A KINETIC-MODEL FOR ACTIVATION DEACTIVATION PROCESSES IN SOLID CATALYSTS

A kinetic model is proposed to describe the activation-deactivation phenomena taking place simultaneously with the main reaction on a catalytic surface. Potentially active sites are transformed into active sites by the activation process. Simultaneously, catalyst deactivation gives rise to deactivated sites from active sites. The model presented considers jointly the activation and deactivation processes on the catalyst surface. When activation processes are present, this is a more rigorous alternative to studies that only take into account catalyst deactivation. Kinetic expressions have been obtained for activation processes coupled with reversible and irreversible deactivation, and a study of the influence of the different kinetic parameters has been carried out. Finally, the model developed has been applied to previous literature data on n-butane isomerization on an aluminum chloride/sulfonic acid resin.