Food will cook in a parabolic solar oven of varying size, given a modicum of solar energy. Given this example, it should follow that parabolic solar ovens could also power a variety of basic chemistry reactions. Reactions successfully run in Middle Tennessee over Summer 2012 at Tennessee Technological University include experiments in boiling water to a simple distillation reaction of water and ethanol, with variations in parabolic oven type providing exciting results in temperature-versus-time graphing. Distillation was very satisfactory, running at a reasonable and even rate and providing large samples of separated ethanol.  Solar-powered reaction times seemed not dependent on amount of cloud cover as much as available solar wattage, but also seemed dependable so long as there was less than approximately 50% cloud cover in what was a wet summer for the area.

Solar ovens to power/run simple organic reactions

245th National Meeting (2013)

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