Microwave chemical processing reactor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9767992-B1
Application number	US-201715428474-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Feb 9, 2017
Priority date	Feb 9, 2017
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

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 processing reactor comprising:
a microwave energy source that provides microwave energy;
a field-enhancing waveguide serving as a reaction chamber and coupled to the microwave energy source, the field-enhancing waveguide having a first cross-sectional area and a second cross-sectional area, wherein the field-enhancing waveguide includes a field-enhancing zone between the first cross-sectional area and the second cross-sectional area, a plasma zone, and a reaction zone, and
wherein the second cross-sectional area:
is smaller than the first cross-sectional area, and the field-enhancing zone has a decreasing cross-sectional area from the first cross-sectional area to the second cross-sectional area;
is farther away from the microwave energy source than the first cross-sectional area; and
extends along a reaction length that forms the reaction zone of the field-enhancing waveguide, wherein the microwave energy propagates in a direction along the reaction length;
a supply gas inlet into which a supply gas is flowed, wherein the supply gas inlet is upstream of the reaction zone; and
a process inlet into which a process input material is flowed into the reaction zone, the process inlet being located in the reaction zone;
wherein in the reaction zone, a majority of the supply gas flow is parallel to the direction of the microwave energy propagation; and
wherein the supply gas is used to generate a plasma in the plasma zone to convert the process input material into separated components in the reaction zone, wherein the converting of the process input material occurs at a pressure of at least 0.1 atmosphere.

2. The reactor of claim 1 , wherein the process input material is a gas, liquid or colloidal dispersion.

3. The reactor of claim 1 , wherein the process input material is a gas, liquid or colloidal dispersion selected from the group consisting of a hydrocarbon gas, methane, an alcohol, methanol, isopropanol, and a colloidal dispersion comprising a carbonaceous particle.

4. The reactor of claim 1 , wherein the separated components comprise hydrogen and a nanoparticulate carbon.

5. The reactor of claim 4 , wherein the nanoparticulate carbon comprises one or more forms of graphene, graphite, carbon nano-onions, fullerenes or nano-tubes.

6. The reactor of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of the field-enhancing waveguides having a plurality of the reaction zones, each of the field-enhancing waveguides having one reaction zone of the plurality of reaction zones; and
wherein the microwave energy source is a single microwave energy source, the plurality of the field-enhancing waveguides being coupled to the single microwave energy source.

7. The reactor of claim 6 :
wherein the plurality of reaction zones are connected to each other; and
the reactor further comprises an outlet through which the separated components are collected from the plurality of reaction zones.

8. The reactor of claim 6 , wherein the microwave energy source supplies the microwave energy to the plurality of field-enhancing waveguides using multiplexing.

9. The reactor of claim 1 , further comprising:
a plurality of the field-enhancing waveguides having a plurality of the reaction zones, each of the field-enhancing waveguides having one reaction zone of the plurality of reaction zones; and
a plurality of the microwave energy sources, wherein each microwave energy source is coupled to one of the field-enhancing waveguides.

10. The reactor of claim 9 :
wherein the plurality of reaction zones are connected to each other; and
the reactor further comprises an outlet through which the separated components are collected from the plurality of reaction zones.

11. The reactor of claim 9 , wherein the microwave energy source supplies the microwave energy to the plurality of field-enhancing waveguides using multiplexing.

12. The reactor of claim 1 :
wherein the reaction zone of the field-enhancing waveguide has walls;
wherein the process inlet comprises a plurality of process inlets that provide the process input material to the reaction zone through the walls; and
the reactor further comprises a plurality of secondary supply gas inlets that provide the supply gas to the reaction zone through the walls.

13. The reactor of claim 1 , wherein the reactor is absent of a dielectric barrier between the field-enhancing zone of the field-enhancing waveguide and the reaction zone.

14. The reactor of claim 1 , wherein the microwave energy is i) continuous wave or ii) pulsed at a frequency greater than 10 kHz.

15. The reactor of claim 1 , wherein the separated components include H 2 , and at least a portion of the separated component H 2 is recycled back to the field-enhancing zone.

16. The reactor of claim 1 , further comprising a metal filament in the reaction zone, the metal filament serving to reduce an ignition voltage for generating the plasma.

17. The reactor of claim 1 , further comprising an electron source that supplies electrons into the reaction zone, thereby reducing an ignition voltage for generating the plasma.

18. The reactor of claim 1 , further comprising a pair of electrodes coupled to the reaction zone, wherein the pair of electrodes adds energy to the generated plasma.

19. The reactor of claim 1 , further comprising a magnet to confine the plasma in the reaction zone and reduce an ignition voltage for generating the plasma.

Assignees

• Lyten Inc

Inventors

• Stowell Michael W
• Anzelmo Bryce H
• Riso Thomas

Classifications

• H01J37/32192 Primary

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

• H01J37/32532

  Electrodes · CPC title

• H01J2237/334

  Etching · CPC title

• H01J37/3244

  Gas supply means · CPC title

• H01J37/32229

  Waveguides · CPC title