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Title: Advanced Solution Methods for Microkinetic Models of Catalytic Reactions: A Methanol Synthesis Case Study

Journal Article · · AIChE Journal
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.14322· OSTI ID:1233787

Microkinetic models, combined with experimentally measured reaction rates and orders, play a key role in elucidating detailed reaction mechanisms in heterogeneous catalysis and have typically been solved as systems of ordinary differential equations. In this work, we demonstrate a new approach to fitting those models to experimental data. For the specific example treated here, by reformulating a typical microkinetic model for a continuous stirred tank reactor to a system of nonlinear equations, we achieved a 1000-fold increase in solution speed. The reduced computational cost allows a more systematic search of the parameter space, leading to better fits to the available experimental data. We applied this approach to the problem of methanol synthesis by CO/CO2 hydrogenation over a supported-Cu catalyst, an important catalytic reaction with a large industrial interest and potential for large-scale CO2 chemical fixation.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab. (EMSL)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1233787
Journal Information:
AIChE Journal, Vol. 60, Issue 4; ISSN 0001-1541
Publisher:
American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English