Kinetics of the vapor‐phase oxidation of toluene over a vanadium catalyst

Rates of oxidation of toluene were measured as a function of temperature and reactant concentration. A fixed bed reactor was operated at low conversions over the following range of conditions, 300°C to 350°C., 1 × 10 −3 to 15 × 10 −3 moles oxygen per litre of gas, and 1 × 10 −3 to 6 × 10 −3 moles toluene per litre of gas. The rate data for the oxidation of toluene were correlated by the following equation, which is based on a model by Hinshelwood.\documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$$ r_s = \frac{{k_a k_l C_t C_o }}{{k_a C_o + Nk_l C_t }} $$\end{document}The values of k , obtained agree with those reported previously for naphthalene oxidation (1) . It is concluded that the Hinshelwood model is a useful one for this type of reaction, and within the limits of available data provides a satisfactory interpretation.