Measurement and differential kinetic analysis of wall temperatures in monolith converters—I kinetic analysis

It is possible to measure axial wall temperature profiles in adiabatic monolith converters under actual reaction conditions. By applying a differential method of kinetic analysis, axial profiles of concentrations at the wall as well as of reaction rates can be derived with proper computation methods. The data thus obtained may serve for further kinetic evaluation, that is for model building and parameter estimation by proven and well-known methods. The whole procedure looks also promising for performing activity tests on fresh and partly deactivated monolith converters. The slightly greater effort of measuring wall temperatures compared with the usual method only to record inlet and outlet temperatures and integral conversions might more than pay off. In the present first part of the paper the differential method of kinetic analysis is developed and tested by some simulation studies. The second part will deal with actual experiments.