The kinetic study of thermal dehydration of oxalic acid dihydrate

Abstract

The thermal dehydration kinetics of crystalline powders of (COOH)2 · 2 H2O was examined by thermogravimetry both at constant and linearly increasing temperatures. An Avrami-Erofeyev law is found to hold with a possibility that a phase-boundary controlled reaction proceeds simultaneously. This is supported by the particle size effect on the rate constant. The activation energyE for the dehydration is estimated as around 80 kJ mol−1. It is likely that the effects of particle size and temperature onE are compensated by those on the frequency factorA.