Kinetics of the CH2Cl + CH3 and CHCl2 + CH3 radical-radical reactions

Ab initio calculations and kinetic modeling of thermal conversion of methyl chloride: implications for gasification of biomass

Limitations in current hot gas cleaning methods for chlorine species from biomass gasification may be a challenge for end use such as gas turbines, engines, and fuel cells, all requiring very low levels of chlorine. During devolatilization of biomass, chlorine is released partly as methyl chloride. In the present work, the thermal conversion of CH3Cl under gasification conditions was investigated. A detailed chemical kinetic model for pyrolysis and oxidation of methyl chloride was developed and validated against selected experimental data from the literature. Key reactions of CH2Cl with O2 and C2H4 for which data are scarce were studied by ab initio methods. The model was used to analyze the fate of methyl chloride in gasification processes. The results indicate that CH3Cl emissions will be negligible for most gasification technologies, but could be a concern for fluidized bed gasifiers, in particular in low-temperature gasification. The present work illustrates how ab initio theory and chemical kinetic modeling can help to resolve emission issues for thermal processes in industrial scale.

Chemical Activation Study of the Unimolecular Reactions of CD3CD2CHCl2 and CHCl2CHCl2 with Analysis of the 1,1-HCl Elimination Pathway

Chemically activated C₂D₅CHCl₂ molecules were generated with 88 kcal mol^-1 of vibrational energy by the recombination of C₂D₅ and CHCl₂ radicals in a room temperature bath gas. The competing 2,1-DCl and 1,1-HCl unimolecular reactions were identified by the observation of the CD₃CD═CHCl and CD₃CD═CDCl products. The initial CD₃CD₂C-Cl carbene product from 1,1-HCl elimination rearranges to CD₃CD═CDCl under the conditions of the experiments. The experimental rate constants were 2.7 × 10⁷ and 0.47 × 10⁷ s^-1 for 2,1-DCl and 1,1-HCl elimination reactions, respectively, which corresponds to branching fractions of 0.84 and 0.16. The experimental rate constants were compared to calculated statistical rate constants to assign threshold energies of 54 and ≈66 kcal mol^-1 for the 1,2-DCl and 1,1-HCl reactions, respectively. The statistical rate constants were obtained from models developed from electronic-structure calculations for the molecule and its transition states. The rate constant (5.3 × 10⁷ s^-1) for the unimolecular decomposition of CHCl₂CHCl₂ molecules formed with 82 kcal mol^-1 of vibrational energy by the recombination of CHCl₂ radicals also is reported. On the basis of the magnitude of the calculated rate constant, 1,1-HCl elimination must contribute less than 15% to the reaction; 1,2-HCl elimination is the major reaction and the threshold energy is 59 kcal mol^-1. Calculations also were done to analyze previously published rate constants for chemically activated CD₂ClCHCl₂ molecules with 86 kcal mol^-1 of energy to obtain a better overall description of the nature of the 1,1-HCl pathway for 1,1-dichloroalkanes. The interplay of the threshold energies for the 2,1-HCl and 1,1-HCl reactions and the available energy determines the product branching fractions for individual molecules. The unusual nature of the transition state for 1,1-HCl elimination is discussed.

Theoretical study on the methyl radical with chlorinated methyl radicals CH(3-n)Cln (n = 1, 2, 3) and CCl2

Radical-radical reactions involving chlorinated methyl radicals are particularly important in the mechanism of combustion of chlorinated hydrocarbons. Yet, they are usually difficult to study experimentally. In this paper, four chloride-related radical-radical reactions, i.e., CH3+CH(3-n)Cln (n = 1, 2, 3) and CH3+CCl2, are theoretically studied for the first time by means of the Gaussian-3//B3LYP potential energy surface survey combined with the master equation study over a wide range of temperatures and pressures. Our calculated results show that the three CH3+CH(3-n)Cln reactions can barrierlessly generate the former two kinetically allowed products P1 H(2)C=C(H)(3-n)Cl(n-1)+HCl and P2 CH3CH(3-n)Cl(n-1)+Cl with the very high predominance of P1 over P2. For the CH3 reaction with the biradical CCl2, which inevitably takes place during the CH3+CCl3 reaction and yet has never been studied experimentally or theoretically, H(2)C=CCl2+H and H(2)C=C(H)Cl+Cl are predicted to be the respective major and minor products. The results are compared with the recent laser photolysis/photoionization mass spectroscopy study on the CH3+CH(3-n)Cln (n = 1, 2, 3) reactions. The predicted rate constants and product branching ratios of the CH3+CCl2 reaction await future experimental verification.