The ability to precisely analyse the composition of liquid mixtures by
non-contact techniques in both static and flow situations is extremely
desirable for a variety of industrial, analytical and QC procedures.
Microwave resonators allow very accurate and sensitive characterisation
of the dielectric properties of polar liquids due to the strong
interaction of the latter with microwave electric fields. They offer
tremendous potential for investigation of very small amounts of polar
solvents in non-polar hosts. In this regard they are superior to other
traditional compositional analysis methods such as liquid
chromatography, gas chromatography and mass spectrometry in the speed of
analysis, non destructive nature and scope for miniaturisation of the
resonator to suit the system under test. Here, both lumped and
distributed element microwave resonators have been used for analysing
two-component mixtures flowing in microcapillary manifold systems. The
experimental results are shown to be highly repeatable and extremely
sensitive. It is expected that this book will greatly benefit
researchers involved in compositional analysis experiments.