Patent Application
20220088563
The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for uniform microwave processing of large reactant loads at high power and pressure.
The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
The term “Microwave” (MW) may apply for frequencies from 300 MHz to 300 GHz, and there may be six MW bands applicable for industrial use according to the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), including two that are commonly exploited for heating of liquids in chemical processes in MW reactors: 915 MHz and 2.45 GHz (or more generally rounded to 2.5 GHz). Microwave processing of reactant loads at 2.5 GHz is generally uniform in related technologies when the loads are on the scale of 0.01-1 L; the related technologies also assume one or few microwave applicators in use. Larger reactant loads can result in increased non-uniformity of heating. It can be difficult to uniformly process a large reactant load by a single applicator or small number of applicators, and it can be difficult to simultaneously tune a large number of applicators in a multi-mode chamber because of inter-coupling between applicators.
Some related solutions to the above-described problems have considered the reactant load as a small portion of a reactant vessel (i.e., a chamber or a reactor) and tried to provide some solutions for approaching of microwave uniformity from several applicators in the whole chamber without considering a load as part of the solution. The implementation of microwaves into industrial-scale production can require processing of volumes>100 L; for example, such a requirement can be applied to a single-batch production in the pharmaceutical field. Notably, microwave-assisted heating under controlled conditions has been shown to be a valuable technology for any application that requires heating of a reaction mixture, since it often dramatically reduces reaction times—typically from days or hours to minutes or even seconds. Thus, uniform microwave processing of large-scale reactant loads is desired.
On a small scale, microwave-assisted organic synthesis (MAOS) of different active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), building blocks (BB) for drug manufacture, and drugs themselves has been demonstrated. For example, manufacturing of Acetaminophen, Azithromycin, Ciprofloxacin, Chloroquine phosphate, Hydroxychloroquine sulfate and similar medications can be partially substituted by MAOS with similar or better yield and relatively fast reaction time, compared to conventional heat-based manufacturing. By means of MAOS, not only substitutes for the five above-mentioned compounds may be synthesized, but additional compounds from the list of top 15 Tier 1 Priority Medicines for COVID-19 (see Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration (HHS, Health and Human Services) Info. HHS-2020-RFI-COVID-19-2—Priority ICU Medicines COVID-19 Response Sheet. Apr. 5, 2020), but also many others including known and new compounds that demonstrate anti-cancer activity, anti-viral (for example Zovirax), anti-bacterial (for example Bactrim), anti-fungal, HIV protease inhibitors, and anti-Alzheimer agents. MAOS production of API for drugs applicable to treat a male-factor infertility related to erectile dysfunction were also reported. (2005. Khan et al. A facile and improved synthesis of sildenafil (Viagra) analogs through solid support microwave irradiation possessing tyrosinase inhibitory potential their conformational analysis and molecular dynamics simulation studies. Mol Divers, 2005 vol 9(1-5) p 15-26) and (2010. Richard Wagner. Efficient use of microwave-assisted steps in synthesis of the Cialis-like generic. Private communication to S. Zhilkav). In addition to API/BB/drugs above, the use of MAOS can be helpful in peptide production (see 2011. Ghosh. Microwave assisted peptide synthesis. 32-slide presentation, Dec. 8, 2011).
For example, the entire synthesis of Acetaminophen, from the initial hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol to the final isolation of acetaminophen, was completed in under 90 minutes, a 70% time-savings when compared to conventional approach (see 2009, CEM ap0141, Rapid, two-step microwave-assisted synthesis of acetaminophen). However, such synthesis was performed using small, 10 mL glass tubes as the reaction vessel.
For example, also using 10 mL glass pressure microwave tubes, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) acetaminophen conjugates with amino acid linkers were synthesized utilizing benzotriazole chemistry (see 2014, Tiwari, et al. Microwave assisted synthesis and QSAR study of novel NSAID acetaminophen conjugates with amino acid linkers. Org. Biomol. Chem., 2014, v12 p 7238-7249). Biological data acquired for all the bis-conjugates showed (a) some bis-conjugates exhibit more potent anti-inflammatory activity than their parent drugs, (b) the potent bis-conjugates show no visible stomach lesions in contrast to parent drugs which are highly ulcerogenic, and (c) the potent bio-active compounds have no mortality rates or toxic symptoms at 5-fold the applied anti-inflammatory dosage.
For example, performing MAOS in 10 mL vials again, the propacetamol hydrochloride compound was obtained in 98% isolated yield when the reaction mixture was heated in the microwave under 10 min at 120° C. (see 2016, Murie, et al. Acetaminophen prodrug: microwave-assisted synthesis and in vitro metabolism evaluation by mass spectrometry. J. Braz. Chem. Soc., 2016). The developed MAOS protocol has also extra advantages such as an absence of catalyst, low solvent volume and short reaction time. Notably, conventional heating methods produce the same compound with 50% yield and 12 hours process time.
The use of microwave in organic synthesis has led to new acetamide derivatives (see 2020, Alsamarrai, Abdulmajeed S. H. and Abdulghani, Saba S. Microwave-assisted synthesis, structural characterization of amino pyridines, pyrrolidine, piperidine, morpholine, acetamides, and assessment of their antibacterial activity. Preprint, 31p. University of Samarra, Iraq. dot: 10.20944/preprints202010.0077.v1). Seven compounds were synthesized using MAOS in an attempt to increase yields and reduce the reaction time. Moderate to good yields and reduction of reaction time from 2-3 hours to a few minutes were achieved. The application against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial species demonstrated encouraging antibacterial potency in comparison with used reference antibiotics.
Currently, around 450 APIs are used for drug production. Approximately for half of them, the use of microwave technology can improve the manufacturing process in such aspects as reducing process steps, shortening reaction time, increasing product yield, saving or even eliminating use of catalysts, simplifying process control, compacting space occupied by equipment, saving energy consumption, increasing productivity, and overall decreasing of production cost.
As discussed above, microwave processing shows promising potential for improving drug production if such microwave processing can be operational at production scale. The smaller scale investigations have demonstrated microwave energy can be applied to known chemical processes, which, if provided a suitable apparatus that overcomes the current large-scale production challenges, can lead to greater output of desired medicines and chemical products at potentially greater purity. Thus, an apparatus for large-scale chemical processes using microwave energy is desired.
Small-scale microwave reactors have been in research use for drug discovery and process optimization investigations. Small-scale reactors are bringing “proof of concept” experimental evidence of the potential benefits of MAOS for the pharmaceutical industry; such reactors operate with processing volumes of just 10 mL-1 L.
For example, exploring engineering principles, which constitute the small-scale reactors' technology base, generally achieves maximal processing volumes near 3 L with discrete placement of up to 40 small loaded tubes (e.g., 20 mL each) in a microwave reactor operating at a frequency of 2.45 GHz under conditions of high temperature (e.g., up to 260° C. for extended reaction times, or 300° C. for short reaction times) and high pressure (e.g., up to 200 bar/200 atm), but with a low microwave power of approximately (or less than) 1 kW (see UtraCLAVE). The volumes below or approximately 1 L are suitable for research and development for finding of new drug candidates' library or optimizing steps of desired processes, but such small volumes are insufficient for the manufacturing of drugs on an industrial scale, because of FDA requirements that typically necessitate a single batch's volume to be on the order of 100-1000 L for certification.
Linear scale-up of the MAOS-derived results from processing volumes of 1-10 mL to 12 L was recently demonstrated (see 2010. Schmink, et al. Exploring the scope for scale-up of organic chemistry using a large batch microwave reactor. Organic Process Research & Devlpmnt, Vol 14 No 1 p 205-214, 2010) using a reactor having max capacity of 12 L and operating conditions of high temperature (e.g., up to 220° C.) and pressure (e.g., up to 20-24 bar),
The reactor tested by Schmink, et al. exploits three microwave generators (each of 2.5 kW at 2.45 GHz) that irradiate into a pressurized (external) chamber, where an internal vessel (of volume 2 to 12 L) is placed and is loaded with substance(s) to be processed, wherein the volume of said chamber is significantly larger than the volume of said internal vessel. Technical solutions that have made the mentioned reactor possible are described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,560,699, US Patent Application No. 20170118807A1, US Patent Application No. 20120305808A1, US Patent Application No. 20110189056, and US Patent Application No. 20100126987. A related design is shown in FIG. 5B of US20120305808A1. The related design is a multi-mode chamber with a loaded vessel disposed inside the multi-mode chamber. Three patch antennas are arranged on the chamber's cupola or upper portion rather far from the vessel, and a shortest distance from any antenna to the vessel exceeds a free-space wavelength that is ˜12 centimeters at a frequency of ˜2.45 GHz. Between the vessel and the chamber's walls/cupola, there is sufficient space and a lack of obstacles for microwaves to freely propagate and to be reflected/refracted from one antenna to another. The antennas are tuned to be quasi-independent in the presence of a small load, such as 1 liter of water, and be mainly radiating waves towards said small load for heating; however, such tuning of antennas may become more difficult when a larger load is to be heated because of significant redirecting of waves from one antenna to another. The design of
As such, when a load is a small part of the multi-mode chamber and fed (or energized) by multiple generators, and redirection of waves from one antenna to another is not prevented, then the batch design may have at most a 10-20 L achievable volume at 2.45 GHz frequency. In such a multi-mode design, without prevention of intercoupling of multiple antennas, the uniform microwave processing of a larger volume (over 20 L) is almost unachievable. This limit is confirmed by the fact that the largest commercially-available MAOS reactor has its maximal processing volume of 20 L and can operate at high temperatures around atmospheric pressure up to 1.5 bar (see 2020 Labotron reactor: 20 L, 6 kW con wavepower at 2.45 GHz. www.SAIREM.com).
Industrial-scale use of microwave reactors in chemical fields unrelated to pharmaceuticals comprises such applications as food processing, biofuel manufacturing, producing of polymers and composites, sintering ceramics, synthesis of nanomaterials and plasma-chemical processing of variety of materials including semiconductors for optoelectronics and computer hardware. Food processing does not require any chemical substances—rather, only moderate heating is generally needed. Also, a high pressure is out of consideration. Thus, these simple process conditions are significantly different in comparison with complicated requirements desirable for pharmaceutical-oriented MAOS processing.
For transferring of microwaves into a volume, related approaches seek efficient transfer of the microwave energy with minimized influence of backward waves on a device that performs the energy transfer. Such devices can be called “antennas,” “radiators,” and “radiating apertures,” among other terms. Antenna theory assumes consideration of waves rather far from the antenna with distances over at least ten times exceeding the wavelength of radiation. However, in typical microwave reactors their dimensions do not so largely exceed the aforementioned wavelengths. Said antenna devices are elucidated briefly herein.
An open end of a hollow waveguide or an open end of a coaxial transmission line are the simplest devices known for microwave energy transfer into a volume of interest. Being quite simple, they do not typically provide matching of a microwave generator with a load and are inefficient. More importantly, they do not prevent reflection of waves back to the generator. Two such simple open-ended antennas, operating simultaneously in one space, will experience influence of the waves' interference and will lead to inter-coupling of generators that initiate microwaves in said antennas. Said generators will harm each other, and microwave energy will not only be delivered to a load, but also significantly dissipates in intercoupling generators. Such operation does not allow arithmetic summation of generator powers, and control of energy delivery is problematic.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,460,814 having one generator, it was proposed to put the open-ended coaxial antenna directly into a large piece of meat for its processing, wherein said piece and said antenna are disposed inside a microwave oven. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,871 describes 2 to 6 open-ended hollow waveguides emitting from 2 to 6 generators through rectangular windows in walls of a microwave chamber into its cavity for processing of item inside said cavity, while the cross-polarization of presumably linearly polarized waves was expected to prevent intercoupling of generators. A dielectric window, dipole antenna, helical antenna, horn antenna, patch antenna, slotted-waveguide antenna, and other antenna types can be used in microwave ovens and reactors. Further, the proposed antennas can be made of various types of materials, including dielectric material, metal or a combination of thereof. Cross-polarization of simultaneously emitting antennas (of primarily linear polarization each) was assumed using up to six simultaneously-emitting antennas, and said cross-polarization was expected to prevent intercoupling of generators. Slightly different cross-polarized antennas can be named “microwave feeding points,” as in US Patent Application No. US20030089707A1.
To avoid cross-talk between antennas, US Patent Application No. US20060191926A1 proposed to exploit a time separation between radiating by a first antenna and a second antenna. When the first antenna emits microwaves, the second one is out of operation, and vice versa. The time separation of each antenna's operation can resolve an intercoupling issue. However, said time separation does not allow simultaneously combining the high powers of multiple generators and, therefore, it has a significant disadvantage in view of a need to provide rapid heating of a large load as desirable for a scalable MAOS-based reactor. Thus, an apparatus for large-scale chemical processes using microwave energy while also eliminating intercoupling issues between antennas (or applicators) is desired.
Aspects of the disclosure may address some of the above-described shortcomings in the art, particularly with the solutions set forth in the claims.
The present disclosure relates to methods and apparatuses for large-load MW processing. For processing a large load, the methods and apparatuses use a spatial separation for solving a problem of electromagnetic intercoupling and consider the load as part of the solution in providing sufficient spatial separation. It is proposed to use a plurality of microwave applicators, each of which occupies a separate subspace, and subspaces are not overlapping. Each applicator is coupled to a load independently from others. Absorption of microwaves in the load makes this load a part of the separating means when the load's size bigger than penetration depth of microwaves. Except for the applicator subspace's boundary aligned to the load, all other boundaries are non-transparent for microwaves without absorbing of microwave radiation of this applicator. Such space separation allows both exploitation of a number of applicators without their intercoupling and arithmetic summation of power of multiple microwave generators without interference. Therefore, the total delivered power can be high and can rapidly heat a load of large volume to a high temperature.
The present disclosure additionally relates to providing high pressure of MW processing. Another aspect of the invention is a use of the space separation for providing high-pressure processing. The load is placed inside a vessel, and the vessel is inside a pressure-compensating chamber. The vessel is pressurized, the chamber is pressurized, and differential pressure between vessel and chamber can be such that pressure inside the vessel can be significantly high for processing. A single batch can have a suitably large capacity to comply with pharmaceutical manufacturing requirements, when the described method is applied to the design of microwave reactors that can process substances of interest under conditions of high pressures and high temperatures.
The present disclosure additionally relates to an apparatus for large batch chemical reactions using microwave energy, including a chamber defined by an outer wall; a vessel disposed inside the chamber, the vessel defined by an inner wall, the inner wall being separated from the outer wall by a gap, the vessel configured to receive and hold a load; and a first applicator and a second applicator configured to emit the microwave energy at the load, wherein points at which microwave energy emitted by the first applicator and the second applicator enter the load are spaced at a distance from each other that is longer than a penetration depth of the microwave energy into the load such that no electromagnetic intercoupling occurs between the first applicator and the second applicator upon emission of the microwave energy.
The present disclosure additionally relates to a method for processing a material through application of microwave energy, the method including supplying a load comprising the material to a vessel disposed inside a chamber; and applying microwave energy to the load in the vessel through a first applicator and a second applicator configured to emit the microwave energy at the load, wherein points at which microwave energy emitted by the first applicator and the second applicator enter the load are spaced at a distance from each other that is longer than a penetration depth of the microwave energy into the load such that no electromagnetic intercoupling occurs between the first applicator and the second applicator upon emission of the microwave energy.
Note that this summary section does not specify every feature and/or incrementally novel aspect of the present disclosure or claimed invention. Instead, this summary only provides a preliminary discussion of different embodiments and corresponding points of novelty. For additional details and/or possible perspectives of the embodiments, the reader is directed to the Detailed Description section and corresponding figures of the present disclosure as further discussed below.
This patent or application contains at least one drawing executed in color. Copies of this patent or patent application publication with color drawing(s) will be provided by the Office upon request and payment of the necessary fee.
Various embodiments of this disclosure that are proposed as examples will be described in detail with reference to the following figures, wherein:
The following disclosure provides many different variations, or examples, for implementing different features of the provided subject matter. Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to illustrate the present disclosure. These are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to be limiting nor inoperable together in any permutation. Unless indicated otherwise, the features and embodiments described herein are operable together in any permutation. For example, the formation of a first feature over or on a second feature in the description that follows may include embodiments in which the first and second features are formed in direct contact, and may also include embodiments in which additional features may be formed between the first and second features, such that the first and second features may not be in direct contact. In addition, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or letters in the various examples. This repetition is for the purpose of simplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or configurations discussed. Further, spatially relative terms, such as “top,” “bottom,” “beneath,” “below,” “lower,” “above,” “upper” and the like, may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. The spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. Inventive apparatuses may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein may likewise be interpreted accordingly.
The order of discussion of the different steps as described herein has been presented for clarity. In general, these steps can be performed in any suitable order. Additionally, although each of the different features, techniques, configurations, etc. herein may be discussed in different places of this disclosure, it is intended that each of the concepts can be executed independently of each other or in combination with each other. Accordingly, the present disclosure can be embodied and viewed in many different ways.
As previously described, the time separation of multiple antennas' operation can resolve an intercoupling issue. However, said time separation may not allow simultaneous combination of the high power of multiple generators and, therefore, may have a significant disadvantage in view of a need to provide rapid heating of a large load as desirable for a scalable microwave-assisted organic synthesis (MAOS)-based reactor. Thus, described herein is an apparatus including a space separation for solving the problem of intercoupling that further considers the large load as part of the solution for providing the space separation.
In an embodiment, an apparatus 100 may include a chamber, a vessel disposed inside the chamber, and more than one microwave applicators 111 (herein referred to as “applicator 111”, see
In an embodiment, the applicators 111 or parts of the applicators 111 located outside the chamber, may be bounded by one or more boundaries, like microwave shielding or materials that are reflective for microwave radiation.
In an embodiment, absorption of microwaves emitted by the applicators 111 in the load may make the load instrumental in preventing intercoupling issues via providing separation when the load size is bigger than a penetration depth of the emitted microwaves. Except for a boundary region of the subspace aligned to the load for each of the applicators 111, all other boundaries may be non-transparent for microwaves and may not absorb the microwave radiation of the respective applicator 111. Thus, the spatial separation makes it possible to use several of the applicators 111 without intercoupling issues and allows arithmetic summation of power from multiple of the microwave generators 113 without interference. Therefore, this total delivered power may be high and may uniformly and rapidly heat a load of large volume to a desired temperature.
In an embodiment, the apparatus may include a mixing device for uniformly mixing the load during a reaction process. For example, the mixing device may be a magnetically coupled stirrer, a pump, or a mechanically actuated impeller, among others.
In an embodiment, the gap between the vessel and the outer wall of the chamber may facilitate high-pressure processing. The load may be placed inside the vessel, which is in turn disposed inside the stronger and more reinforced chamber. Both the vessel and the chamber may be pressurized, and the pressure differential between the vessel and the chamber may be smaller than the pressure inside the vessel, while the pressure inside the vessel may be significantly high for processing.
In an embodiment, application of microwave radiation is performed via directional plane-wave modes to avoid cavity resonance mechanisms from the applicators 111 intercoupling.
In an embodiment, electric dimensions of the vessel may be larger than the wavelength of the emitted microwave radiation in a load's medium, and resonant modes in the vessel are not excited (or their amplitudes are negligibly small). Such an operation regime, in addition to space separation, helps to provide absence of intercoupling when a large number of the applicators 111 are in use.
In an embodiment, plural separate subspaces for the respective applicators 111 may be disposed between the vessel's outer surface and the chamber's inner surface without necessity of hermetic sealing of one subspace from another. The applicators 111 may include electromagnetic shielding. The shielding of each applicator 111 from any other applicators may be sufficient for operation without intercoupling, and gaseous atmosphere can flow from a subspace of one applicator to the subspace of others. The boundary between subspaces may be manufactured in the form of a metallic diffraction grating, or metal slab with holes, or any other form that allows flowing of gas or vapor, but sufficiently prevents microwave intercoupling.
In an embodiment, the applicator may apply microwave energy to the load. In the MAOS reactors described herein, independent operation of the applicators 111 is considered, each of which is supplied by microwave energy from a separate, respective microwave generator. Generally, described herein: 1) the applicator 111 may be disposed in the gap between the external wall forming the chamber and the internal wall forming the vessel (also referred to as the pressure compensating volume); 2) The applicator 111 receives microwave energy from the generator 113 disposed outside the chamber; and 3) from the applicator 111, the microwave energy is transferred inside the vessel. Notably, the applicator 111 may comprise one or some of the devices and components described above (such as any of the described reference's antenna, waveguide component, etc.), in original or modified form, assuming however that the principle of spatial separation is to be satisfied in design of a desired reactor for MAOS having large processing volumes.
In an embodiment, two or more external generators can pump microwave energy into one subspace, and, through a single microwave window in the vessel's inner wall, all this energy is directed into the load. The applicator 111 may include an antenna, a radiator, a coupler, and other known elements by one skilled in the art. Two or more cross-polarized antennas can be included within the subspace of one of the applicators 111.
In an embodiment, each applicator 111 is disposed in a separate, individual housing attached to the vessel. The housings can be, for example, made of metal or another material with similar properties. The housings, each of which includes a respective applicator 111, may surround the vessel. In an embodiment, a hermetic sealing of each of the housings may be accommodated inside the chamber. In an embodiment, the hermetic sealing is not necessary and gas flow may circulate through the plurality of housings.
In an embodiment, the applicator 111 together with the microwave generator 113 may be disposed in the housing inside the chamber, and electrical power to the microwave generator 113 may be provided either from a battery included in the same housing or via an external power source.
In an embodiment, the applicator 111 and the microwave generator 113 together may be disposed in a sealed corpus that is disposed inside the medium (i.e. the load) within the vessel, while remote control of the applicator 111 can be performed via wireless communications or via a hardwire connection suitable for the harsh environment in the vessel.
In an embodiment, the inner wall forming the vessel may have different shapes. For example, the shape is a vertical cylinder with a flat bottom and a semi-spherical upper portion disposed inside the chamber having a similar shape. For example, the shape of the vessel is a horizontal cylinder and is disposed inside the chamber having a similar horizontal cylindrical shape and orientation. A volume of the load in the vessel may be considered a single-batch capacity for pharmaceutical production requirements. For example, a volume of the load in the vessel is equal to or more than 40 L, or equal to or more than 50 L, or equal to or more than 60 L, or equal to or more than 75 L, equal to or more than 90 L, or equal to or more than 100 L.
In an embodiment, a sequence of multiple horizontal chambers with horizontal cylindrical vessels disposed therein may be arranged and used for processing. The sequence forms a closed loop, and a liquid medium may circulate through this loop multiple times during the processing. In the closed loop, the sum of the loaded volumes in all the vessels in the loop may be considered as a single-batch capacity for the purpose of pharmaceutical production requirements. For example, a volume of the load in the vessel is equal to or more than 40 L, or equal to or more than 50 L, or equal to or more than 60 L, or equal to or more than 75 L, equal to or more than 90 L, or equal to or more than 100 L.
In an embodiment, spatial distribution of microwave energy from multiple applicators, together with mixing, agitation, or homogenization may provide homogeneous processing of the loaded media and leads to increased efficiency and higher yield. In an embodiment, such as the closed loop sequence, a stream of magnetic particles may provide mixing. In an embodiment, the mixing, agitation, or homogenization may be provided by use of acoustics/ultrasound/cavitation. Even distribution of microwave energy from multiple applicators, together with mixing, agitation, or homogenization, may provide homogeneous processing of the loaded media and leads to increased efficiency and higher yield.
Example 1—
In Example 1, the radius “r” of an inner circle of the vessel's bottom is equal to 4.25 dm (decimeters), and the area “a” of the inner circle is equal to 56.7 sq dm (square decimeters). “H” is the height of the media (i.e. the load) that is loaded in the vessel. The media may be a slurry or a liquid. A volume “V” of the load is equal to a multiplied by H, which results in 70 L for an H of 1.25 dm and 100 L for an H of 1.75 dm.
The microwave power that may be delivered to the load from the bottom side of the vessel is determined herein. In a free space, a half-wavelength of microwave radiation of applicators 111 arranged on the bottom of the vessel is 6.1 cm. As shown in the geometrical projection of
For the applicators 111 arranged proximal to the upper portion of the vessel, a frequency of 915 MHz may be used with high power generators up to 120 kW of continuous power. For Example 1, the power of the applicators 111 was 50 kW. Thus, the total microwave power in the system of Example 1 is equal to 36 kW+50 kW=86 kW. A microwave power density equals 86 kW/70 L=1.23 kW/L for a load with the height of 1.25 dm, or 86 kW/100 L=0.86 kW/L for a load with the height of 1.75 dm.
Example 2—In an embodiment, similar to Example 1, the inner wall forming the vessel may have the cylindrical shape with the flat bottom and the semi-spherical upper portion opposite the flat bottom. The vessel may be disposed inside the chamber having a vertical cylindrical shape. The apparatus 100 of this embodiment may not include horizontal bars for supporting the vessel and instead the vessel's bottom may be disposed on the floor of the chamber. That is, the vessel's bottom is in contact with the floor of the chamber. The housings, each of which having a respective applicator 111 disposed therein, may be disposed beneath the vessel. Each of the applicators 111 in the respective housing may operate at a microwave frequency of approximately 2.45 GHz. Another applicator 111, operating at frequency of 915 MHz, may be disposed proximal to and aligned with the upper portion of the vessel. Therefore, up to 24 of the applicators 111 may be aligned at the floating slab such that the applicators 111 may operate without intercoupling.
Example 3—
Here, the apparatus 100 may include a slab that floats on a surface of the load in the vessel, wherein the load may be in a liquid state. The slab may have a diameter of 75 cm and the microwave applicators 111 operating at 915 MHz (similar to those arranged towards the upper portion in Example 1 and Example 2) may be disposed on the slab, wherein each applicator 111 is disposed in a respective housing.
The microwave power that may be delivered to the load from the floating slab is determined herein. In a free space, a half-wavelength of microwave radiation for the applicators 111 disposed proximal to the slab is approximately 15 cm. As shown in the geometrical projection of
The total microwave power in the system of Example 3 is equal to 36 kW+24 kW 60 kW. A microwave power density equals 60 kW/70 L=0.86 kW/L for a load with a height of 1.25 dm, or 60 kW/100 L=0.60 kW/L for a load with a height of 1.75 dm.
Example 4—In an embodiment, similar to Example 1, the inner wall forming the vessel may have the vertical cylindrical shape with the flat bottom and the semi-spherical upper portion opposite the flat bottom. The vessel may be disposed inside the chamber having a vertical cylindrical shape. The apparatus 100 may include the horizontal bars for supporting the vessel; the vessel's bottom may be disposed above the floor of the chamber and not in contact with the floor. The geometrical dimensions of the vessel and the load are similar to Example 1, Example 2, and Example 3.
The 120 applicators 111, each of which have a power of 0.3 kW at 2.45 GHz, may deliver a total power of 36 kW from the direction of the bottom of the vessel. Here, a single applicator 111 of 50 kW at 915 MHz delivers the microwave power to the load from the upper portion of the vessel. In addition to microwaves, ultrasound participates in processing a liquid load in the vessel. An ultrasonic generator (at least one ultrasonic generator) may be arranged on the cylindrical wall forming the vessel and directed at the load. In Example 4, acoustic waves from the ultrasound generator initially propagates in the horizontal direction, while microwaves from both the upper and lower applicators 111 initially propagate vertically (when the apparatus 100 is aligned vertically along a direction of the cylindrical shape being upright). Thus, the ultrasound generator can be arranged with a height of 3 to 6 cm from the vessel's floor.
Example 5—
In an embodiment, when the vessel's inner diameter is equal to two wavelengths and each applicator 111 has power P, the microwave power density in the vessel's volume may be equal to 8P divided by the wavelength cubed. For estimation, one may assume each applicator 111 outputs 0.3 kW at 2.45 GHz or 1 kW at 915 MHz. Now, with power assumptions and geometrical configuration as described above, a scale of the reactor for processing the liquid load's volume of 100 L and 1000 L may be determined: when l=22 dm and 2.45 GHz, the volume is 100 L with 12 applicators 111 along the circular cross-section. Along the vessel's length, there may be 2(l/f) applicators 111. The total number N may then be 24*(22/1.2)=440. The volume of the vessel may be equal to 1000 L for the cylinder's length l of 35 dm at 915 MHz or 220 dm at 2.45 GHz. Ultrasonic generators may be positioned on flat ends and be used for mixing and adding energy. For the 1000 L vessel, the number of microwave applicators may be 280 at 915 MHz or 4400 at 2.45 GHz. The closed-loop 1000 L reactor may be a toroid with a radius of 0.55 m at 915 MHz or 3.35 m at 2.45 GHz. Circular flow of magnetic particles may be used for mixing, agitation, or homogenization of the load.
Example 6—In an embodiment, as in Example 5, the volume of the vessel may be 100 L with 440 applicators 111 outputting 0.3 kW at 2.45 GHz. In addition to the vessel's wall applicators 111, internal applicators 111 (with frequency 915 MHz) may irradiate from inside the vessel. Along the vessel axis there may be, for example, 4 internal applicators 111 per meter, or a total of 9 applicators 111 per full 22 dm length.
Example 7—as previously described, the apparatus 100 for performing batchwise chemical reactions uses microwave energy (microwave radiation). The apparatus 100 may include a chemical reactor (also known as the vessel). The vessel may be defined by the inner wall that separates an inner part of the reactor from its surrounding chamber that is defined by the outer wall. For performing batchwise chemical reactions, the reactive medium (i.e. the load) may be loaded into the inner part of the reactor, or the vessel. At least one component of the reactive medium is liquid. A mixing device (e.g., a magnetically coupled stirrer) may be provided as a part of the apparatus 100 to support uniformity of the reactive medium. The inner wall may include microwave windows that are designed for microwave energy introduction into the inner part of the vessel. For using microwave energy to control the chemical reactions, at least one component of the reactive medium may absorb microwave energy, and thus the microwave energy may be absorbed by the reactive medium, and the reactive medium performs as a distributed load for microwave radiation.
The microwave absorption properties of the medium may be characterized by the microwave radiation penetration depth, defined as the depth at which the intensity of the radiation inside the material falls to 1/e (0.37) of its original value at the surface. The microwave penetration depth may change during the chemical process cycle that includes the reaction time, the medium preparation (e.g. heating) time, and the post-processing (e.g. cooling) time. There may be a longest penetration depth during the time of the process control by the microwave energy. The microwave energy may be provided by the microwave applicators 111 connected to microwave generators 113, wherein each applicator 111 is powered by at least one microwave generator 113.
The microwave energy may be provided to the load by the microwave applicators 111 through the microwave-transparent windows, or the applicators 111 may be at least partially disposed inside the vessel, wherein the applicators may be connected to the microwave generators 113 located outside the reactor. A minimum distance through the load (medium) between every two of the applicators 111 or between the corresponding windows when the applicators 111 are located outside the reactor, may be longer than a fixed distance that is determined by the longest penetration depth of microwave radiation. The minimum distance may be selected depending on the sensitivity of the microwave generators 13 to the external microwave radiation and may reach 1, 1.5, or 2 times the length of the longest penetration depth. The maximum distance may be limited by the physical dimensions of the vessel. The actual distance may be selected to ensure required microwave power level inside the vessel and its value can be in the range between the minimum and maximum distances.
That is, in an embodiment, when the applicators 111 are disposed inside the vessel, a distance between locations of the applicators 111 within the vessel is, for example, 1, or 1.5, or 2 times longer than a longest penetration depth of the microwave energy into the load among all steps of a chemical process cycle that include emitting the microwave energy at the load by the applicators 111. In an embodiment, when the applicators 111 are disposed outside the vessel, a distance between the microwave windows is, for example, 1, or 1.5, or 2 times longer than a longest penetration depth of the microwave energy into the load among all steps of a chemical process cycle that include emitting the microwave energy at the load by the applicators 111.
In an embodiment, applicators 111 for different frequencies of microwave radiation may be used, e.g., for 2.45 GHz and 0.915 GHz, and may be installed proximal to one another. For example, the applicators 111 may be configured to all emit at 2.45 GHz. For example, the applicators 111 may be configured to all emit at 915 MHz. For example, a portion of the applicators 111 may be configured to emit at 2.45 GHz while a remainder of the applicators 111 may be configured to emit at 915 MHz. As penetration depth depends on the microwave frequency, the longest penetration depth should be determined after consideration of both frequencies. The fixed distance and the minimum distance through the load (media) between these two applicators 111 or between the corresponding windows when the applicators 111 are located outside the reactor may be selected as described above considering the longest penetration depth determined after consideration of both frequencies.
In an embodiment, the microwave applicators 111 or their parts located outside the vessel may be bounded (surrounded) by one or more microwave-reflecting boundaries that may be non-transparent for microwaves (e.g. microwave shielding).
In an embodiment, the distance between the applicator 111 outside the reactor and the microwave shielding may be fixed and equal to the length A that is determined by the wavelength of microwave radiation X in the space surrounding the microwave applicator 111. A dependence between A and X is described by a formula:
A=(½N+¼)X,
where N is any non-negative integer. Separation of the applicators 111 by the distributed load and by microwave shielding ensures an almost complete absence of electromagnetic intercoupling between the applicators 111. Because of the almost complete absence of electromagnetic intercoupling between the applicators 111, it is possible to utilize independent automatic tuning of the applicators 111 and/or the microwave generators to minimize microwave power reflection to the microwave generators. Though microwave energy losses may exist because of an imperfect coupling between each microwave generator and the distributed load and losses inside the applicator 111 and a waveguide between the applicator 111 and the microwave generator, the almost complete absence of electromagnetic intercoupling between the applicators 111 allows arithmetic summarizing of power from the applicators 111 delivered to the distributed load (medium). A total microwave power delivered from all applicators 111 to the load is equal to P, the load's volume is equal to V, and a ratio of P/V is in the range from 0.05 kW/L to 2.5 kW/L.
In an embodiment, a pressure-compensating chamber may surround the vessel, and the microwave applicators 111 may be disposed inside the chamber while the microwave generators are located outside the chamber. The vessel and the chamber may be pressurized. The chamber provides thermal insulation as well of the vessel from the external environment.
In an embodiment, in addition to microwaves, processing of the load further comprises at least one of the following modalities: heating using an induction heater, or an electrical resistance heater, or a heat exchanger with a heated fluid; irradiation using radiation from radioactive material or a beam of charged or neutral high energy particles; irradiation by a laser; and ultrasound application, among others.
In an embodiment, the microwave applicators 111 may be formed as horn antennae of different sizes that correspond to the different wavelengths of the microwave generators 114. The horn antennae applicator 111a may be directed to and terminated at the microwave window 109. The horn antennae applicator 111d may be directed to the microwave window 124 but may not reach it. The horn antennae applicator 111b may be “plugged” by the microwave window 122. The microwave applicator 111c may be made as a patch antenna installed inside the vessel 101.
In an embodiment, the microwave generators 113, 114 may provide microwave energy to the horn antennae applicators 111a, 111b, 111d through the waveguides 115, 116, 126 of the appropriate sizes. For reduction of the influence of the microwave power reflected from the boundaries between the window 109 (122, 124) and the horn antenna applicator 111a (111b, 111c) and between the window 109 (122, 124) and the media 103, the waveguides 115, 116, 126 can comprise a tuner 119 (see
In an embodiment, the microwave applicators 111a, 111d located outside the reactor may be bounded by non-absorbing boundaries (i.e. microwave shielding) 117 and 127 that are non-transparent for microwave radiation. The microwave applicator 111b also located outside the reactor may have a metal wall 199 that connects the microwave generator 114 and the reactor wall 102. This wall 199 plays the role of the non-absorbing boundary (microwave shielding) that may be non-transparent for microwaves. The patch antenna applicator 111c may be connected to the microwave generator 114 by a coaxial line 118 and the outer cylindrical conductor of this line may provide microwave shielding. Microwave absorption properties of the media 103 may be determined by the microwave radiation penetration depth that changes during the chemical process cycle. There may be a longest penetration depth (R1 or R2 depending on the microwave frequency) during the time of the chemical process controlled by the microwave energy. Boundaries 121 shown in
Though microwave energy losses may exist because of an imperfect coupling between each microwave generator 113, 114 and the media 103, separation of microwave applicators 111 by the media 103 and by microwave shielding ensures an almost complete absence of electromagnetic intercoupling between the applicators 111 and allows arithmetic summation of power from the applicators 111 delivered to the media 103, as well as simple independent automatic tuning of the applicators 111 and/or the microwave generators 113, 114 to minimize microwave power reflection to the generators 113, 114. That is, the microwave shielding can enclose a respective microwave applicator 111 disposed in the gap such that each microwave applicator 111 is shielded from the other.
In an embodiment, to support uniformity of the reactive medium 212, the chemical reactor 201 may include a stirrer with multiple impellers 256 fixed on a shaft 257 that is rotated by a motor 258 through a magnetic coupling 259 that is fixed on the lid 205.
In an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may also include a heater 213 (e.g. resistive electric, induction, or steam heater, among others) that may be in thermal contact with the wall 202 of the lower part of the vessel 201. Preheating the media 212 using the heater 213 may allow reducing a temperature range when the operation of the microwave applicators 111 is required, and thus provide better coupling between the media 212 and microwave generators 211 without tuning. Additionally, the apparatus 100 may include a radioactive material 214 fixed on an arm 215 attached to the lid 205. Radiation from the radioactive material 214 may provide a constant rate of generation of chemical radicals in the reactive media 212. Together with the precise and uniform temperature control provided by the microwave energy and the stirrer, the apparatus 100 allows precise control of a chemical reaction rate.
In an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may include an ultrasound transducer 216 having a cylindrical shape fixed on arms 217 attached to the lid 205. The ultrasound transducer 216 may be powered by an ultrasonic generator 218. A combination of microwave power and ultrasound oscillations is beneficial for the control of some chemical processes.
In an embodiment, the apparatus 100 may include several sets 307 of microwave-related devices and parts. Each set 307 may include the microwave window 308 in the vessel wall 305, the microwave applicator 111, a waveguide 311, a microwave generator 312, and a boundary (microwave shielding) 310 that may be non-transparent for microwaves and do not absorb microwave radiation. The applicators 111, the waveguide elements 311, and the boundaries 310 may be located inside the chambers 306 while the microwave generators 312 may be located outside the chambers 306. The microwave generators 312 may provide microwave energy to the microwave applicators 111 made as horn antennae through the waveguides 311. The reactor wall 305 may surround an inner part of the vessel 302 with a liquid-based reactive medium 314 that may have the property of absorbing microwave energy. To support uniformity of the reactive media 314, the apparatus 100 may include the pumps 304.
Performance Simulations
The apparatus 100 includes a 35 cm radius vessel loaded with water-based liquid reagents, wherein a chemical reaction is carried out in the presence of strong radio frequency (RF) fields. These RF fields are delivered to the vessel via an RF coupler that matches the circular waveguide (where the transverse electric (TE) mode is propagating) with the liquid medium where the electromagnetic waves are transformed into plane waves. Another function of the RF coupler is the physical separation of the liquid medium from the air-filled/pressurized/vacuum waveguide interface. The following electromagnetic simulations demonstrate the process of electromagnetic (EM) separation of multiple RF couplers attached to the vessel. RF and microwaves may be used interchangeably and do not define a particular frequency band, but rather that the wavelength of the signal is comparable with the size of the system, and the system may not be an ideal system without irreversible dissipation of energy, such that the classic lumped element theory is not applicable.
Typical Solvents for the Liquid-Phase Microwave Chemistry
Most reactions relevant to MAOS take place in a liquid phase, or when a liquid and a gas phase (including said liquid's vapor) coexist under pressure, or the liquid and the gas are in equilibrium at high pressure. Prior to a reaction's beginning, the reagents, from which MAOS is to start, are dissolved in a solvent, and the reagents' concentrations in said solvent are well below 10% in a typical case. Dielectric properties of this solvent have an influence on the MAOS time, because the better the solvent absorbs microwaves, the faster the liquid is heated and the faster the reaction is completed.
The dielectric constant, dipole moment, dielectric loss, tangent delta, and dielectric relaxation time all contribute to an individual solvent's absorbing characteristics in the microwave radiation frequency range. The dielectric constant (ε) is also known as the relative permittivity. The ability of a substance to convert electromagnetic energy into heat at a given frequency and temperature is determined by the following equation: tan δ=ε″/ε. Tangent delta (δ), or loss tangent, is the dissipation factor of the sample or how efficiently microwave energy is converted into thermal energy. It is defined as the ratio of the dielectric loss, or complexed permittivity (ε′), to the dielectric constant (ε). Dielectric loss is the amount of input microwave energy that is lost to the sample by being dissipated as heat. It is this value, ε″, that provides a decisive criterion for selection of a particular solvent for organic chemistry based on microwave coupling efficiency.
Dielectric properties of irradiated liquid samples may depend both on temperature and microwave frequency.
There are commonly used solvents in MAOS; data for the tangent delta, dielectric constant, and dielectric loss values of 30 common solvents are shown in Table 1 of Solvent Choice for Microwave Synthesis. The solvents are categorized into three different groups: high, medium, and low absorbing solvents. Eight high absorbing solvents have the dielectric loss ε″ ranging from 14 for 2-Propanol to 50 for Ethylene Glycol. The medium group has ε″ in the range from 1 to 10. For the low absorbing solvents, such as chloroform and 7 others, the value of ε″ is less than 0.5. All the data above are for the microwave frequency of 2.45 GHz at room temperature and pressure. Pure water at room temperature and atmospheric pressure belongs to a medium group (ε″=10).
In some cases, for performing the chemical process, the initial reagents are placed into the solvent that is a low absorbing solvent without additives, and additional small balls (so-called “susceptors” having the property of high microwave absorption) are also introduced into this solvent. Said balls do not participate in any of the chemical reactions, but by absorbing microwave energy, they provide volumetric heating for the whole media where the reagents participate in said chemical process.
Water, being common and applicable for organic synthesis, was specifically studied with respect to its dielectric properties. For industrially used microwave frequencies of 915 MHz and 2.45 GHz, the different physical states of water were analyzed, such as ice (solid), liquid, ice slurry with liquid, vapor, liquid-vapor mix, and other inter-phase mixtures. Dependencies were found for complex permittivity based on a proportion of liquid in a mixture, temperature, pressure, and presence of additives from salts in sea water to metabolites in biofluids. With respect to MAOS in “green chemistry”, it is especially important that supercritical water can be an efficient solvent and the reaction medium provides an accelerated synthesis of a desired organic compound with minimal use of catalysts or without them at all.
For further numerical experiments, pure water without additives was considered as a liquid load under microwave irradiation, and, in some situations, water vapor coexists with said liquid. Such assumptions are sufficient to study a spatial separation at multi-generator irradiation of large load and to predict for complicated cases (inter-phase mixtures, mix of solvents, use of additives, etc.).
Coupler Antenna
The RF coupler serves as an antenna that transmits the EM waves into the water in the vessel. As mentioned previously, the design criteria are the following: the system has a physical separation between water and air; minimal internal reflections; and good coupling between a circular air-filled waveguide and water. The operating frequency of 2.45 GHz was chosen to meet the current standards for industrial frequency bands and to ensure availability of readily available power sources.
Alumina is commonly used in high power couplers for accelerators. However, other materials with similar properties, such as rexolite of PTFE, can be used. Certain properties of the materials used in simulations are shown in Table 1. One of the advantages of the present disclosure is that more than one barrier is provided to separate the liquid media 725 from the waveguide 705, i.e., the lens 720 and the window 710, which ensures that the liquid media 725 does not leak into the waveguide 705. A gap in place of the window 710 can also be filled with pressurized air to compensate for the water pressure. The window 710 may beneficially be brazed to the waveguide 705.
was used as the optimization criterion. The dimensions obtained during this optimization are presented in
Due to the resonant nature of the matching section, the matching of less than −10 dB is observed within ±40 MHz bandwidth, and the matching of −20 dB can be achieved only within ±10 MHz around the operating frequency. The reflections at the matched frequency are −28 dB, which corresponds to about 0.16% of the input power.
Interaction of Two Horn Applicators Via a Water-Filled Vessel
In an embodiment, the simulations were performed similarly, but the performance criterion was that the S21 parameter (or transmission coefficient) was defined as
Here, P1 is the RF power available in port 1 (circular waveguide of the first coupler), and P2 is the power transmitted to port 2 (circular waveguide of the second coupler).
Temperature Dependence
Table 2 has been derived from the FIG. 2 of Oree et al. Microwave complex permittivity of hot compressed water in equilibrium with its vapor. 2017. IEEE Radio and Antenna Days of the Indian Ocean, September 2017, and it demonstrates the dependence of the dielectric permittivity parameters of water measured at different temperature and pressure conditions at a frequency of 2.42 GHz. Going forward, when referring to the temperature, it is implied that the corresponding pressure value is obtained from said table. It is also assumed that water is in equilibrium with its vapor.
Mechanical Properties of the System
Although both design options are feasible in terms of RF power reflection optimization, it is important to consider the phenomena of RF power losses in each applicator 111 design to make sure that they are reasonable and can be properly handled. There are two mechanisms of RF losses in this case: Eddy current losses on the copper parts due to magnetic fields, and losses inside the dielectric due to electric fields. The losses are proportional to the volume of dielectric medium. Table 3 summarizes the loss budget for both options and demonstrates that power losses (both dialectic and copper) in dielectric-filled antenna are twice as much as those for the thick-lens.
For conservative estimation of losses, the less expensive 96% alumina (Table 1) was used and the results presented in Table 3.
Frequency Sensitivity
In summary, the results of numerical experiments have demonstrated that the principle of spatial separation does work and can allow combining of multiple microwave generators for irradiating a large load, such as greater than 50 L, or greater than 100 L, without interference between radiating elements (i.e. applicators 111) and with effectively controllable independent tuning of each of said microwave generators. Methods and devices for mixing/rotation/etc. can be added to the apparatus 100 described in the Examples 1 to 7 or similar, and can provide homogeneous heating/processing of said load.
Commercially available microwave power transistors of 0.5 kW at 2.45 GHz and 1.5 kW at 915 MHz are rather inexpensive, making an industrial-scale reactor with a number of such transistors economically viable and efficient in aspects of the pharmaceutical field and beyond because such aspects have been shown in a small-scale process previously while the linear scale up of the microwave processing has also been demonstrated.
Examples of the embodiments, together with the results from the simulations and experiments of the embodiments, have proven that the disclosed apparatus 100 allows implementation into practice for an industrial-scale process for manufacturing of medicine and drug components, wherein the whole process or a step of the process is performed with use of microwave radiation. Ultimately, the manufacturing, which exploits processing based on invented microwave reactors, can deliver medicine and drug components in an incredibly timely and efficient manner.
In the preceding description, specific details have been set forth, such as a particular geometry of a processing system and descriptions of various components and processes used therein. It should be understood, however, that techniques herein may be practiced in other embodiments that depart from these specific details, and that such details are for purposes of explanation and not limitation. Embodiments disclosed herein have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Similarly, for purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials, and configurations have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding. Nevertheless, embodiments may be practiced without such specific details. Components having substantially the same functional constructions are denoted by like reference characters, and thus any redundant descriptions may be omitted.
Various techniques have been described as multiple discrete operations to assist in understanding the various embodiments. The order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. Indeed, these operations need not be performed in the order of presentation. Operations described may be performed in a different order than specifically described unless expressly indicated otherwise. Various additional operations may be performed and/or described operations may be omitted.
Those skilled in the art will also understand that there can be many variations made to the operations of the techniques explained above while still achieving the same objectives of the disclosure. Such variations are intended to be covered by the scope of this disclosure. As such, the foregoing descriptions of embodiments are not intended to be limiting. Rather, any limitations to embodiments are presented in the following claims.
Embodiments of the present disclosure may also be as set forth in the following parentheticals.
(1) An apparatus for large batch chemical reactions using microwave energy, comprising: a chamber defined by an outer wall; a vessel disposed inside the chamber, the vessel defined by an inner wall, the inner wall being separated from the outer wall by a gap, the vessel configured to receive and hold a load; and a first applicator and a second applicator configured to emit the microwave energy at the load, wherein points at which microwave energy emitted by the first applicator and the second applicator enter the load are spaced at a distance from each other that is longer than a penetration depth of the microwave energy into the load such that no electromagnetic intercoupling occurs between the first applicator and the second applicator upon emission of the microwave energy.
(2) The apparatus of (1), further comprising: a first microwave window formed in the inner wall at a position corresponding to a location of the first applicator; and a second microwave window formed in the inner wall at a position corresponding to a location of the second applicator, wherein a material of the first microwave window and the second microwave window is at least partially transparent to microwave energy and chemically resistant to reagents in the load, the first applicator being configured to emit the microwave energy through the first microwave window into the vessel.
(3) The apparatus of either (1) or (2), wherein the first applicator includes a waveguide at a first end of the first applicator and a horn antenna at a second end of the first applicator, the second end of the first applicator being disposed proximal to the first microwave window and the first end of the first applicator being disposed distal to the first microwave window, the waveguide configured to receive the microwave energy and direct the microwave energy through the waveguide into the horn antenna.
(4) The apparatus of any one of (1) to (3), wherein when the first applicator and the second applicator are disposed inside the vessel, a distance between locations of the first applicator and the second applicator within the vessel is longer than a longest penetration depth of the microwave energy into the load among all steps of a chemical process cycle that include emitting the microwave energy at the load by the first applicator and the second applicator, and when the first applicator and the second applicator are disposed outside the vessel, a distance between the first microwave window and the second microwave window is longer than a longest penetration depth of the microwave energy into the load among all the steps of the chemical process cycle that include emitting the microwave energy at the load by the first applicator and the second applicator.
(5) The apparatus of any one of (1) to (4), wherein when the first applicator and the second applicator are disposed inside the vessel, a distance between locations of the first applicator and the second applicator within the vessel is 1.5 times longer than a longest penetration depth of the microwave energy into the load among all steps of a chemical process cycle that include emitting the microwave energy at the load by the first applicator and the second applicator, and when the first applicator and the second applicator are disposed outside the vessel, a distance between the first microwave window and the second microwave window is 1.5 times longer than a longest penetration depth of the microwave energy into the load among all the steps of the chemical process cycle that include emitting the microwave energy at the load by the first applicator and the second applicator.
(6) The apparatus of any one of (1) to (5), wherein when the first applicator and the second applicator are disposed inside the vessel, a distance between locations of the first applicator and the second applicator within the vessel is 2 times longer than a longest penetration depth of the microwave energy into the load among all steps of a chemical process cycle that include emitting the microwave energy at the load by the first applicator and the second applicator, and when the first applicator and the second applicator are disposed outside the vessel, a distance between the first microwave window and the second microwave window is 2 times longer than a longest penetration depth of the microwave energy into the load among all the steps of the chemical process cycle that include emitting the microwave energy at the load by the first applicator and the second applicator.
(7) The apparatus of any one of (1) to (6), wherein the first applicator and the second applicator each occupy a corresponding subspace in the gap between the outer wall of the chamber and the inner wall of the vessel.
(8) The apparatus of any one of (1) to (7), further comprising a first microwave generator configured to generate the microwave energy having a first frequency at a first power and transmit the microwave energy to the first applicator, the first microwave generator being electromagnetically connected to the first applicator.
(9) The apparatus of (8), further comprising: a first microwave window formed in the inner wall at a position corresponding to a location of the first applicator; and a second microwave window formed in the inner wall at a position corresponding to a location of the second applicator, wherein a material of the first microwave window and the second microwave window is chemically resistant to reagents in the load, the first applicator being disposed inside the vessel and configured to receive the microwave energy from the first microwave generator through the first microwave window.
(10) The apparatus of either (8) or (9), wherein the first microwave generator is located outside the chamber and connected to the first applicator, which is located in the gap.
(11) The apparatus of any one of (1) to (10), wherein the vessel is pressurized and the chamber is pressurized.
(12) The apparatus of any one of (1) to (11), further comprising a mixing device, the mixing device configured to homogenize reagents in the load.
(13) The apparatus of any one of (1) to (12), wherein the load comprises a liquid-based reactive medium capable of absorbing microwave energy, and the penetration depth of the microwave energy is a longest penetration depth of the microwave energy into the reactive medium among all steps of a chemical process cycle that include emitting the microwave energy at the reactive medium.
(14) The apparatus of any one of (1) to (13), wherein a volume of the medium in the vessel is equal to or more than 40 L, or equal to or more than 50 L, or equal to or more than 60 L, or equal to or more than 75 L, equal to or more than 90 L, or equal to or more than 100 L.
(15) The apparatus of any one of (1) to (14), further comprising separate first and second microwave shielding areas located in the gap and configured to reflect microwave energy, the first microwave shielding area enclosing the first applicator located in the gap and the second microwave shielding area enclosing the second applicator located in the gap, such that the first applicator in the gap is shielded from the second applicator in the gap and the second applicator in the gap is shielded from the first applicator in the gap.
(16) The apparatus of (15), wherein a distance between the first applicator in the gap and a wall of the first microwave shielding area is fixed and equal to length A that is based on a wavelength X of microwave radiation in a space surrounding the first applicator and described by a formula A=(½ N+¼)X, where N is any non-negative integer.
(17) The apparatus of any one of (1) to (16), further comprising plural applicators including the first applicator and the second applicator, wherein total power delivered by the plural applicators is P and volume of the load is V and a ratio of P to V is in a range defined by 0.05 kW/L to 2.5 kW/L.
(18) The apparatus of any one of (1) to (17), further comprising plural applicators including the first applicator and the second applicator, wherein at least two of the plural applicators emit microwave energy at different frequencies from each other, and the penetration depth of the microwave energy is a longest penetration depth among all applicators emitting microwave energy at the load.
(19) A method for processing a material through application of microwave energy, the method comprising: supplying a load comprising the material to a vessel disposed inside a chamber; and applying microwave energy to the load in the vessel through a first applicator and a second applicator configured to emit the microwave energy at the load, wherein points at which microwave energy emitted by the first applicator and the second applicator enter the load are spaced at a distance from each other that is longer than a penetration depth of the microwave energy into the load such that no electromagnetic intercoupling occurs between the first applicator and the second applicator upon emission of the microwave energy.
(20) A material processed by the method of (19).
(21) The method of (19), further comprising at least one step of dissolving, heating, synthesizing, or otherwise transforming the material, such that the material after performance of the method has physical or chemical characteristics different from physical or chemical characteristics of the material prior to performance of the method.
(22) The method of either (19) or (21), further comprising applying at least one of an exothermic reaction, an induction heater, an electrical resistance heater, a heated fluid, a beam of charged particles, a stream of magnetic particles, a plasma heater, a laser heater, an ultrasound, or other energy source that causes a change of the physical or chemical characteristics of the material.
The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/204,278, filed Sep. 24, 2020, the entire contents of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63204278 | Sep 2020 | US |
