ABSTRACT
In order to use a heterogeneously catalyzed process more effectively some knowledge of the mechanism by which the adsorbed species interact is needed. A common method for obtaining this information, though indirectly, is by a detailed kinetic study of the reaction. A catalyst surface is composed of a number of different types of surface sites with varying adsorption and reaction characteristics, this model is not easily used for kinetic analyses. Instead, it is assumed that every surface atom on the catalyst is capable of adsorbing a substrate molecule, that they all do so with equal energy, and that there can be only one substrate molecule adsorbed on each surface atom. Further, some of the more complex mechanisms can give kinetic expressions with so many adjustable constants that they can easily be made to fit the experimental data but still prove little about the actual mechanism.
