Kinetics of ceria-catalysed ethene oxychlorination

Oxychlorination of ethene was conducted in a microreactor (150–375 °C) over a thin layer of CeO₂ prepared in the current work with the specific surface area of 80 m²/g and compared with the same reaction in millireactors (250–500 °C).The kinetic analysis revealed influence of the ethene concentration on the apparent activation energy which was different in micro- and millireactors. The previously developed reaction network was completed by including two parallel reactions for formation of ethylchloride and vinylchloride and two consecutive reactions accounting for formation of dichloroethane and vinylchloride via ethyl chloride. The reaction orders with respect to HCl and O₂ in the microreactor were comparable with the literature data for millireactors. Kinetic modeling was successfully carried for all reactants by using a steady state model of a packed bed reactor.