TCE

The Chemical Educator

ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)

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Abstract Volume 19 (2014) pp 018-021

Kinetic Study of Catalytic Decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide by Aqueous Fe³⁺ Ion ― A Green Chemistry Approach

Mala Das Sharma* and M. Karuna

Department of Chemistry, St. Pious X Degree and PG College for Women, Snehapuri Colony, Nacharam, Hyderabad-500076, India, mdassharma@rediffmail.com
Received July 18, 2013. Accepted November 7, 2013.

Published: 24 January 2014

Abstract. Management of laboratory chemicals has become an important issue to the practitioners of green chemistry. The challenging demand is to reduce the use of chemicals to a bare minimum and eliminating the generation of hazardous wastes. To this effect, a rapid and simple method is proposed here to evaluate the rate constant during decomposition of hydrogen peroxide in presence of aqueous Fe³⁺ ion as a catalyst. The rate constant result from the proposed approach is found to be in excellent agreement with that reported in the literature. Further, the authenticity of the proposed method is verified with the results obtained from microtitration method. Estimation of percentage H₂O₂ (w/v) in the commercial solution using experimental data related to two approaches (proposed method and microtitration) yields mutually consistent values. The method described has a low risk, is economical and environmentally friendly. Teachers can demonstrate through this experiment the concept of chemical kinetics in a simple manner.

Key Words: Laboratories and Demonstrations; physical chemistry; reaction kinetics; hydrogen peroxide decomposition; microscale chemistry; waste reduction; rate constant determination

(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: mdassharma@rediffmail.com)

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