Microwave chemical processing reactor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10937632-B2
Application number	US-201715676649-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 14, 2017
Priority date	Feb 9, 2017
Publication date	Mar 2, 2021
Grant date	Mar 2, 2021

Abstract

A processing reactor includes a microwave energy source and a field-enhancing waveguide. The field-enhancing waveguide has a field-enhancing zone between a first cross-sectional area and a second cross-sectional area of the waveguide, and also has a plasma zone and a reaction zone. The second cross-sectional area is smaller than the first cross-sectional area, is farther away from the microwave energy source than the first cross-sectional area, and extends along a reaction length of the field-enhancing waveguide. The supply gas inlet is upstream of the reaction zone. In the reaction zone, a majority of the supply gas flow is parallel to the direction of the microwave energy propagation. A supply gas is used to generate a plasma in the plasma zone to convert a process input material into separated components in the reaction zone at a pressure of at least 0.1 atmosphere.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A reactor system comprising:
a microwave energy source configured to generate a microwave energy;
a field-enhancing waveguide (FEWG) serving as a reaction chamber and coupled to the microwave energy source, the FEWG comprising:
a first cross-sectional area and a second cross-sectional area, the second cross-sectional area farther away from the microwave energy source than the first cross sectional area;
a field-enhancing zone disposed between the first cross-sectional area and the second cross-sectional area and having a cross-sectional area that decreases along a length of the FEWG, the FEWG further comprising:
a supply gas inlet configured to receive a supply gas;
a reaction zone disposed downstream of the supply gas inlet, along the length of the FEWG and configured to generate a plasma in response to excitation of the supply gas by the microwave energy; and
a process inlet located downstream from the supply gas inlet and configured to inject a raw material into the reaction zone;
a pair of electrodes positioned outside on opposite sides of the FEWG proximate to the reaction zone, the pair of electrodes configured to generate an electric field through which the plasma and the raw material are combined; and
an outlet configured to output a carbon structure resulting from the combination of the plasma and the raw material.

2. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the process inlet is positioned proximate to the plasma.

3. The reactor system of claim 1 , where the reaction zone has a pressure of at least approximately 0.1 atmosphere.

4. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the supply gas comprises hydrogen, helium or a noble gas.

5. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein a shape of the FEWG is defined by one or more walls.

6. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the process inlet is configured to flow the raw material at a flow rate of greater than approximately 5 standard liters per minute (slm) into the reaction zone.

7. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the raw material further comprises a gas, a liquid, or a colloidal dispersion.

8. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the pair of electrodes is configured to generate an electric field within the FEWG.

9. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the pair of electrodes at least partially surrounds the FEWG.

10. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the supply gas is at least partially consumed to generate the plasma.

11. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the microwave energy source is configured to adjust one or more of a pulsing frequency, a pulsing duty cycle, a pulsing shape, or an output power level of the microwave energy.

12. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the raw material further comprises any one or more of carbonaceous particles, colloidal dispersions, or a plurality of solid particles.

13. The reactor system of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of solid particles is configured to be mixed with any one or more of liquid forms of water, alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, aromatic hydrocarbons, saturated hydrocarbons, or unsaturated hydrocarbons.

14. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the raw material further comprises any one or more of solid inorganic materials coated in organic materials, silicon coated with graphene, composite materials having interlayers of organic or inorganic materials, or a silicon core having a layer of carbon encapsulating the silicon core.

15. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the raw material further comprises any one or more of sulfur, SiH 4 , trimethylaluminum, trimethylgallium, or glycidyl methacrylate.

16. The reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the plasma is configured to convert the raw material into separated components in the reaction zone.

Assignees

• Lyten Inc

Inventors

• Stowell Michael W
• Anzelmo Bryce H
• Riso Thomas

Classifications

• H01J37/32229

  Waveguides · CPC title

• H01J37/32192 Primary

  Microwave generated discharge (H01J37/32357, H01J37/32366, H01J37/32394, H01J37/32403 take precedence) · CPC title

• H01J37/3244

  Gas supply means · CPC title

• H01J37/32532

  Electrodes · CPC title

• H01J2237/334

  Etching · CPC title