Redistribution of Metal Concentrations in the Products of Microwave Discharge in Liquid Residues of Heavy Petroleum Feedstock.

Microwave discharges in liquids represent a new direction in plasma physics and chemistry. Results of experiments on the recovery of metals from a liquid residue after vacuum distillation of the hydroconversion product of vacuum tower bottoms by treating the residue with microwave discharge initiated in its bulk at atmospheric pressure are presented. It has been found for the first time that the concentrations of Al, Co, Cu, Fe, Mo, Ni, V, and Zn metals in a treelike structure deposited on a microwave antenna are 10-20 times their concentrations in the substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]