A Stirred-Flow Reactor for Investigating the Kinetics of Gaseous Reactions: Application to the Decomposition of Di-t-butyl Peroxide

Abstract

The uncertainty regarding temperature and flow conditions which attaches to the conventional flow method of determining the rate of a gaseous reaction can be substantially reduced by using a stirred-flow reactor. The reagents, products, and carrier-gas (if any) are mixed sufficiently vigorously for the composition of the gas in the reactor to be virtually uniform. A reactor designed to achieve the required degree of mixing at pressures of about 1 cmHg and reaction times of the order of 1 sec to 1 min is described. The rate constant of the decomposition of di-t-butyl peroxide was determined over the temperature range 430-550 °K. The values derived on the assumption of complete mixing in the reactor were independent of the degree of conversion and in excellent agreement with those obtained by previous authors using the static method.