OXIDATION-KINETICS OF ZINC VAPOR IN CO-CO2 MIXTURES .1. COMPARISON WITH PAST LITERATURE

The methods employed and the results obtained during a recent investigation of the oxidation of gaseous zinc by CO:CO2 mixtures are described. The kinetic data are tested against the predictive models derived and employed by previous investigators of this reaction. Although the experimentally determined reaction rates are highly reproducible, no consistent agreement can be found with the models presented in the prior literature. Efforts to account for the kinetics on the basis of the oxygen potential of the gas mixture are also unsuccessful. It is concluded that previous attempts to understand the kinetics in terms of the reaction Zn-(g) + CO2(g) => ZnO(s) + CO(g) are oversimplistic. A novel interpretation which appears to resolve the discrepancies of the literature is detailed in the second of two articles on the subject.