The solution of continuous kinetic lumping models using the adaptive characterization method

Abstract

The continuous kinetic lumping models are traditionally solved by methods that discretize the mixture into a large number of pseudo-components. This works proposes the usage of the adaptive characterization of continuous mixtures, grounded on the direct quadrature method of generalized moments, in the solution of kinetic lumping models, which allows a large reduction in the number of pseudo-components. Catalytic hydrogenation and hydrocracking problems were used to evaluate this methodology, comparing its results with analytical solutions or results from a classical numerical method. The results showed that the proposed methodology could accurately solve those continuous kinetic models using a small number of adaptive pseudo-components, leading to a large reduction in the computational cost of simulation when compared to the classical numerical method.