A Flow Tube Kinetics Study of Methyl Chloride Oxidation

Abstract

The fuel-lean oxidation of methyl chloride was investigated using flow tube kinetics experiments coupled with plug and laminar flow models that included detailed reaction chemistry. Acetylene, vinyl chloride, ethylene, methane and CO were observed as the major reaction products at partial conversion conditions. A sensitivity analysis combined with a rate of production analysis for key species observed experimentally was used to identify reaction bottlenecks in the initial literature model used. Rates for the CH₂CL + CH₂CL and CH₃ + CH₂CL recombination reactions were estimated using QRRK analysis. The modified model accurately predicted experimental measurements of both methyl chloride conversion and intermediate product species profiles as a function of temperature. Model and experimental results highlight the difference in oxidation pathway between lean and rich conditions. Oxidative pyrolysis speeds CH₃CL destruction and enhances CH₂CL production leading to formation of C₂H₃CL. C2 production is also enhanced due to the relative difficulty in oxidizing CH₃CL compared to CH₃. Both model and experimental results also demonstrate that high destruction levels for lean methyl chloride oxidation can be achieved at moderately high (< 1335 K) temperatures with low residence times (< 16 ms) assuming plug flow and hot wall conditions are maintained.

Key words:

• Chlorinated hydrocarbons
• incineration