KINETIC-MODEL DISCRIMINATION IN THE DEHYDRATION OF 2-ETHYLHEXANOL ON A SIO2-AL2O3 CATALYST

The kinetics of dehydration of 2-ethylhexanol on a silica-alumina catalyst has been studied from experiments in an isothermal integral reactor by using an automated reaction equipment. The kinetic parameters have been obtained from the fitting of conversion experimental data to the data calculated by means of each one of the proposed models. The good behaviour for this study has been proven for the Complex optimation algorithm, which is for discriminaion and first estimation of parameters, and for a Marquardt algorithm for non-linear regression, which is used for a mom precise estimation of kinetic parameters, as well as for determination of their confidence intervals.