Microwave applicators for chemical reactions

Abstract

Many chemical syntheses of great industrial interest, now occurring in bulky batch reactors, are potential candidates for the use of continuous reactors. A difficult task to perform by conventional continuous methods, for equilibrium reactions. Microwave applications to chemical reactions open new possibilities in reactor design. Experiments were performed to confirm the basic advantages of microwave application to chemical reactions and a new kind of continuous reactor was developed, consisting basically of a continuous microwave applicator coupled to a mechanical device, which permits the extraction of volatile products, without stopping the continuous flow through the reactor.