Fundamental Study on Development of a Continuous Flow Microwave-Assisted Chemical Reactor(Thermal Engineering)

Chemical reaction processes using microwaves have attracted attention and a lot of effects caused by microwaves in organic synthesis have been reported. However, most chemical reactors using microwaves that have already been developed are batch-type reactors, and controlling the reaction temperature precisely in batch-type reactors is difficult. We have developed a continuous flow microwave-assisted chemical reactor using electromagnetic simulation, and examined its energy absorption efficiency. It was found that the results of energy absorption efficiency obtained by the simulation corresponded with the measurements within ±9% in water-heating tests and the efficiency by water was 90%. Moreover, we analyzed the temperature rise curve by using an electromagnetic simulation and considered the temperature dependence of dielectric properties. It was found that the simulation results corresponded with the measurements within 3℃ in water-heating tests and within 4℃ in DMF (N, N-dimtheylformamide) heating tests.