Kinetic Analysis of Nonisothermal Decomposition of Acetyl Ferrocene

ABSTRACT The work deals with thermal decomposition of acetyl ferrocene in nitrogen atmosphere based on nonisothermal thermogravimetry. It presents a mathematical analysis of nonisothermal thermogravimetric data using multiheating rates to estimate reaction kinetic parameters. Model free (integral isoconversional) methods are employed to analyze the thermogravimetric data. The decomposition is a multistep process. The activation energy E α of decomposition is conversion ( α ) dependent. The average values of activation energy are E α = 49.87, 106.28, and 183.35 kJ mol −1 for three major steps of decomposition. The most probable reaction mechanism function, g (α), for thermal reactions has been identified by the master plot method, and the stepwise reaction mechanisms are found to be different for different steps. The estimated values of the activation energy E α and g (α) have been utilized in the determination of the reaction rate A α of thermal decomposition. The α ‐dependent reaction rate values are determined and are found to lie in the range of 5.2 × 10 5 to 3.2 × 10 4 min −1 , 1.7 × 10 15 to 7.8 × 10 6 min −1 , and 3.8 × 10 8 to 1.4 × 10 7 min −1 for three different steps. Based on the values of E α , g (α), and A α , the thermodynamic triplets (Δ S , Δ H , Δ G ) associated with the decomposition reactions have been estimated. Estimated kinetic parameters have been used to construct the conversion curves, and those have been successfully compared with the experimentally observed ones.