Kinetic Study of the Pyrolysis of Formaldehyde

Abstract

Kinetics of the thermal decomposition of pure formaldehyde were studied over a temperature range of 466–516 °C and a pressure range of ~ 50–160 Torr. Arrhenius parameters and rate laws were determined for carbon monoxide, hydrogen and methanol as follows:[Formula: see text]A mechanism is postulated which is qualitatively consistent with the experimental results but the activation energy for reaction 1[Formula: see text]is ~15 kcal/mol lower than predicted from recent thermochemical data, suggesting the possibility of a heterogeneous reaction.