Accession Number:
AD0294334
Title:
KINETICS OF THE STEAM-CARBON REACTION (SECTION I). A KINETIC THEORY FOR THE OXIDATION OF GRAPHITE (SECTION II)
Descriptive Note:
Corporate Author:
UTAH UNIV SALT LAKE CITY
Personal Author(s):
Report Date:
1955-08-01
Pagination or Media Count:
64.0
Abstract:
A description is given of a more satisfactory type apparatus for the study of high temperature 1500 C, low pressure 1 to 100 microns heterogeneous processes in which one or more products is a gas. The water-gas reaction has been studied in the 900 C to 1300 C temperature range. This is the first kinetic study of this reaction at high temperatures in which the oxidizing gases have been carefully preheated to the reaction temperature. A zero-order reaction with an activation energy of 60.3 kcalmole is found in the 900 C to 1100 C range, changing to a first order process by 1300 C with a considerably lower value for the activation energy. Several possible mechanisms are discussed, including a surface rearrangement of adsorption sites and pre-dissociation of water vapor. A considerable amount of data on the carbon-oxygen reaction has been collected from the literature, evaluated, and expressed in such a manner that comparison can be made. A theory is proposed which applies to the complete temperature range in which data has been obtained, 350 C to 2000 C. In particular, the unusual maximum in the Arrhenius plot is explained on a theoretical basis although the model proposed is not readily adapted to the known structural features of graphite. Author