Question

1. What considerations are important when choosing experimental parameters?

2. What are the kinetic parameters of a heterogeneous reaction?

Answer 1

1 )First, it is important to select a design that addresses the most important research questions at hand. Different designs often address subtly different research questions.  

Second, it is important to select a design that is efficient, that is, makes the best use of available resources to address the key scientific questions. Different kinds of resources may be available in different situations. In some areas of research, subjects are expensive or hard to get. In others, the overhead costs associated with each experimental condition may be high. Different experimental designs demand different kinds of resources, so a design that is very economical in one setting may be expensive in another.

2 )A numerical method is introduced for deriving kinetic parameters by evaluating responses to transient concentration inputs to a catalytic fixed-bed reactor under vacuum conditions (TAP). Complex reaction networks without restrictions regarding the number of reaction steps and the reaction orders are investigated. The method was successfully applied for the estimation of rate constants of parallel and consecutive surface reactions in the oxidative conversion of methane to syngas over a magnesia-supported Pt catalyst.