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Title:	A study of the effect of a dielectric field on the solvolysis rate of tert-butyl bromide in a recycle reactor
Author:	Ball, Rolf L.
View Online:	njit-etd1972-012 (25 pages ~ 5.8 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry
Degree:	Master of Science
Program:	Chemical Engineering
Document Type:	Thesis
Advisory Committee:	McCormick, John E. (Committee chair) Tassios, Dimitrios P. (Committee member) Trattner, Richard B. (Committee member)
Date:	1972-04
Keywords:	Dielectrics
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	Previous experiments at Newark College of Engineering have shown that a dielectric field can effect the rate of a chemical reaction. A theory was developed in this thesis to postulate how a dielectric field can increase the rate of a first order reaction whose rate determining step is an ionization. An experimental procedure was developed to measure the reaction rate constant of a tertiary alkyl halide with a solvent to test this theory. The solvolysis of tortbutyl bromide in aqueous ethanol (80%), aqueous dioxane (75%) and aqueous acetone (75%) solvent systems were the reactions selected for study. A total of 17 runs were carried out in a recycle reactor. A small increase was found in the reaction rate constant upon the application of the dielectric field using the aqueous ethanol (80%) solvent system. Small decreases in the reaction rate constants upon the application of the field were found using the other two solvent systems. All changes were too small to say with certainty that the dielectric field had any effect upon the reaction rate constants. Further experiments at higher field strengths are necessary to supplement the result of this thesis.