Dynamic model for a uniform microwave-assisted continuous flow process of ethyl acetate production

Abstract

The aim of this work is to present a model of a reaction tube with cross structures in order to improve ethyl acetate production and microwave heating uniformity. A commercial finite element software, COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3a (Newton, MA, USA), is used to build the proposed model for a BJ-22 rectangular waveguide system. Maxwell's equations, the heat conduction equation, reaction kinetics equation and Navier-Stokes equation are combined to describe the continuous flow process. The electric field intensity, the temperature, the concentration of water, the coefficient of variation (COV) and the mean temperature at different initial velocities are compared to obtain the best flow rate. Four different initial velocities are employed to discuss the effect of flow velocity on the heating uniformity and heating efficiency. The point temperatures are measured by optical fibers to verify the simulated results. The results show the electric field intensity distributions at different initial velocities have little difference, which means the initial velocity will have the decisive influence on the heating process. At lower velocity, the COV will be smaller, which means better heating uniformity. Meanwhile, the distance between each cross structure has great influence on the heating uniformity and heating efficiency, while the angle has little. The proposed model can be applied to large-scale production of microwave-assisted ethyl acetate production.