Determination of rate parameters of complex reactions by polymath

Abstract

Generally, consecutive and/or parallel reactions pose a great deal of difficulty in determining meaningful reaction rate parameters. One way to determine such parameters is to separate the whole reaction network into different regions and to study each region independently through initial rates. This method is not only tedious, but also a waste of money and time. The other method is to use the fact that, if the reaction rates are known at any "t" time then an optimization technique in MATLAB, MATHCAD, LINDO or POLYMATH ready package programs can be used to determine rate parameters. In this study, the POLYMATH program is chosen for a highly complex rate expression for the reaction of, with Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetic expression, Rate parameters k, K CO, K H2 and K CH3OH were determined.