Many other applications have also been proposed for microwave heating, such as
the disinfestation of parasites in stored grains, destruction of unwanted seeds and
weeds in soil without the use of herbicides, germination of seeds, crop protection during
cold spells, accelerating fermentation of grapes for wine making and oyster shucking
[10].
Table 5.2 lists the early and current industrial applications of microwave heating. Various
applications of microwave heating of foodstuffs have been compiled and tabulated in
Table 5.3. The list is not exhaustive and serves to illustrate examples of the different types of
microwave heating applications. Reviews on the processing of various foodstuffs using
microwaves can be found in [6–12].
5.3 Ceramic Processing
Investigations into the processing of ceramics using microwaves began in the 1950s and
have progressed rapidly in the past two decades [13, 21–23]. A report by the National
Materials Advisory Board [22], reviews by Clark and Sutton [13], Sutton [21] and the
newly published book Microwave Solutions for Ceramic Engineers [23] provide a
comprehensive review on the research activities in microwave processing of ceramic
materials.
Microwave processing of ceramics has also been the main focus of discussions
based on the number of papers published in the proceedings of international microwave
conferences and world congresses on microwave and radio frequency processing
[23].
Due to its unique characteristics, microwave processing of ceramic materials has the
potential of reducing the processing time, improving the properties, uniformity and quality
of the materials, sintering of nano-sized materials, synthesizing and processing of new and
unconventional materials. In addition, significant savings in energy and capital costs can be