New Insights into the Kinetics of the Gas-Phase Oxidation of Hexafluoropropene

The gas-phase reaction of hexafluoropropene and molecular oxygen was investigated in a tubular flow reactor at 450 kPa and within a temperature range of 463–493 K using HFP/O2 mixtures containing 20–67% HFP on a molar basis. Capillary and packed column chromatography served as the main analytical technique. The reaction yielded HFPO, COF2, CF3COF, C2F4 and c-C3F6 as gas-phase products. High molecular weight oligomers were also formed. The oligomers were found to have a polyoxadifluoromethylene structure according to elemental and 19F NMR analysis. At 493 K HFP is proposed to undergo oxygen-mediated decomposition to difluorocarbene radicals, yielding greater quantities of difluorocarbene recombination products. Kinetic parameters for a revised model of the oxidation process were identified through least squares analysis of the experimental data.