ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the homogeneous reactions, i.e. ones which involve only a single phase (normally either a gas phase or a liquid phase). It considers where the bulk reactant and product streams are homogeneous fluids but where the relevant reaction is predominately takes place on the surfaces of solid catalytic material with which the reactant/product mixture is contacted. The chapter is concerned solely with single reactions both elementary and multi-stage. Multiple reactions, in which the reaction producing the desired product is accompanied by a variety of other usually unwanted reactions. Multiple reactions cannot usefully be represented by a single stoichiometric equation. Together with non-elementary single reactions they are often referred to as 'complex'. If the stoichiometric coefficients for the components in a reaction differ from one another, the magnitude of the rate constant will depend on the identity of the component from whose reaction rate is calculated.
