Kinetics of absorption of chlorine in acetic acid in the presence of homogeneous catalysts

Abstract The physical solubility of chlorine in acetic acid is sufficiently large (=1.00 mol dm−3 at 333 K) to enable the kinetics of reaction between chlorine and acetic acid to be determined in the homogeneous phase. The product of reaction, monochloroacetic acid, is industrially important. The solubility of chlorine in acetic acid and monochloroacetic acid was determined. The homogeneous reaction kinetics between chlorine and acetic acid were studied using acetyl chloride and ferric chloride as catalysts. The heterogeneous kinetics of absorption of chlorine in acetic acid in the presence of ferric chloride as soluble catalyst was studied in a 10 cm agitated glass reactor. The reaction between dissolved chlorine and acetic acid was found to be very slow. In the agitated reactor the diffusion effects were completely eliminated and the reaction followed homogeneous kinetics. It was first order both with respect to chlorine as well as acetic acid. The values of second order rate constant were 2.9 × 10−5 and 13.7 × 10−5 dm3 mol−1 s−1 at 333 and 353 K, respectively.