ABSTRACT
Reaction engineers devote a lot of time and ingenuity to enhancing reactor performance by attempting to follow an optimal trajectory for the reaction system (1) and by overcoming the limitations imposed by the accompanying heat and mass transfer processes. These objectives are often interrelated: Achieving the concentration and temperature profiles required to maximize conversion rates and minimize by-product formation, for example, dictates the absence of gradients that might lead to local deviations from these values.
