Study of CO2 gasification of activated carbon catalysed by molybdenum oxide and potassium carbonate

A kinetic study is made of the reaction of activated carbon gasification by CO₂ catalysed by MoO₃ and K₂CO₃, using a microbalance to record the loss of weight as a function of time. Orders and activation energies were measured. MoO₃ is found to be a good catalyst at low temperatures and moderate pressures. The effect of loading on reactivity shows saturation above ≈ 0.3 wt %. The catalytic effect of the mixture MoO₃/K₂CO₃ is found to be slightly above the effect expected by the addition of the separate effects of the two catalysts. A brief reference is made to the possible mechanism for these reactions.