Oxidation of o-xylene in an integral packed bed reactor

Abstract

<p>The oxidation of o-xylene was investigated in an integral packed bed reactor using a K₂SO₄ promoted vanadium pentoxide catalyst on a TiO₂ support.</p> <p>Reaction products consisting of nine chemical components were analyzed by a new temperature-programmed gas chromatographic technique using three different columns to effect separation.</p> <p>A kinetic model based on the REDOX (catalyst reduction and oxidation) mechanism was employed. The statistical method of experimental design for parameter estimation based on M.J. Box's modification [116] of the Draper and Hunter method [47] was used. Statistical analysis based on the eigenvalue-eigenvector method of Box et al. [45] indicated correlation among the responses and this method was used to transform the multiple response data for use in estimating the parameters in the kinetic model.</p> <p>Since parameter estimates in the model were available from Wainwright's previous work [26], the method of Hoffman and Reilly [124] which is based on Bayes' theorem, was used to transfer this prior infonnation on the parameters to the present experimental system.</p> <p>The kinetic data obtained from using the new chromatographic technique developed in this study were found to be consistent. The kinetic model of Wainwright [26] for this reaction system was fitted to the multiple response data obtained from this study. The adequacy of this model in representing the. data was also tested. The use of the statistical teclmiques in experimental programs to develop kinetic models was found to be extremely effective. Some of the difficulties in using them are outlined.</p>