Apparatus for treating powdery materials utilizing microwave plasma

DETAILED DESCRIPTION It is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus for treating powdery materials utilizing microwave plasma which overcomes the above disadvantages in the prior art and which requires a smaller amount of reaction gas with higher energy efficiency and yet with higher recovery for powdery treated materials and which provides a continuous and uniform treatment without any special agitating means.
In order to accomplish the above object, this invention provides an apparatus for treating powdery materials utilizing microwave plasma, including means for generating a microwave, a waveguide connected with said microwave generating means, a reaction vessel disposed through said waveguide, means for supplying said reaction vessel with a powdery material to be treated, means for supplying said reaction vessel with a reaction gas and means for exhausting said reaction vessel, which is characterized in that said reaction vessel comprises a vertically elongated vessel having a bottom above which a plasma generating area is formed, said vessel being disposed such that its central axis is oriented substantially in the direction of gravity, or, in another embodiment of the invention, in that said reaction vessel comprises the reaction tube disposed substantially vertically therein and a horizontal bottom plate supported in said reaction tube, said bottom plate being vertically movable.