A Study of a Microwave Waveguide Structure for Hydrocarbon Recovery from Mineral Oil Waste

The goal of this article is the development a portable system for the neutralization of a ship's tank waste products by heating them exploiting microwaves selective absorption, based on hollow waveguides. The extraction of hydrocarbons from the waste will make them safe for deposit and providing the possibility of easy landfill or recycling. The development of the model requires the simulation of the device using a Multiphysics simulator. The proposed structure is based on the flow of the wastewater through a quartz tubed placed inside a WR-340 rectangular waveguide which will be operated at its fundamental mode at 2.45 GHz. The proposed microwave technique leads to a uniform heating of the material at $260^\circ C$ with efficient 99 % while maintaining the leaked electromagnetic radiation from the device in safely level. Furthermore, the size of the aforementioned device permits its mounting it to an appropriate vehicle able to arrive and operate on site (e.g. ports).