You are here:
PROCESS INTENSIFICATION: MICROWAVE INITIATED REACTIONS USING A CONTINUOUS FLOW REACTOR
Citation:
SELVARAJ, D. K., R. S. VARMA, AND R. J. JACHUCK. PROCESS INTENSIFICATION: MICROWAVE INITIATED REACTIONS USING A CONTINUOUS FLOW REACTOR. Presented at 2nd International Conference of Green & Sustainable Chemistry, Washington, DC, June 20 - 24, 2005.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
The concept of process intensification has been used to develop a continuous narrow channel reactor at Clarkson capable of carrying out reactions under isothermal conditions whilst being exposed to microwave (MW) irradiation thereby providing information on the true effect of microwave energy. Previous studies by Varma, et al. [Tetrahedron Lett., Vol. 38, 2043 (1997)] showed that MW-assisted oxidation of alcohols using clayfen was completed in 15-60 seconds, where as the conventional method took 18 hours to complete at 65oC in an oil bath. Therefore, it has been assumed that the reactions were not carried out in isothermal conditions since mixing may be poor or contents were exposed to uneven heating due to MW hotspots. This paper will compare the performance of a narrow channel reactor with that of a conventional batch reactor and highlight the importance of mixing in improving selectivity and yield of the reaction.