for aerospace, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, clean water, and other projects to make the world a better place.
An interesting side note is that our annual survey has a fun tie-in with the NCAA college basketball tournament. As a North Carolina-based business, Equilibar has many dedicated college basketball fans on our team. Years ago, we became curious about how many universities in the tournament were our customers. We began keeping track of these schools and taking a closer look at their work, and the survey evolved from that. Today we use the tournament as a fun reminder to appreciate how our jobs contribute to a greater good.
The following summaries provide a glimpse of just a few of the papers we discovered in our latest survey. They also offer multiple reasons to value science and the people who have dedicated years of their lives to become scientists. We hope you enjoy reading them, and if you want more examples, be sure to search for Equilibar in Google Scholar and other databases.
Finally, we would like to wish the best of luck to the men’s and women’s basketball teams from universities where we have customers. Once again, we have connections to roughly half the teams in the tournament! Follow our socials to keep up with their progress and feel free to contact one of our experienced application engineers about your fluid control challenge.
HYDROGEN ENERGY: Storing Hydrogen Gas Underground
Hydrogen (H2) is a favorite green energy fuel because it releases no carbon emissions during combustion. Demand for H2 is predicted to rise dramatically in coming years, which will lead to a corresponding need for methods to store this unique gas. This paper out of Norway explains that underground storage is one way to address the need, but much more investigation needs to be done:
AEROSPACE: Waste Treatment in Space Using Supercritical Water Oxidation with Hydrothermal Flames
Because Equilibar valves are capable of handling extremely wide flow rate ranges, they have proven to be popular for research applications involving supercritical water oxidation (SCWO). This particular paper reports on French research into using SCWO with hydrothermal flames as a means of treating organic waste during space missions:
BIOFUELS & CARBON SEQUESTRATION: Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Manure
With current agricultural practices, much of the manure applied to farmers’ fields runs off, causing waste and pollution. This paper focuses on how to instead retrieve valuable substances from manure and also provide a means of carbon sequestration. It explains how hydrothermal liquefaction of manure at high temperatures and pressures could produce sustainable biofuels. In addition, it compares two methods—batch and continuous flow—for both nutrient recovery and carbon sequestration purposes.
PHARMACEUTICAL MANUFACTURING: Exploring a Flow Process for Development of a Possible Oncology Drug
Continuous Manufacturing (also referred to as Flow Chemistry or Continuous Process) is quickly becoming a preferred method within the biopharmaceutical industry. In these scenarios, ingredients are moved continuously within a site of integrated components, saving time and offering flexibility compared to big batch methods. This paper examines an effort to convert a batch process into a continuous process for making a product that is an intermediary for a possible future oncology treatment.
FEEDING THE WORLD: Investigating a Better Way to Produce Nitrogen
Fertilizers are a necessary component of modern agriculture and they help ensure food security around the world. At the same time, the production of nitrogen-based fertilizers has always been a challenge. The purpose of this research is to find a catalyst that can improve the process of producing nitrogen and also reduce the industrial footprint of nitrogen producing facilities. Equilibar devices have been involved in important catalysis research since our beginning and we’re glad to continue that tradition.
Ostwald Process Intensification by Catalytic Oxidation of Nitric Oxide | ACS Omega
SPEEDING UP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY: Autonomous Lab Can Find Solutions in Days, Not Years
While researchers typically spend years in the lab to determine how to make optimal materials for electronics, an automated system called SmartDope can cut that time to days or even hours. Called a self-driving lab, the SmartDope takes precursor chemicals and, considering fluid delivery, pressure control and other factors, determines how to synthesize materials much more quickly than was previously possible. The scientific study is here: Smart Dope: A Self‐Driving Fluidic Lab for Accelerated Development of Doped Perovskite Quantum Dots – Bateni – 2024 – Advanced Energy Materials – Wiley Online Library
And additional news coverage is here: Autonomous Lab Discovers Best-in-Class Quantum Dot in Hours; It Would Have Taken Humans Years | NC State News
(This reprint actually appeared just before last year’s tournament, but we think it deserves a moment in the spotlight because it is unique and because the research was conducted at NC State, which is not only close to home but is also the alma mater of half our engineering team.)
Contact Equilibar