Processes and systems for pasteurizing and sterilizing a plurality of articles in a microwave heating system are provided. In certain aspects, groups of articles may be passed by a microwave launcher in a first convey direction and a second, opposite convey direction, so that each group of articles passes the microwave launcher more than once. Processes and systems described herein are also configured to uniformly heat spaced apart groups of articles without disrupting the operation of the microwave generator or distribution system.

Heating systems utilizing radio frequency (RF) energy and methods for using the same to rapidly and uniformly heat packaged articles moving through the system on one or more convey lines. These systems may be useful for a variety of processes, including the pasteurization or sterilization of packaged foodstuffs.

A method of treating a meat-substance containing a bone structure. The bone marrow is coagulated with microwaves generated by a solid-state RF energy source. The microwave heating may be carried out prior to a heat treatment of the meat-substance and/or may be carried out after slaughtering and before the fresh slaughtered meat-substance is frozen.

A process for heating articles includes sequentially passing loaded carriers in a continuous manner through a first processing section and sequentially passing said plurality of loaded carriers in an incremental manner through a second processing section using an incremental convey segment. The incremental convey segment includes sequential carrier-receiving slots, each carrier-receiving slot configured to receive one of the loaded carriers. The incremental convey segment is further configured to be move incrementally at multiples of discrete intervals corresponding to the carrier-receiving slots. The process further includes sequentially passing the loaded carriers in a continuous manner through a third processing section and heating articles supported by the carriers with microwave energy in at least one of the processing sections, the heating of the articles occurring while the articles are at least partially submerged in a liquid bath and at an pressure greater than atmospheric pressure.

A process for heating articles in a heating system includes passing an article in a carrier through a heating chamber that is at least partially filled with a liquid medium to form a liquid bath. The process further includes heating the article in the carrier by at least partially submerging the article into the liquid bath during heating, the heating being performed, at least in part, using microwave energy. The process further includes one or more of adding fluid into and removing fluid from at least one location in the heating chamber to maintain a temperature profile across the heating chamber. In one implementation, the temperature of the liquid bath at an inlet area of the heating chamber is at least 10° C. cooler than a temperature of the liquid bath at an outlet area of the heating chamber.

Heating systems utilizing radio frequency (RF) energy and methods for using the same to rapidly and uniformly heat packaged articles moving through the system on one or more convey lines. These systems may be useful for a variety of processes, including the pasteurization or sterilization of packaged foodstuffs.

Heating systems utilizing radio frequency (RF) energy and methods for using the same to rapidly and uniformly heat packaged articles moving through the system on one or more convey lines. These systems may be useful for a variety of processes, including the pasteurization or sterilization of packaged foodstuffs.

Processes and systems that enhance the heating of packaged foodstuffs and other items in various microwave heating systems are described herein. The foodstuffs may be contained in a package including one or more energy control elements that interact with microwave energy in order to alter the effect that microwave energy has on the foodstuff. These energy control elements can enhance or inhibit microwave energy and a single package may include one or more energy control elements. In some cases, the energy control element may respond differently to different types of microwave energy. As a result, some packages described herein may exhibit different absorption or reflectance characteristics when exposed to microwave energy while being pasteurized or sterilized in a larger-scale microwave heating system than when the package is reheated in an at-home microwave oven prior to consumption or use.

Different aspects of the invention refer to a disinfection apparatus, and corresponding method, for wood barrel disinfection using microwave shock pulse, MwSP, technology for the complete elimination of microbial populations. This is accomplished by a system which ensures deep and complete disinfection, however such that the temperature is maintained below material degradation level. Complete disinfection is achieved due to effectiveness up to the deepest layers. The wooden barrel material is however preserved, due to the non-harmful nature of the dosage regime programmed into the radio frequency emission.

A portable, sustainable, and efficient system and apparatus for breaking down processed solid plastic waste and other polymer-based feedstock into fuel oil, sustainable energy, carbon char, and other useful products. With minor modifications, biomass can also be treated. Distributed microwave heating sources and mechanical mixing effectively mix heat in a highly insulated reactor that protects the microwave components, makes fast pyrolysis possible, and thereby enables scaling down to compact and highly portable systems. Products include diesel, gasoline, propane, butane, and char. Product materials are distributed using tight temperature control and mechanical routing.