Microwaves, acoustic and hydrodynamic cavitation dramatically changed the way we think of chemical processes. Besides an efficient heat and mass transfer, these techniques may generate high-energy micro-environments and hot spots that strongly enhance reactivity and reaction rates. Although combined irradiation with these energy sources entails technical and safety considerations, sequential or simultaneous treatments can easily be performed on a lab and pilot scale with unexpected synergistic effects (Figure). Flow systems provide additional advantages because they close the gap between bench chemistry and chemical engineering by mimicking large-scale production on a lab or pilot scale. Relationship and synergy among different energy sources may help to fully understand their features and great potential, highlighting, whenever possible, comparative aspects. These enabling technologies have been successfully applied for alkynes semi-hydrogenations and to prepare lead-free highly selective catalysts (Project MAPSYN, seventh Framework Program grant agreement No. CP-IP 309376).

Green chemical processes under ultrasound and microwave irradiation: From batch to flow technology

251st National Meeting (2016)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.