Identifiability of rate coefficients in linear reaction networks from isothermal transient experimental data

In many cases, some reaction intermediates are not observed. This is typical in heterogeneous catalysis, where the intermediates are bound to the catalytic surface. The mechanistic details are then manifested only through some transfer functions. This often causes the rate coefficients to be unidentifiable. A graph-theoretical rule is derived which allows assessing whether reaction networks are structurally locally identifiable. It is applied to the interaction of propane with a copper oxide/ceria-catalyst, as studied with a temporal analysis of products (TAP) setup.