Hydrolysis of imidazole and 2‐chloropyridine under subcritical and supercritical water conditions

Imidazole and 2‐chloropyridine were used as model molecules to investigate the acid hydrolysis kinetics of agrochemicals in high‐temperature water in a batch reactor system at 28 MPa. Pseudo‐first‐order hydrolysis reaction rate constants for the acid hydrolysis of Imidazole and 2‐chloropyridine were determined in the temperature ranges 200–600 and 400–575°C, respectively, at 28 MPa. Rate constants for both compounds increased with temperature with a local maximum observed at around 400°C due to changes in the physical properties of the solvent. Imidazole and 2‐chloropyridine conversions of 0.95 and 0.99999 were respectively attained at the highest temperature after 30 min of reaction. © 2012 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering