Critical issues in microwave-assisted activated carbon preparation

The use of microwaves to assist the preparation of activated carbon has been widely published in literature. However, there are critical issues regarding the microwave principles that have been ignored. This article is aimed to provide remarks on the recent progress, and to address critical aspects that are of interest, yet have been neglected in much of published study. Issues highlighted here are worth to be considered to ensure the reliability and reproducibility of the microwave-assisted process, especially in large scale production.

► Carbonization step in microwave-activation could be skipped.
► The importance of temperature measurement system.
► A rigorous understanding of dielectric properties for scaling-up.
► Thermal runaway is very likely to happen in microwave-activation.