Intrinsic kinetics for the synthesis of acetonitrile from ethanol and ammonia over Co–Ni/γ–Al2O3 catalyst

The intrinsic kinetics was studied for the synthesis of acetonitrile from amination–dehydrogenation of ethanol over the Co–Ni/γ–Al2O3 catalyst in the fixed-bed reactor. Experiments were carried out at reaction temperatures in the range 613–643 K, reactor pressure of 0.1 MPa, the ratios of volume feed velocity to catalyst volume (V0/VR) more than 12.99 min−1 and large excesses of ammonia concentration over that of ethanol. The power-law model was used to fit the experimental data, and the model parameters were estimated using the Matlab software. Finally, a reaction kinetic model was proposed to describe the reaction, the calculated activation energy was 51.18 kJ mol−1 and the reaction order to ethanol was 1.183.

Research highlights
► External diffusion limitation was eliminated when V0/VR more than 12.99 min−1.
► Internal diffusion limitation was eliminated when particle size of 0.25–2.36 mm.
► At large excesses of ammonia concentration over ethanol, the kinetic model was rA=8.98×102exp−51.18RTCA1.183.