In-situ kinetic study on non-thermal reduction reaction of CuO during microwave heating

Reduction kinetics of CuO during microwave heating and conventional heating (electric furnace) were investigated to verify a process of direct transforming microwave energy into energy of reduction reaction. In the experiment, reduction speed during microwave heating or conventional heating was analyzed from an amount of emitted oxygen from a sample. An activation energy in each heating was obtained from an Arrhenius plot of the results. The activation energy in microwave heating at the maximum point of E-field (E-field heating) was decreased to 2/3 that in conventional one and the activation energy in microwave heating at the maximum point of H-field (H-field heating) was also decreased to 1/3 compared to that in conventional one. As the sample was reduced to Cu₂O, microwave energy is transformed directly into reduction energy because the enthalpy of the reduction reaction is larger than activation energies in E-field and H-field heating.