An analysis of a second-order chemical reaction involving a single intermediate between reactants and products

Abstract

The differential equations which describe the kinetics of the general reaction[Formula: see text]are cast in a nondimensional form and analysed. The problem reduces to two first-order nonlinear ordinary differential equations containing three nondimensional constants together with two initial conditions. Composition–time curves are deduced for the general case. For the case when [Formula: see text], where [A]0 is the initial concentration of A, simple analytical solutions are obtained. Numerical integrations of the full equations are reported and the analytical solutions are found to represent accurate solutions to the nonlinear problem for sufficiently small values of k2.