Simplifying Gas-Phase Kinetics with a Dual-Arm Flow Tube Reactor

Fuente: arXiv
Enregistré dans:
Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs principaux: Durif, Olivier, Nozière, Barbara
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:
Tags: Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
_version_ 1866917525964455936
author Durif, Olivier
Nozière, Barbara
author_facet Durif, Olivier
Nozière, Barbara
contents We present a flow tube reactor design for gas-phase kinetics studies near ambient temperature and pressure. Built entirely from standard tubing, the setup simplifies conventional flow tube configurations based on injector translation while allowing tighter adjustment of reaction time. The reactor spans residence times from sub-second to several minutes through two operating modes: (i) a variable-length mode, in which reaction time is controlled by the tube length, and (ii) a variable-flow mode, in which the second arm acts as an exhaust branch that decouples reactor pressure from inlet flows while allowing the reactor flow rate to be adjusted over a setup-dependent range. Key advantages include a narrow and well-characterized residence time distribution, rapid radial mixing in millimeter-scale tubing, low wall reactivity through the use of perfluoroalkoxy alkane (PFA), and operation of the reaction section at nearly uniform pressure independently of detector constraints. We characterize the residence time distribution and demonstrate reactor performance with the ozonolysis of 2,3-dimethyl-2-butene. Overall, the method provides a compact, low-cost, and versatile alternative to conventional movable-injector flow tubes, with potential applications in atmospheric chemistry, fundamental kinetics, and gas--liquid or gas--solid uptake studies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_23907
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Simplifying Gas-Phase Kinetics with a Dual-Arm Flow Tube Reactor
Durif, Olivier
Nozière, Barbara
Systems and Control
We present a flow tube reactor design for gas-phase kinetics studies near ambient temperature and pressure. Built entirely from standard tubing, the setup simplifies conventional flow tube configurations based on injector translation while allowing tighter adjustment of reaction time. The reactor spans residence times from sub-second to several minutes through two operating modes: (i) a variable-length mode, in which reaction time is controlled by the tube length, and (ii) a variable-flow mode, in which the second arm acts as an exhaust branch that decouples reactor pressure from inlet flows while allowing the reactor flow rate to be adjusted over a setup-dependent range. Key advantages include a narrow and well-characterized residence time distribution, rapid radial mixing in millimeter-scale tubing, low wall reactivity through the use of perfluoroalkoxy alkane (PFA), and operation of the reaction section at nearly uniform pressure independently of detector constraints. We characterize the residence time distribution and demonstrate reactor performance with the ozonolysis of 2,3-dimethyl-2-butene. Overall, the method provides a compact, low-cost, and versatile alternative to conventional movable-injector flow tubes, with potential applications in atmospheric chemistry, fundamental kinetics, and gas--liquid or gas--solid uptake studies.
title Simplifying Gas-Phase Kinetics with a Dual-Arm Flow Tube Reactor
topic Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.23907