THE ROLE OF SELECTIVE HEATING IN THE MICROWAVE ACTIVATION OF HETEROGENEOUS CATALYSIS REACTIONS USING A CONTINUOUS MICROWAVE REACTOR

This paper deals with the contribution of microwave heating to organic synthesis, especially to esterification. When the reaction is conduct ed in a heterogeneous medium and under microwave heating, the reaction rate increases compared to classical heating under the same condition s. This is due to selective heating of the catalyst particles creating hot spots, resulting in an increased reaction rate. The temperature o f the reactive site was calculated to be 9-18 K above the bulk tempera ture. A new continuous flow microwave reactor has been tested in order to show the role of selective heating of the catalyst in the activati on of organic reactions under microwave heating.