The Daily Bulletin Archive

Ricky Mittiga, a master's degree candidate in chemistry at Buffalo State, will present his master thesis seminar, "Determination of Kinetic Parameters of Equilibrium between Peracetic Acid and Hydrogen Peroxide to Calculate Self-Accelerating Decomposition Temperature," at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, May 5, in Science Building 272. Light refreshments will be served before the seminar.

Abstract
Peracetic acid is a simple molecule that works as a powerful oxidant in many applications including food safety and water disinfection. The synthesis of the compound is fairly understood due to a straightforward mixing of acetic acid and hydrogen peroxide. However, the decomposition of the compound has not been well studied. Few sources are available to provide kinetic data for the decomposition along with data that shows when the compound will undergo a self-accelerated decomposition that could lead to disastrous effects.

This paper will discuss an effortless way to determine kinetic parameters for the decomposition of peracetic acid in equilibrium with hydrogen peroxide using basic first-order kinetics, and then try to relate the energy given off during decomposition to the total active oxygen of the formulation by applying a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) to determine the enthalpy of decomposition. Once these parameters are established, the self-accelerating decomposition temperature (SADT) can be determined using an equation developed by Nikolay Semenov. This equation will apply chemical kinetics to a real world application that is not well understood by end users of this type of chemical.