Continuous flow, circulating microwave system and its application in nanoparticle fabrication and biodiesel synthesis

The current research is an attempt to combine reactions in a domestic microwave oven (DMO) with a circulating pump in order to create a continuous circulating flow microwave system. This system allows the reagents and products to circulate in and out of the microwave reactor until the end of the synthesis. In fact, this is the first attempt of its kind to build a continuous flow microwave system for production of nanosized particles. The continuous DMO system has several advantages over batch microwave ovens, such as its ability to work with large quantities of reagents, the possibility to withdraw samples of the product without stopping the process, and the constant stirring of the reagents during the reaction. Various nanoparticles with different particle sizes were prepared. Another reaction that was tested in this study was the synthesis of biodiesel. Complete conversion of commercially available vegetable oils to fatty-acid esters and glycerol was accomplished in the newly designed system.