Microwave-assisted extraction method may cause safety issue especially in large scale setting. Is there any way to improve the equipment to prevent or minimize the risk? Please discuss it.
What is "large scale"? Is the extraction for analytical purposes? If yes, you'd be working with mL quantities of liquids and gram quantities of solids, in dedicated MW extraction machines.
There are many safety considerations taken by the manufacturers of laboratory equipments, therefore don`t use the domestic microwave oven for extraction and follow the instructions.
Dear Sir. Concerning your issue about the Microwave-assisted extraction method. Microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) is a process of using microwave energy to heat solvents in contact with a sample in order to partition analytes from the sample matrix into the solvent. The ability to rapidly heat the sample solvent mixture is inherent to MAE and the main advantage of this technique. By using closed vessels the extraction can be performed at elevated temperatures accelerating the mass transfer of target compounds from the sample matrix. A typical extraction procedure takes 15–30 min and uses small solvent volumes in the range of 10–30 ml. These volumes are about 10 times smaller than volumes used by conventional extraction techniques. In addition, sample throughput is increased as several samples can be extracted simultaneously. In most cases recoveries of analytes and reproducibility are improved compared to conventional techniques, as shown in several applications. This review gives a brief theoretical background of microwave heating and the basic principles of using microwave energy for extraction. It also attempts to summarize all studies performed on closed-vessel MAE until now. The influences of parameters such as solvent choice, solvent volume, temperature, time and matrix characteristics (including water content) are discussed. I think the following below link and the attached files may help you in your analysis: