KINETICS OF VAPOUR PHASE DEHYDROCHLORINATION OF 1,1,1-TRICHLOROETHANE OVER SOLID CATALYSTS.

The kinetics of vapour phase dehydrochlorination of 1,1,1-trichloroethane was studied in a fluidized bed reactor in the temperature range 200-260 degree C using activated alumina and silica gel as catalysts. The data are expressed in the form of a first order reaction rate equation. Rate equations have also been formulated for both the catalysts on the basis of Hougen-Watson approach. In the case of activated alumina, none of the mechanisms tested represented the data satisfactorily. Single-site adsorption of trichloroethane (hydrogen chloride adsorbed) was found to be the rate-controlling mechanism at all the temperatures covered in the case of silica gel. The rate data obtained in the entire ranges of experimental conditions fit the rate equation based on this mechanism with an average deviation in the range 12. 93-20. 23% for the temperature range 200-260 degree C.