Introduction to Chemical Kinetics

This chapter introduces the foundations of chemical kinetics, specifically the Arrhenius equation and transition-state theory, and summarizes various global chemical kinetic models, including shrinking core models, pseudon-first-order reactions, and sigmoidal reactions such as sequential, random scission, autocatalytic, logistic, and nucleation-growth models. It also explores distributed reactivity models, which feature continuous and discrete activation energy distribution models. The chapter outlines isoconversional and model-fitting methodologies used to derive chemical kinetic models, emphasizing the importance of initial kinetic analyses for estimating parameters in complex models through nonlinear regression. Additionally, it addresses common pitfalls that may lead to incorrect Arrhenius parameter calculations. Conclusively, the chapter presents results focusing on non-fossil fuels to exemplify various reaction characteristics necessary for understanding fossil fuel kinetics. This discussion aims to provide a comprehensive overview of phenomenological kinetics, which plays a crucial role in applied research despite the prevalence of poorly constructed studies in the field.