**2.2 The pre-industrial prototype**

Therefore, a first development phase was run for this purpose, to design and then build a prototype that allows the scale-up of the MAP process, enabling the transition from the experimental laboratory studies carried out until today to a pre-industrial phase. The idea, born at the University of Florence and initially funded by one of Techwave's future partners, was materialized in 2016 with the construction of the first pre-industrial prototype (**Figure 4**).

This prototype was initially designed for the treatment of End Life Tires (ELTs) and was able to process [14–17] whole tire (approx. 8 kg) in 30 minutes. The prototype was equipped with electric heating to bring the material to the optimum temperature for the absorption of microwaves and four external MW generators, each supplied with electric power of 1 KW and able to deliver up to 3.2 KW of microwave power inside the oven, operating at the frequency of 2.45 GHz. Later with the birth of Techwave in 2018, it was decided to continue the scale-up of the MAP process by extending the technology to other waste plastic materials, even if mixed or contaminated. The results obtained during the first testing phase are described in the following paragraph.
