Case Study: Massachusetts Institute of Technology achieves uniform, faster microwave heating for microreactors with COMSOL Multiphysics

Developing a New Microreactor for Organic Synthesis Using Microwave Heating

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were developing a borosilicate microreactor for microwave‑assisted organic synthesis but found heating was too slow and nonuniform to drive the desired chemistry. To diagnose the problem they used Comsol’s COMSOL Multiphysics simulation software to model microwave propagation, electric‑field strength, and heat convection in the waveguide and reactor geometry.

Using Comsol simulations, the team optimized reactor orientation (parallel to the microwave port), glass thickness (optimal near 7 mm), and channel placement to concentrate fluid in regions of highest electric field, then designed a multilayer channel reactor accordingly. Comsol‑guided changes produced much faster, higher steady‑state temperatures — simulations showed optimal configurations reaching ~75°C versus ~38°C in poor orientations — yielding more uniform, efficient heating and enabling the target organic reactions.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Wen-Hsuan Lee

Researcher