Measurement of Heat Flow Calorimetry

Click Coached Problems for a self-study module on calorimetry. 

To measure the heat flow in a reaction, a device known as a calorimeter is used. The apparatus contains water and/or other materials of known heat capacity. The walls of the calorimeter are insulated so that there is no exchange of heat with the surrounding air. It follows that the only heat flow is between the reaction system and the calorimeter. The heat flow for the reaction system is equal in magnitude but opposite in sign to that of the calorimeter  

Notice that if the reaction is exothermic ( reaction 0), calorimeter must be positive that is, heat flows from the reaction mixture into the calorimeter. Conversely, if the reaction is endothermic, the calorimeter gives up heat to the reaction mixture. 

Calcium chloride, CaCl2, is added to canned vegetables to maintain the vegetables firmness. When added to water, it dissolves  

A calorimeter contains 50.0 g of water at 25.00°C. When 1.00 g of calcium chloride is added to the calorimeter, the temperature rises to 28.51°C. Assume that all the heat given off by the reaction is transferred to the water. 

The equation just written is basic to calorimetric measurements. It allows you to calculate the amount of heat absorbed or evolved in a reaction if you know the heat capacity, Ccai, and the temperature change. At, of the calorimeter. 

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Moreover, the use of heat-flow calorimetry in heterogeneous catalysis research is not limited to the measurement of differential heats of adsorption. Surface interactions between adsorbed species or between gases and adsorbed species, similar to the interactions which either constitute some of the steps of the reaction mechanisms or produce, during the catalytic reaction, the inhibition of the catalyst, may also be studied by this experimental technique. The calorimetric results, compared to thermodynamic data in thermochemical cycles, yield, in the favorable cases, useful information concerning the most probable reaction mechanisms or the fraction of the energy spectrum of surface sites which is really active during the catalytic reaction. Some of the conclusions of these investigations may be controlled directly by the calorimetric studies of the catalytic reaction itself. 

It appears, therefore, that the measurement of heat flow using direct calorimetry, is a suitable technique for biogeochemical studies in aquatic systems since under carefully controlled conditions a reproducible "fingerprint" (or power-time curve) is obtained. 

Solution calorimetry involves the measurement of heat flow when a compotmd dissolves into a solvent. There are two types of solution calorimeters, that is, isoperibol and isothermal. In the isoperibol technique, the heat change caused by the dissolution of the solute gives rise to a change in the temperature of the solution. This results in a temperature-time plot from which the heat of the solution is calculated. In contrast, in isothermal solution calorimetry (where, by definition, the temperature is maintained constant), any heat change is compensated by an equal, but opposite, energy change, which is then the heat of solution. The latest microsolution calorimeter can be used with 3-5 mg of compound. Experimentally, the sample is introduced into the equilibrated solvent system, and the heat flow is measured using a heat conduction calorimeter. 

The value of AH can be determined experimentally by measuring the heat flow accompanying a reaction at constant pressure. Typically, we can determine the magnitude of the heat flow by measuring the magnitude of the temperature change the heat flow produces. The measurement of heat flow is calorimetry a device used to measure heat flow is a calorimeter. 

Oin experimental technique of choice in many cases is reaction calorimetry. This technique relies on the accurate measurement of the heat evolved or consumed when chemical transformations occur. Consider a catalytic reaction proceeding in the absence of side reactions or other thermal effects. The energy characteristic of the transformation - the heat of reaction, AH i - is manifested each time a substrate molecule is converted to a product molecule. This thermodynamic quantity serves as the proportionality constant between the heat evolved and the reaction rate (eq. 1). The heat evolved at any given time during the reaction may be divided by the total heat evolved when all the molecules have been converted to give the fractional heat evolution (eq. 2). When the reaction under study is the predominant source of heat flow, the fractional heat evolution at any point in time is identical to the fraction conversion of the limiting substrate. Fraction conversion is then related to the concentration of the limiting substrate via eq. (3). 

A survey of the literature shows that although very different calorimeters or microcalorimeters have been used for measuring heats of adsorption, most of them were of the adiabatic type, only a few were isothermal, and until recently (14, 15), none were typical heat-flow calorimeters. This results probably from the fact that heat-flow calorimetry was developed more recently than isothermal or adiabatic calorimetry (16, 17). We believe, however, from our experience, that heat-flow calorimeters present, for the measurement of heats of adsorption, qualities and advantages which are not met by other calorimeters. Without entering, at this point, upon a discussion of the respective merits of different adsorption calorimeters, let us indicate briefly that heat-flow calorimeters are particularly adapted to the investigation (1) of slow adsorption or reaction processes, (2) at moderate or high temperatures, and (3) on solids which present a poor thermal diffusivity. Heat-flow calorimetry appears thus to allow the study of adsorption or reaction processes which cannot be studied conveniently with the usual adiabatic or pseudoadiabatic, adsorption calorimeters. In this respect, heat-flow calorimetry should be considered, actually, as a new tool in adsorption and heterogeneous catalysis research. 

Heat-flow calorimetry may be used also to detect the surface modifications which occur very frequently when a freshly prepared catalyst contacts the reaction mixture. Reduction of titanium oxide at 450°C by carbon monoxide for 15 hr, for instance, enhances the catalytic activity of the solid for the oxidation of carbon monoxide at 450°C (84) and creates very active sites with respect to oxygen. The differential heats of adsorption of oxygen at 450°C on the surface of reduced titanium dioxide (anatase) have been measured with a high-temperature Calvet calorimeter (67). The results of two separate experiments on different samples are presented on Fig. 34 in order to show the reproducibility of the determination of differential heats and of the sample preparation. 

In the various sections of this article, it has been attempted to show that heat-flow calorimetry does not present some of the theoretical or practical limitations which restrain the use of other calorimetric techniques in adsorption or heterogeneous catalysis studies. Provided that some relatively simple calibration tests and preliminary experiments, which have been described, are carefully made, the heat evolved during fast or slow adsorptions or surface interactions may be measured with precision in heat-flow calorimeters which are, moreover, particularly suitable for investigating surface phenomena on solids with a poor heat conductivity, as most industrial catalysts indeed are. The excellent stability of the zero reading, the high sensitivity level, and the remarkable fidelity which characterize many heat-flow microcalorimeters, and especially the Calvet microcalorimeters, permit, in most cases, the correct determination of the Q-0 curve—the energy spectrum of the adsorbent surface with respect to... 

The versatility and accuracy of the oxygen consumption method in heat release measurement was demonstrated. The critical measurements include flow rates and species concentrations. Some assumptions need to be invoked about (a) heat release per unit oxygen consumed and (b) chemical expansion factor, when flow rate into the system is not known. Errors in these assumptions are acceptable. As shown, the oxygen consumption method can be applied successfully in a fire endurance test to obtain heat release rates. Heat release rates can be useful for evaluating the performance of assemblies and can provide measures of heat contribution by the assemblies. The implementation of the heat release rate measurement in fire endurance testing depends on the design of the furnace. If the furnace has a stack or duct system in which gas flow and species concentrations can be measured, the calorimetry method is feasible. The information obtained can be useful in understanding the fire environment in which assemblies are tested. 

As mentioned above, titration methods have also been adapted to calorimeters whose working principle relies on the detection of a heat flow to or from the calorimetric vessel, as a result of the phenomenon under study [195-196,206], Heat flow calorimetry was discussed in chapter 9, where two general modes of operation were presented. In some instruments, the heat flow rate between the calorimetric vessel and a heat sink is measured by use of thermopiles. Others, such as the calorimeter in figure 11.1, are based on a power compensation mechanism that enables operation under isothermal conditions. 

If a reaction is accompanied by a change in A//, then the temperature of that reaction sensed with time is a measure of the rate. Although the method has found little use generally, it can be linked to a stopped-flow apparatus and this allows the determination of the thermal properties of a transient. The heat of formation of an intermediate, which decomposes with k = 0.27 s , in the complicated luciferase-FMNH2 reaction with Oj can be measured by stopped-flow calorimetry. 

An apparatus with high sensitivity is the heat-flow microcalorimeter originally developed by Calvet and Prat [139] based on the design of Tian [140]. Several Tian-Calvet type microcalorimeters have been designed [141-144]. In the Calvet microcalorimeter, heat flow is measured between the system and the heat block itself. The principles and theory of heat-flow microcalorimetry, the analysis of calorimetric data, as well as the merits and limitations of the various applications of adsorption calorimetry to the study of heterogeneous catalysis have been discussed in several reviews [61,118,134,135,141,145]. The Tian-Calvet type calorimeters are preferred because they have been shown to be reliable, can be used with a wide variety of solids, can follow both slow and fast processes, and can be operated over a reasonably broad temperature range [118,135]. The apparatus is composed by an experimental vessel, where the system is located, which is contained into a calorimetric block (Figure 13.3 [146]). 

In contrary to water supercritical carbon dioxide is able to penetrate into the hydrophobic PET-fiber. This was observed by measuring the melting point and the melting enthalpy of PET by Differential Dynamic Heat Flow Calorimetry in air under atmospheric pressure and in supercritical CO2 at 280 bar. The carbon dioxide acts as a quasi impurity by which the melting point of the PET is decreased by 14°C. The results are shown in Table 1. 

In some respects, adiabatic calorimetry provides information which is complementary to that provided by heat-flow calorimetry. The latter allows a study to be made of the full composition range at constant temperature, whereas the adiabatic calorimetry study is carried out over the prescribed range of temperature with a constant amount of adsorptive in the adsorption cell (of course, this does not mean that a constant amount is adsorbed). Adiabatic calorimetry allows direct measurements of the heat capacities of adsorbed films, although they are difficult to make accurately... 

Regenass [10] reviews a number of uses for heat flow calorimetry, particularly process development. The hydrolysis of acetic anhydride and the isomerization of trimethyl phosphite are used to illustrate how the technique can be used for process development. Kaarlsen and Villadsen [11,12] provide reviews of isothermal reaction calorimeters that have a sample volume of at least 0.1 L and are used to measure the rate of evolution of heat at a constant reaction temperature. Bourne et al. [13] show that the plant-scale heat transfer coefficient can be estimated rapidly and accurately from a few runs in a heat flow calorimeter. 

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) The method to measure the heat flow to a sample as a function of temperature. It is used to measure, for example, specific heats, glass transition temperatures, melting points, melting profiles, degree of crystallinity, degree of cure, and purity. 

Differential scanning calorimetry measures the thermodynamic parameters associated with thermally induced phase transitions. Here, the sample of interest and an inert reference are heated or cooled independently at a programmed rate, and in tandem, such that their temperatures change in unison and the differential temperature is maintained at zero. If the sample undergoes a thermally induced transition, heat must be applied to or withdrawn from the sample in order to maintain the same temperature in both sample and reference compartments. The instrument measures the heat flow into the sample relative to the reference and this dijferential heat flow (or excess specific heat) is recorded as a function of temperature, resulting in a trace, as shown in Fig. 1... 

When the system is used in pulse mode, it allows the measurement of heats of adsorption of a gaseous reactant on a solid or interaction heats between a gaseous reactant and pre-adsorbed species. When used as a flow reactor, it allows the kinetic study of catalytic reactions as well as the study of the activation or the aging of the catalyst. This is also a suitable system to perform calorimetric temperature programmed reduction (TPR), temperature programmed oxidation (TPO) or temperature programmed desorption (TPD) experiments. In addition to calorimetry, temperature programmed desorption (TPD) of adsorbed probe molecules can in principle also be used to estimate heats of adsorption [19]. 

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