Absorption of oxygen by aqueous sodium sulphite solutions

Abstract

New data have been reported on the absorption of oxygen by aqueous sodium sulphite solutions with cobalt sulphate as catalyst at 30°C. It is observed that the absorption rate increases up to a critical sulphite concentration beyond which the absorption rate becomes constant and this critical concentration varies with the catalyst concentration. The order of reaction with respect to sulphite and oxygen in the constant absorption rate regime was found to be zero and two respectively. The absorption rate is affected by the total ionic strength (sulphite and sulphate) in addition to the effect of pH and catalyst concentraion. The reported data were also analysed to ascertain the effect of temperature and a relationship has been proposed for prediction of the second order reaction rate constant.