Simplify your analysis of complex systems
Frederick J. Krambeck · CHEMTECH; (United States) · 1992
When faced with describing complex mixtures we often lump large numbers of chemical compounds into smaller numbers of pseudocomponents. Petroleum refining provides a fertile ground for evaluating the various approaches to lumping. Three main factors have to be considered in choosing a lumping scheme to describe chemical changes in a particular system of interest: measurability; adequacy; accuracy. Much attention has been paid in the literature to the accuracy of lumping schemes, that is, to the question of how few lumps can be used to develop kinetics that are still an accurate representation of the system. However, in practice, the adequacy of a scheme to predict the product properties of interest is usually the more stringent requirement and can push the limits of measurability.