The oxidation of gaseous formaldehyde

Abstract

Abstract The oxidation of gaseous formaldehyde at temperatures in the region of 340° C has been studied manometrieally and analytically. The observations made by previous investigators on the reaction have in general been confirmed, but, in addition, certain new kinetic data have been obtained. In particular, the effect of diameter on the rate has been shown to be much less profound than had been reported previously, and the coupled decomposition of formaldehyde, induced by the presence of only very small amounts of oxygen— a fact previously noted by Style & Summers—has been confirmed. In order to explain this new data and to provide a more satisfactory alternative to the reaction schemes already proposed for this reaction, a mechanism based on the oxidation of hydrogen and hydrogen/carbon monoxide mixtures, to which formaldehyde may be regarded as analogous, and involving H and O atoms and OH and H02 radicals has been developed which will account for the observed facts satisfactorily, and does not involve the postulation of the rather cumbersome intermediates previously put forward.