[hellscream86]

Hello people,

I am currently working on modeling the chemical reaction between sodium hydroxide and aluminum in an attempt to find out how the rate of the reaction depends on the concentration of sodium hydroxide, size of the aluminum particles and the initial temperature at which the reaction begins. I've got a small test reactor for this purpose and different morphologies of aluminum from 5 micron powder to aluminum foil and cans. However, the evolution of hydrogen gas is accompanied by steam which condenses on long standing but I need to be able to determine the rate of the reaction based on the hydrogen generation rate alone. I have come to the conclusion that the reaction is autocatalytic because it's exothermic - is that right?

If you could help me with designing the means to measure the rate of hydrogen evolution (alone, not the rate of hydrogen + steam), it would be really helpful. I have not been able to come up with an idea to measure the partial pressure of these gases in the mixture. I tried letting the gas mixture pass through a condenser to remove all steam and then measure the rate of hydrogen flow using a turbine mass flow meter - however, this is not as accurate as I would have wanted it to be. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[vex]

Do you have access to a gas chromatograph? That'll be the fastest and most reliable way to quantify what you're making.