Apologies for this pitch as it's not what this mailing list is for, but
unusual measures are required due to serious time issues.
 
Some of you may be aware that we have been developing a gas-pressure
cell to ASME pressure code for a lab diffractometer rated to 300bar and
300oC for CO2 sequestration studies (so it involves corrosive
conditions, brine solution, flammable gases, supercritical fluids,
flooded samples, etc).  Other P/T combinations and applications
(H-storage, catalysis, hydrothermal synthesis, etc) should be possible
to certify as long as the maximum design stresses are not exceeded.  Our
current CO2 cell has a max of 125bar and 200oC and is much less
flexible. The current mounting design is for a D8 but it should be OK on
any theta-theta system with a suitable mounting plate.
 
If this interests you read on - if not please press the delete key
 
A couple of things have come up this morning to make my life
significantly more difficult if it wasn't bad enough already....
To date the design process has been all internal to NRC but now things
have got to an advanced stage where we need external expertise to assist
certification before construction, and this requires 'real' money.  My
institute is changing its project portfolio and drastically reducing the
number of projects.  I may be able to put together a funded project
proposal around CO2 sequestration to keep things going, but if not, the
development of the pressure stage dies here and I will be forced to move
onto something else.  
In the absence of a real research project the only thing that may keep
it going is the possibility of commercializing it, as none of the
current lab diffractometer non-ambient stages comes even close in terms
of gas pressure.  In that event, to put this to our business office I
would need some idea of the potential market for such a stage,
particularly numbers of people who have the money available and
motivation to buy a stage if it was on the market (i.e. without
requiring approval of funding proposals, etc).  After talking to Anton
Paar I think it's safe to say that it's unlikely that a stage with
similar capabilities will come to market from the existing companies due
to regulatory difficulties and high development costs. We don't have an
actual price for the stage at the moment, as the design is not finalized
and consequently we haven't got a quote from the manufacturer, but as a
very rough guess (so don't quote me on this) I wouldn't expect much
change from $60k just for the stage itself without ancilliary bits and
pieces.  I may be pleasantly surprised by the final cost but maybe not
as some of the materials are rather exotic.
 
Once again, apologies for what I'd normally regard as a rather
inappropriate use of the mailing list, but it's the fastest way I know
of to get some feedback.
 
I'll be leaving for the EPDIC meeting in Warsaw tomorrow afternoon and
will be back in Ottawa next Wednesday (24th).  I may have access to
email if anyone has any serious queries.  
 
Best regards
 
Pam  
 
16 September 2008
 
Dr Pamela Whitfield CChem MRSC
Energy Materials
ICPET
Building M12
National Research Council
1200 Montreal Road
Ottawa ON  K1A 0R6
Tel: (613) 998 8462  Fax: (613) 991 2384
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 

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