Large scale sonochemical processing: aspiration and actuality

It has been recognised for many years that power ultrasound has great poten tial in a wide variety of processes in the chemical and allied industries. Some of these processes have been known for many years and continue to flou rish as major commercial applications, e.g. plastic welding and cleaning. O thers, like ultrasonic drilling, while showing great potential have not bee n widely exploited to date. The potential for the industrial use of power u ltrasound is enormous, and yet industry seems somewhat reluctant to adopt i t. In this article the existing uses of power ultrasound in processing are reviewed and the potentials are explored. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.