EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF A CRITICAL CHEMICAL REACTION: DECOMPOSITION OF HYDROGEN PEROXIDE (H2O2)

Abstract

The decomposition of hydrogen peroxide was studied using a reaction calorimeter. The solution of Iron (III) Nitrate was used as a homogeneous catalyst. The reaction rate was quantified from the course of the heat flux due to reaction measured during the experiments. To this end, the reaction rate was modeled as: a) a first order reaction, and b) an “mth” order reaction. The studies showed that the obtained results based on the assumption of a first order reaction were not good as expected, while the model based on “mth” order kinetics provided much better results and the experimental data could be well described.