Numerical study of the reaction of CN with O2

Contrast and Complexity in the Low-Temperature Kinetics of CN(v = 1) with O2 and NO: Simultaneous Kinetics and Ringdown in a Uniform Supersonic Flow

Bimolecular rate coefficients were determined for the reaction CN(v = 1) + NO and O2 using continuous wave cavity ringdown spectroscopy in a uniform supersonic flow (UF-CRDS). The well-matched time scales for ringdown and reaction under pseudo-first-order conditions allow for the use of the SKaR method (simultaneous kinetics and ringdown) in which the full kinetic trace is obtained on each ringdown. The reactions offer an interesting contrast in that the CN(v = 1) + NO system is nonreactive and proceeds by complex-mediated vibrational relaxation, while the CN(v = 1) + O2 reaction is primarily reactive. The measured rate coefficients at 70 K are (2.49 ± 0.08) × 10-11 and (10.49 ± 0.22) × 10-11 cm3 molecule-1 s-1 for the reaction with O2 and NO, respectively. The rate for reaction with O2 is a factor 2 lower than previously reported for v = 0 in the same temperature range, a surprising result, while that for NO is consistent with extrapolation of previous high-temperature measurements to 70 K. The latter is also discussed in light of theoretical calculations and measurements of the rate constants for the association reaction in the high-pressure limit. The measurements are complicated by the presence of a metastable population of high-J CN formed by photolysis of the precursor BrCN, and a kinetic model is developed to treat the competing relaxation and reaction. It is particularly problematic for reactions at low temperatures where the rotational relaxation and reaction have similar rates, precluding a reliable determination of the rate coefficients at 30 K. Also presented are important modifications to the data acquisition and control for the instrument that have yielded considerably enhanced stability and throughput.

Experimental and Kinetic Production of Ethanol Using Mucilage Juice Residues from Cocoa Processing

Ethanol was produced using mucilage juice residues from processed cocoa with Pichia kudriavzevii in batch fermentation. Experimental results showed that maximum ethanol concentration was 13.8 g/L, ethanol yield was 0.50 g-ethanol/g glucose with a productivity of 0.25 g/L h. Likewise, a novel phenomenological model based on the mechanism of multiple parallel coupled reactions was used to describe the kinetics of substrate, enzyme, biomass and product formation. Model parameters were optimized by applying the Levenberg-Marquardt approach. Analysis of results was based on statistical metrics (such as confidence interval), sensitivity and by comparing calculated curves with the experimental data (residual plots). The efficacy of the proposed mathematical model was statistically evaluated using the dimensionless coefficient for efficiency. Results indicated that the proposed model can be applied as a way of augmenting bioethanol production from laboratory scale up to semi-pilot scale.

Reaction dynamics of CN+O2→NCO+O(P23)

We have used oxygen Rydberg time-of-flight spectroscopy to carry out a crossed molecular beam study of the CN + O2 reaction at collision energies of 3.1 and 4.1 kcal/mol. The O(3P2) products were tagged by excitation to high-n Rydberg levels and subsequently field ionized at a detector. The translational energy distributions were broad, indicating that the NCO is formed with a wide range of internal excitation, and the angular distribution was forward-backward symmetric, indicating the participation of NCOO intermediates with lifetimes comparable to or longer than their rotational periods. Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus modeling of the dissociation of NCOO to NCO + O suggests that Do(NC-OO) > or = 38 kcal/mol, which is consistent with several theoretical calculations. Implications for the competing CO + NO channel are discussed.