TOWARDS A UNIFIED THEORY OF REACTIONS OF CARBON WITH OXYGEN-CONTAINING MOLECULES

A review is given on the gasification of carbonaceous materials by oxygen-containing reactant molecules, with the emphasis on the attempt to unify the mechanistic description of the gasification process. This seems to hold for both the uncatalyzed and the alkali catalyzed reaction at elevated temperatures, although clear exceptions exist. In particular transient kinetic experiments, employing labelled molecules, and the application of molecular orbital calculations hold promise for the further elucidation and description of reaction models.