HOMOGENEOUS GAS-PHASE THERMOLYSIS KINETICS . AN IMPROVED FLOW TECHNIQUE FOR DIRECT STUDY OF RATE PROCESSES IN GAS PHASE

The operational parameters of an improved flow method for direct determination of the kinetics of gas-phase thermolysis reactions have been evaluated. A scheme has been devised for rapidly estimating the rates of first-order decompositions in a single series of simple measurements at an established reactor temperature. The activation parameters for decomposition of ethyl acetate and dicyclopentadiene have been determined in this fashion and compared with the corresponding values reported by earlier authors applying a variety of kinetic techniques. The use of a gold-surfaced reactor and a highly diluted reaction medium has simplified (or eliminated) the problem of residual wall reaction.