Dehydrogenation of Methylcyclohexane: Parametric Sensitivity of the Power Law Kinetics

Abstract

For heterogeneous catalytic reactions, the empirical power law model is a valuable tool that explains variation in the kinetic behavior with changes in operating conditions, and therefore aids in the development of an appropriate and robust kinetic model. In the present work, experiments are performed on 1.0 wt% Pt/Al 2 O 3 catalyst over a wide range of experimental conditions and parametric sensitivity of the power law model to the kinetics of the dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane is studied. Power law parameters such as order of the reaction, activation energy, and kinetic rate constants are found dependent upon the operating conditions. With H 2 in the feed, both apparent order of the reaction and apparent activation energy generally increase with an increase in pressure. The results suggest a kinetic model, which involves nonlinear dependence of rate on the partial pressure of hydrogen and adsorption kinetics of toluene or some intermediate.