An experimental study has been conducted for the oxidation reaction of ethylene over a range of ethylene partial pressure wider than in the previous studies. The silver catalyst was prepared by the impregnation method with α-alumina as the support. A continuous flow reactor of differential type was employed to measure the reaction rate of ethylene oxide formation as well as that of carbon dioxide formation.
The reaction rate constants and the adsorption equilibrium constants were determined as functions of the temperature by applying the data to the rate expressions proposed.
These expressions then provided us with the activation energies, the enthalpies of adsorption, and the entropies of adsorption, the latter pair of which was tested to prove that the proposed reaction mechanism is thermodynamically meaningful.
The partial pressure profiles of the reactant and the products were measured from the integral flow reactor and compared with those obtained by integrating the reaction rate equations determined in this study. While the profiles for the reactant were in good agreement, those for the products tended to be discrepant as the contact time increased. This implies that the complete oxidation of ethylene oxide may have to be taken into consideration when the contact time is large.