Energy consumption estimation in the scaling-up of microwave heating processes

The specific energy consumption of six different microwave-driven processes and equipments has been studied and it was found that the scale used dramatically affects it. Increasing the amount of sample employed from 5 to 100 g leads to a reduction in the specific energy consumption of 90–95%. When the amount of sample is 200 g or higher, the specific energy consumption remains practically constant. This means that to assess the real energy efficiency of a microwave-driven process a minimum mass of about 200 g needs to be used. The energy results can then be easily extrapolated to larger scales. Otherwise, a correlation should be used to avoid overestimated energy values and inaccurate energy efficiencies.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Bermúdez Menéndez, José Miguel, Beneroso Vallejo, Daniel, Rey Raap, Natalia, Arenillas de la Puente, Ana, Menéndez Díaz, José Ángel
Other Authors:	European Commission
Format:	artículo biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	Elsevier 2015-05-04
Subjects:	Microwave heating, Energy Consumption, Scale-up, Efficiency,
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10261/127508 http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000780
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