Oxidation of Hydrogen Cyanide in Shock Waves. Formation of Nitrogen Monoxide

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/j100242a026

The oxidation of HCN by O2 or O2 + NO2 has been studied in shock waves over the temperature range 1450-2600 K and the pressure range 0.75-2.0 atm.The kinetics of the oxidation was monitored by following IR emission at 5.34 μm and UV emission at 306.7 nm, simultaneously.Induction times τ_IR and τ_OH were defined as the time that the intensities of the IR and UV emissions began to rapidly increase, respectively.The induction time τ_IR for the HCN-O2-Ar system could be represented by τ_IR = 1E-12.45exp (90.1 kJ/RT)^-0.66.^-0.01-0.26 s.When NO2 was added to the HCN-O2-Ar system, the induction time τ_OH became longer than that without NO2 at temperatures below 2000 K.The experimental profiles of the IR and UV emissions and the dependences on temperature and on concentrations of reactants of τ_IR and τ_OH were well reproduced by computer simulation by using 46 elementary reactions.A proper mechanism for the oxidation and the resulting formation of NO is proposed.