Kinetics of liquid phase air oxidation of 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol

Abstract

The kinetics of absorption of oxygen in ethanolic solution of 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol was studied, in a glass as well as a pressurised reactor operated as a stirred cell with a flat gas-liquid interface, in the temperature range 323-343 K, with cuprammonium acetate as catalyst. The operating conditions could be manipulated for the system to fall in different controlling regimes by varying the concentration of 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol and catalyst and the partial pressure of oxygen. The absorption of oxygen, under certain conditions, was found to be accompanied by fast pseudo-zero-order reaction in the diffusion film. The reaction was found to be second-order in 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol. The measured values of true liquid side mass transfer coefficient and interfacial area, in a mechanically agitated reactor with gas dispersed in liquid, were typically 7.8 × 10^-4 m/s and 216 m²/m³, respectively.