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A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical Processes and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2019) | Viewed by 41532

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Prof. Dr. Kama Huang

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Guest Editor

College of Electronics and Information Engineering, Sichuan University, Wangjiang Road 29, Chengdu, China
Interests: fundamental microwave theory; novel microwave applications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Junwu Tao

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Guest Editor

LAPLACE Laboratory, Toulouse INP-ENSEEIHT, University of Toulouse, 31071 Toulouse, France
Interests: microwave device design; microwave power application; computational electromagnetic and multi-physics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Huacheng Zhu

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Guest Editor

College of Electronics and Information Engineering, Sichuan University, Wangjiang Road 29, Chengdu, China
Interests: microwave chemistry; electromagnetics microwave engineering

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Microwaves are electromagnetic waves with frequencies ranging from 0.3 to 300 GHz, that could heat targets via dielectric loss other than heat convection as in the conventional heating process, enabling fast heating and selective heating, thus providing the potential to save time and energy greatly. With the demand for green chemistry in both academia and industry, microwave heating is emerging as a promising heat source for rapid chemical reactions and materials synthesis in minutes, instead of hours or even days usually required by conventional heating method.

Application of microwave in various areas of chemical engineering has been investigated since 1980s, and there have been cases of successful microwave industrial applications. However, microwave heating suffers from hot spots and thermal run away, and the interaction between microwave and materials is unclear, hindering its safe and efficient applications. Hence, some fundamental theories regarding microwave heating are urgently to be figured out to expedite the practical application of microwave in chemical engineering industries. Besides, novel application of microwave in chemical engineering is also yet to be explored.

This Special Issue on “Microwave Applications in Chemical Engineering” aims at showing the most recent advances in dielectric properties measurement, microwave material interaction, industrial applications of microwave energy, modelling of microwave power applications, microwave plasma applications, microwave chemistry, microwave assisted biomass and waste processing, medical and biological applications of microwave, microwave processing design and optimization, and microwave assisted preparation of new materials.

Prof. Dr. Kama Huang
Prof. Dr. Junwu Tao
Dr. Huacheng Zhu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

dielectric properties measurement
microwave processing of materials
microwave driven plasma
microwave processing of chemical reactions
waste processing
device design and optimization

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research

3 pages, 152 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Special Issue on “Microwave Applications in Chemical Engineering”

by Huacheng Zhu, Kama Huang and Junwu Tao

Processes 2020, 8(4), 491; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8040491 - 23 Apr 2020

Viewed by 2262

Abstract

Microwave heating has been widely used in the chemical industry because of its advantages, such as fast heating rate, selective and controllable heating, increasing reaction rate and reducing by-products in chemical reactions. The Special Issue contains research on microwave applications in chemical engineering. [...] Read more.

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Applications in Chemical Engineering)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

12 pages, 3918 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Recycling of Carbon Fibers from CFRP Waste by Microwave Thermolysis

by Jianying Deng, Lei Xu, Libo Zhang, Jinhui Peng, Shenghui Guo, Jianhua Liu and Sivasankar Koppala

Processes 2019, 7(4), 207; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7040207 - 11 Apr 2019

Cited by 61 | Viewed by 9195

Abstract

With the growth of the use of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) in various fields, the recovery of carbon fibers from CFRP waste is becoming a significant research direction. In the present work, degrading epoxy resin and recycling carbon fibers from CFRP waste by microwave thermolysis and traditional thermolysis were studied. The carbon fibers were successfully recovered by thermolysis under an oxygen atmosphere in this study. The properties of the recovered carbon fibers were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. The result shows that using microwave thermolysis to recover carbon fibers from CFRP waste is an attractive prospect. Compared to the traditional method, the reaction time was reduced by 56.67%, and the recovery ratio was increased by 15%. Microwave thermolysis is faster, more efficient, requires less energy, and obtains cleaner recovered carbon fibers than those recovered using traditional thermolysis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Applications in Chemical Engineering)

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10 pages, 1638 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Drying of Drill Cuttings: Emphasis on Energy Consumption and Thermal Analysis

by Esra Tınmaz Köse

Processes 2019, 7(3), 145; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7030145 - 7 Mar 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5119

Abstract

Drill cuttings, contaminated with drilling fluids, are characterized by their high moisture content, which can cause problems for collection, storage, and transportation. Additionally, the practice of disposing waste with high moisture content into sanitary landfills is undesirable and mostly forbidden. For that reason, drying of waste with high moisture content, such as drill cuttings, is an essential operation. In this work, microwave and conveyor belt drying processes for drying drill cuttings containing water-based drilling fluids were examined in a lab-scale study. The results of the study indicated that the microwave dryer has been shown to be advantageous in terms of time and energy consumption for drying of thin film layers, while the conveyor drying system was more appropriate for bulk drying. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Applications in Chemical Engineering)

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14 pages, 9003 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Development of a Microwave Irradiation Probe for a Cylindrical Applicator

by Tomohiko Mitani, Ryo Nakajima, Naoki Shinohara, Yoshihiro Nozaki, Tsukasa Chikata and Takashi Watanabe

Processes 2019, 7(3), 143; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7030143 - 7 Mar 2019

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 5404

Abstract

A microwave irradiation probe was newly developed for downsizing microwave applicators and the overall microwave heating apparatus. The key component of the proposed probe is a tapered section composed of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and alumina. Insertion of the tapered section between the input port and the applicator vessel realizes impedance matching to the microwave power source and reduces the reflected power from the applicator. The proposed microwave probe for a cylindrical applicator was designed using 3D electromagnetic simulations. The permittivity data of two liquid samples—ultrapure water and 2 M NaOH solution—were measured and taken into simulations. The conductivity of the NaOH solution was estimated from the measurement results. The measured reflection ratio of the fabricated applicator was in good accordance with the simulated one. The frequency ranges in which the measured reflection ratio was less than 10% were from 1.45 GHz to 2.7 GHz when using water and from 1.6 GHz to 2.7 GHz when using the NaOH solution as the sample. The heating rate of the applicator was roughly estimated as 63 to 69 K for a 5 min interval during the 2.45 GHz microwave irradiation at the input power of 100 W. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Applications in Chemical Engineering)

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18 pages, 1978 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Temperature and Microwave Power Levels on Microwave Drying Kinetics of Zhaotong Lignite

by Pengfei Zhao, Chenhui Liu, Wenwen Qu, Zhixiu He, Jiyun Gao, Lijuan Jia, Siping Ji and Roger Ruan

Processes 2019, 7(2), 74; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7020074 - 2 Feb 2019

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 5310

Abstract

Microwave drying is a promising and effective way to drying and upgrading lignite. The influence of temperature (100–140 °C) and microwave power levels (500–800 W) on thin-layer drying characteristics of Zhaotong lignite under microwave irradiation were investigated. Fourteen thin-layer drying models were used to analyze the microwave drying process while six thin-layer drying models were used to analyze the hot-air drying process. The microwave drying processes at all temperature (100–140 °C) or low microwave power levels (500–700 W) exhibited four periods: a warm-up period, a short constant period, the first and second falling rate period, while one falling rate period was found during hot-air drying. The effective diffusion coefficient of lignite were calculated and it increases with increasing temperature and microwave power levels. During microwave drying, the two-term exponential model is the most suitable model for all applied conditions, while the Modified Page model is the most suitable model to describe the hot-air drying experiments. The apparent activation energy were determined from Arrhenius equation and the values for the first and second falling rate period are 3.349 and 20.808 kJ·mol⁻¹ at different temperatures, while they are 13.455 and 19.580 W·g⁻¹ at different microwave power levels. This implies the apparent activation energy is higher during the second falling rate period, which suggest that the dewatering of absorbed water is more difficult than capillary water. The value of apparent activation energy in hot-air drying is between the first and second falling rate period of microwave drying. Results indicate that microwave drying is more suitable to dewatering free water and capillary water of lignite. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Applications in Chemical Engineering)

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15 pages, 2825 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Polyphenols from Red Vine Leaves Using Alternative Processing Techniques

by Simone Bachtler and Hans-Jörg Bart

Processes 2018, 6(12), 262; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr6120262 - 12 Dec 2018

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4086

Abstract

The extraction kinetics of polyphenols, which are leached from red vine leaves, are studied and evaluated using a laboratory robot and nonconventional processing techniques such as ultrasonic (US)-, microwave (MW)-, and pulsed electric field (PEF)-assisted extraction processes. The robotic high-throughput screening reveals optimal extraction conditions at a pH value of 2.5, a temperature of 56 °C, and a solvent mixture of methanol:water:HCl of 50:49:1 v/v/v. Nonconventional processing techniques, such as MW- and US-assisted extraction, have the fastest kinetics and produce the highest polyphenol yield. The non-conventional techniques yield is 2.29 g/L (MW) resp. 2.47 g/L (US) for particles that range in size from 450 to 2000 µm and 2.20 g/L (MW) resp. 2.05 g/L (US) for particles that range from 2000 to 4000 µm. PEF has the lowest yield of polyphenols with 0.94 g/L (450–2000 µm), resp. 0.64 g/L (2000–4000 µm) in comparison to 1.82 g/L (2000 to 4000 µm) in a standard stirred vessel (50 °C). When undried red vine leaves (2000 to 4000 µm) are used the total phenol content is 1.44 g/L with PEF. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Applications in Chemical Engineering)

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11 pages, 1513 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multiresponse Optimization of Ultrasonic-Assisted Extraction for Aurantii Fructus to Obtain High Yield of Antioxidant Flavonoids Using a Response Surface Methodology

by Yingjie He, Yun Chen, Yiting Shi, Kanghong Zhao, Haiyan Tan, Jianguo Zeng, Qi Tang and Hongqi Xie

Processes 2018, 6(12), 258; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr6120258 - 10 Dec 2018

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3515

Abstract

Aurantii fructus (zhiqiao, ZQ) is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and raw material of TCM healthcare food (TCM-HF), mainly focused on the regulation of gastrointestinal disorders and the abundant application of antioxidants. Pharmacological investigations of ZQ flavonoids have identified them as the main bioactive components in recent years, but little has been reported on the extraction processes of antioxidant flavonoids (AFs). The aim of this study was to establish an efficient ultrasonic-assisted extraction (UAE) method for the extraction of AFs from ZQ using a response surface methodology (RSM), analyze the composition of AFs, and develop a qualitative evaluation method for ZQ. Flavonoid yield and antioxidant ability were selected as the responses to optimize the extraction of AFs, and the multiple effects of independent variables were investigated. The optimized conditions for the extraction of AFs based on the Box-Behnken design (BBD) were as follows: ethanol concentration, 58%; extraction temperature, 70 °C; and extraction time, 17 min. The flavonoid yield and antioxidant activity reached 241.70 mg/g and 59.42%, respectively, which matched the predicted values. Furthermore, optimized UAE processes were first established for the efficient and fast extraction of AFs. Flavanones and polymethoxyflavonoids (PMFs) were identified as potential AFs using time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Meanwhile, the quality of ZQ was evaluated using the criteria importance through intercriteria correlation (CRITIC) method for the first time, and Yuanjiang ZQ was considered as an excellent raw material of TCM-HF. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Applications in Chemical Engineering)

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13 pages, 4682 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Impact of Filled Materials on the Heating Uniformity and Safety of Microwave Heating Solid Stack Materials

by Jing Wang, Tao Hong, Tian Xie, Fan Yang, Yusong Hu and Huacheng Zhu

Processes 2018, 6(11), 220; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr6110220 - 7 Nov 2018

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3936

Abstract

Microwave heating of solid stack materials is common but bothered by problems of uneven heating and electric discharge phenomena. In this paper, a method introducing fluid materials with different relative permittivity is proposed to improve the heating uniformity and safety of solid stack materials. Simulations have been computed based on the finite element method (FEM) and validated by experiments. Simulation results show that the introducing of fluid materials with proper relative permittivity does improve the heating uniformity and safety. Fluid materials with the larger real part of relative permittivity could obviously lower the maximum modulus value of the electric field for about 23 times, and will lower the coefficient of variation (COV) in general, although in small ranges that it has fluctuated. Fluid materials with the larger imaginary part of relative permittivity, in a range from 0 to 0.3, can make a more efficient heating and it could lower the maximum modulus value of the electric field by 34 to 55% on the whole studied range. However, the larger imaginary part of relative permittivity will cause worse heating uniformity as the COV rises by 246.9% in the same process. The computed results are discussed and methods to reach uniform and safe heating through introducing fluid materials with proper relative permittivity are proposed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Applications in Chemical Engineering)

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12 pages, 4401 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimization of Microwave-Assisted Extraction of Essential Oil from Vietnamese Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) Using Response Surface Methodology

by Thien Hien Tran, Huynh Huu Hao Nguyen, Duy Chinh Nguyen, Thanh Quang Nguyen, Huynh Tan, Le Thi Hong Nhan, Dai Hai Nguyen, Lam Dai Tran, Sy Trung Do and Trinh Duy Nguyen

Processes 2018, 6(11), 206; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr6110206 - 25 Oct 2018

Cited by 85 | Viewed by 11943

Abstract

Basil plant is a common source for linalool and estragole. However, it has been showed that the chemical composition of basil varies considerably depending on many factors including method of extraction, cultivar of the plant or geographical location. In this study, we attempted to extract essential oil from Vietnamese basil and analyze the chemical composition of the obtained oil using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The extraction method of choice was microwave-assisted hydro-distillation (MAHD) and the process was optimized with Response Surface Methodology (RSM) with regard to four experimental parameters including raw material size, raw material to water ratio, extraction time and microwave power. The results showed that ground basil leaves, when extracted with optimal conditions of water-to-material ratio of 3.2:1, extraction time of 97 (min) and microwave power of 430 (W), gave the actual essential oil yield of 0.6%. Regarding ANOVA results of the quadratic model, high determination coefficient (R² = 0.9077), significant F-value of 10.92 and the p-value of less than 0.05 indicate that this model is significant between experimental and predicted variables, and should be fixed. In addition, GC-MS analysis revealed that major components of Vietnamese Basil were Estragole (87.869%), α-Bergamotene (2.922%), τ-Cadinol (2.770%), and Linalool (1.347%). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Applications in Chemical Engineering)

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16 pages, 3374 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Simulation and Analysis of Oleic Acid Pretreatment for Microwave-Assisted Biodiesel Production

by Weiquan Ma, Tao Hong, Tian Xie, Fengxia Wang, Bin Luo, Jie Zhou, Yang Yang, Huacheng Zhu and Kama Huang

Processes 2018, 6(9), 142; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr6090142 - 28 Aug 2018

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4367

Abstract

Oleic acid needs to be heated when it is utilized for biodiesel production, but, as a low-loss solution, oleic acid is difficult to heat by microwave. An efficient heating method for oleic acid is designed. A high loss material porous media is placed in a quartz tube, and a microwave directly heats the porous medium of the high loss material. The oleic acid flows through the pores of porous media so that the oleic acid exchanges heat during this process and rapid heating of oleic acid is achieved. A coupling model, based on the finite element method, is used to analyze the microwave heating process. The multiphysics model is based on a single mode cavity operating at 2450 MHz. An elaborate experimental system is developed to validate the multiphysics model through temperature measurements carried out for different flow velocities of oleic acid and different microwave power levels. The computational results are in good agreement with the experimental data. Based on the validated model, the effects of different sizes, porosities, and materials on microwave heating efficiency are analyzed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microwave Applications in Chemical Engineering)

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