Analysis of non-isothermal reaction kinetics

The theoretical behavior of complex reactions as a function of heating rate is discussed. The complex reactions in this study include single-step reactions (competitive and multiple reactions) and sequential reactions. Depending on the reaction temperature range, the nature of the complex reaction has been found to be significantly different. The isokinetic temperature has been found to provide a useful reference point to study and understand the behavior of complex reactions. The use of the "pseudo" order of reaction approach has been found to have limited applications in predicting the behavior of complex reactions. For the sequential reaction scheme it has been found that it is easier to identify the sequential nature of the reaction if a low activation energy reaction is followed by a high activation energy reaction, when compared to the reaction sequence in which a high activation energy reaction is followed by a low activation energy reaction.