Patent ID: 6847898

Claim:
A method for automatically controlling the output of a continuous process with a liquid carrier that contains one or more gases, the method comprising the steps of: a.) setting a quantitative target for volume-% of one or more gases in the liquid carrier; b.) calculating the volume percentage of said gas in said liquid sample by using equation (28) x ⁢ % = V s V s + V ( 28 ) wherein V is the volume of the gas-free liquid calculated by equation (23) V = 1 ρ 1 - [ P 2 P 2 - P 1 ⁢ ( 1 ρ 1 - 1 ρ 2 ) - RT P 2 - P 1 ⁢ g ⁡ ( Δ ⁢ ⁢ P Q a ) ] ( 23 ) in which P 1 and P 2 are two different ambient pressures and ΔP=P 2 −P 1 , ρ 1 and ρ 2 are apparent densities of the liquid sample measured at P 1 and P 2 , respectively, R is the constant of the Ideal Gas Law, T is the liquid temperature, Q is the flow rate, and g(ΔP/Q a ) is a function through which the gas solubility coefficients at a dynamic state are determined; and V S is determined by equation (27) V s = T s T ⁢ P 1 ⁢ P 2 P s ⁡ ( P 2 - P 1 ) ⁢ ( 1 ρ 1 - 1 ρ 2 ) - RT s P s ⁢ ( P 1 P 2 - P 1 ⁢ g ⁡ ( Δ ⁢ ⁢ P Q a ) - g ⁡ ( P 1 - P s Q a ) ) . ( 27 ) in which P s and T s are standard pressure (1 atm) and temperature (0° C.), P 1 , P 2 , P s , ΔP, ρ 1 , ρ 2 , R, Q, and T are the same as defined in this claim, and g ⁡ ( P 1 - P s Q a ) is a function for determining the amount of gas being dissolved between P 1 and P s ; c.) comparing the calculated volume-% gas to the target volume-% gas; and, d.) if the calculated volume-% gas in the liquid carrier is greater or less than the target volume-% gas, lowering or raising the amount of gas in the liquid carrier.