Predicting microwave-induced relative volatility change by a novel
dimensionless number
Abstract
Microwave (MW) can selectively interact with polar molecules in
homogeneous mixture liquid solution and therefore change their relative
volatility, which has been previously observed in experimental results
for various binary mixtures. However, the lack of theoretical analysis
and quantitative modeling hinders the further development of novel
MW-assisted separation techniques. Hence, this study derived a novel
dimensionless number ZMW based on the assumption of molecular
irradiation to explore the effect of the dielectric and thermodynamic
properties of materials as well as MW field intensity on the
microwave-induced relative volatility change (MIRVC). Furthermore, a
quantitative correlation between MIRVC and ZMW was established, whose
model parameters were determined by fitting experimental data under MW
irradiation. The correlation was also utilized to predict MIRVC in the
previously published literature and the error range between predictive
values and experimental values was within ± 6%, indicating great
validity of the proposed quantitative correlation.