Oxygen added in amounts of O.Ol-O.l% was found to cause the explosion of an acetylene-chlorine mixture at temperatures as low as -78OC. Explosion occurrence and nature depend on the mode of mixing the reactants, the effect of oxygen being associated with concentration limits. The dependence of explosion-inducing oxygen amounts on temperature, pressure, concentrations of reactants, reactor surface type and area, additions of inert gases, and reaction products were investigated. The effect of light on the C2H2 + C12 + O2 was studied. The composition of gaseous products resulting from acetylenechlorine mixture explosion in the presence of minute amounts of oxygen, from a slow reaction inhibited and noninhibited by oxygen, and also from explosion at 400°C in the absence of oxygen, was determined. The results obtained point to the fact that any acetylene-chlorine mixture flash caused by small amounts of oxygen is a branched chain reaction involving activated particles, chain branching presumably being associated with the decomposition of radical CHCl=CHOO*+ CH + HCI + CO2.
An improved radical-chain scheme of acetylene-chlorine mixture explosion initiated by small additions of oxygen is proposed. It includes among others the three-body formation of chemically activated state (2) and describes the inhibiting effect of oxygen below the explosion limit.CzH2Cl' + Clz + C2HzClz + C1.
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