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15Microwave plasma (MWP) technology is currently being used in application fields such as 16 semiconductor and material processing, diamond film deposition and waste remediation. 17Specific advantages of the technology include the enablement of a high energy density source 18 and a highly reactive medium, the operational flexibility, the fast response time to inlet 19 variations and the low maintenance costs. These aspects make MWP a promising alternative 20 technology to conventional thermal chemical reactors provided that certain technical and 21 operational challenges related to scalability are overcome. Herein, an overview of state-of-22 the-art applications of MWP in chemical processing is presented (e.g. stripping of photo 23 resist, UV-disinfection, waste gas treatment, plasma reforming, methane coupling to olefins, 24 coal/biomass/waste pyrolysis/gasification and CO 2 conversion). In addition, two potential 25 approaches to tackle scalability limitations are described, namely the development of a single 26 unit microwave generator with high output power (> 100 kW), and the coupling of multiple 27 microwave generators with a single reactor chamber.

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