Kinetics of the liquid phase oxidation of ethanol on a palladium-on-alumina catalyst.

Abstract

The oxidation of ethyl alcohol has been studied in an aqueous phase containing sodium carbonate over the temperature range 25 to 45°C, using a stirred semibatch reactor with four baffles containing 0.5% Pd-A12O 3 catalyst pellets. The intrinsic kinetic equations were derived empirically using the rate measurements of a stirred slurry reactor in which finely crushed pellets were suspended. The oxidation rate was found to be first order with respect to dissolved oxygen concentration which varied from 3.5 to 18.5 mg/liter. Both the gas-liquid interface and the liquid-particle surface mass transfer resistances were evaluated and found to be negligible. The measured effectiveness factor for the pellets, which was estimated by the ratio of reaction rate of the pellet system to that of the powder system, could be brought into agreement with theory by using a tortuosity value of 2.9.