Chemical Engineering & Technology, Vol.32, No.5, 778-788, 2009
Kinetics of Catalytic Ozonation of Methyl tert-Butyl Ether in the Presence of Perfluorooctyl Alumina
In this work, the kinetics of heterogeneous ozonation of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) in the presence of perfluorooctyl alumina (PFOAL) catalysts is presented. Activity of the PFOAL catalysts in ozonation reactions of MTBE was studied in a batch reactor over the temperature range of 25 to 40 degrees C. The results show that PFOAL is an effective catalyst for enhancing the molecular mechanism of ozone reactions. For a catalyst concentration of 5 g/L, the contribution of the rate of heterogeneous catalytic reaction in the total reaction rate is about 50%, 75 %, and 85 % at the reaction temperatures of 25 degrees C, 30 degrees C, and 40 degrees C, respectively. Kinetic studies showed that the chemical reaction of ozone and MTBE is the controlling step in this catalytic system. The quasi-homogeneous kinetic model proved to be an appropriate approach in modeling the heterogeneous reaction of ozone with MTBE on PFOAL catalysts.