Basic Examination of a Pilot Plant for Continuous Flow Microwave-Assisted Chemical Reaction Combined with Microreactors

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A pilot plant for continuous flow microwave-assisted chemical reaction combined with microreactors was developed and water heating tests were conducted for evaluation of the developed plant. We first designed a continuous-flow microwave-assisted chemical reactor in which a reaction solution absorbs microwave energy efficiently and can be used in chemical processes using microreactors. We designed the reactor using electromagnetic simulation and found that the energy absorption rate by the water was more than 80% by conducting water heating tests. Next, we developed a microwave apparatus having a single microwave generator that can heat reaction solutions in four reaction fields simultaneously in order to increase throughput. We also designed a four-branch waveguide using electromagnetic simulation, and found that the transmission efficiency at 99%. Finally, we developed the pilot plant using the developed microwave apparatus and conducted water heating tests. The temperatures in the respective reaction fields were controlled within ±1.1 K at 353.2 K. Moreover, the energy absorption rates by the water were about 90% in the respective reaction fields, whereas the energy absorption rate was about 40% when 100 cm3 of water was heated by a commercially available multimode microwave chemical reactor.