Dielectric Processing of Hazardous Materials - Present and Future Opportunities

Abstract

Dielectric heating technologies (microwave and radio-frequency, RF) bring unique capabilities to the processing of hazardous wastes. Potential opportunities for using these techniques can be described by classifying and matching waste streams to the particular features of dielectric heating. Microwave and RF applications for processing hazardous waste are at various stages of development and include: solvent recovery, regeneration of activated carbon, pyrolysis of rubber tires, soil remediation, and disinfection of hospital wastes. Other solutions to environmental problems can include the replacement of conventional fossil-fired processes (eg, RF-assisted post-baking of biscuits) and microwave heating of catalyst substrate materil for automotive emission control. Examples of dielectric heating systems that are processing hazardous waste are used to illustrate the benefits of these technologies and to characterize future opportunities.

Recent Studies on Fundamentals and Application of Microwave Processing of Materials

“…It was in '70s, when the MW oven has become popular in domestic kitchens for cooking, as mass production of magnetron became posible at this time. And it was also in '70s when the oil shock or natural gas crisis occurred, which promoted the researches on MW heating in the western countries, because of their political necessity to be dependent on electric heating methods (Katz, 1992, Oda. 1992 Application of MW heating to the energy and the environmental fields has also been attempted and realized.…”

“…1992 Application of MW heating to the energy and the environmental fields has also been attempted and realized. Their application extends to broad areas (Oda, 1992), such as incineration of medical wastes, devulcanization of rubber tire, treatment of sewage sludges, regeneration of spent activated carbon and chemical residues of petrol industries. In the nuclear engineering, MW de-nitration for producing MOX (Mixed OXide) nuclear fuels by re-disposal of the used plutonium (Kato et al 2005).…”

Brief Review on Microwave (MW) Heating, Its Application to Iron & Steel Industry and to the Relevant Environmental Techniques

“…And it was also in '70s when the oil shock or natural gas crisis occurred, which promoted the researches on MW heating in the western countries, because of their political necessity to be dependent on electric heating methods. 3,4) Application of MW heating to the energy and the environmental fields has also been attempted and realized. Their application extends to broad areas, 4) such as incineration of medical wastes, devulcanization of rubber tire, treatment of sewage sludges, regeneration of spent activated carbon and chemical residues of petrol industries.…”

“…3,4) Application of MW heating to the energy and the environmental fields has also been attempted and realized. Their application extends to broad areas, 4) such as incineration of medical wastes, devulcanization of rubber tire, treatment of sewage sludges, regeneration of spent activated carbon and chemical residues of petrol industries. In the nuclear engineering, MW de-nitration for producing MOX (Mixed OXide) nuclear fuels by re-disposal of the used plutonium.…”

“…Most of them are related with the MW chemistry, such as dechlorization from plastics, 20) decontamination of the toxic materials 4) and some application to heat treatment of materials and chemicals, as mentioned in Sec. 1.…”