KINETICS OF M ETHAN ATI ON OF CARBON MONOXIDE AND CARBON DIOXIDE

Abstract

The kinetics of reaction of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide with hydrogen in a nickel catalyst tube wall reactor were investigated experimentally and the reaction mechanisms were clarified.
The observed rate laws were
-r_co = (k₁P_H2P^1/2_CO)/(1 + K_COP_CO) for carbon monoxide, and
-r_co2 = (k''P_H2P^1/3_CO2)/(1 + K_CO2P_CO2 + K_H2 + K_H2OP_H2O)
for carbon dioxide at low partial pressure.
These reaction rate laws were derived theoretically from the proposed reaction mechanism. For a mixture of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide the kinetics of the reaction proved to be well accounted for by the same reaction mechanism.