These photographs show waste sand entering and exiting the unit, along with pictures taken through the viewports of red-hot exiting the system.

The above slide shows sand after mechanical and microwave processing. The measured LOI was 0.01 and the exit temperature of this sand was about 350C.

One of the primary benefits of microwave processing of materials is the fact that it’s actually the material itself that’s providing the heat, as opposed to the material having to heated by some additional fuel source, such as natural gas or energy from electrical-resistance heating.

This is also the basis for the efficiency of microwave processes, the decreased process times and the typically small equipment footprint as opposed to other processing equipment. Basically, microwave equipment and devices do not heat “the box” or the system that contains the product material, which comprise the equipment chamber, thermal insulation or carrier system for the product material, as those system components are usually made of materials that do not absorb microwave energy (such as metal housings, silica or alumina insulation, etc.)