Kinetic simulation of oxidative coupling of methane over perovskite catalyst by genetic algorithm: Mechanistic aspects

The reaction kinetics of oxidative coupling of methane catalyzed by perovskite was studied in a fixed bed flow reactor. At atmospheric pressure, the reactions were carried out at 725, 750 and 775 °C, inlet methane to oxygen ratios of 2 to 4.5 and gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of 100 min−1. Correlation of the kinetic data has been performed with the proposed mechanisms. The selected equations have been regressed with experimental data accompanied by genetic algorithm (GA) in order to obtain optimized parameters. After investigation the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism was selected as the best mechanism, and Arrhenius and adsorption parameters of this model were obtained by linear regression. In this research the Marquardt algorithm was also used and its results were compared with those of genetic algorithm. It should be noted that the Marquardt algorithm is sensitive to the selection of initial values and there is possibility to trap in a local minimum.