Error evaluation of integral methods by consideration on the approximation of temperature integral

Summary

In this paper, the integral methods in general use are divided into two types in terms of their different ways to in order to deal with the temperature integral p(x): for Type A the function h(x)=p(x)x²e^x is regarded as constant vs. x, while for Type B h(x) varies vs. x and  ln[p(x)] is assumed to have the approximation form of ln[p(x)]=alnx+bx+c  (the coefficients a, b, and c are constant). The errors of kinetic parameters calculated by these two types of methods are derived as functions of x and analyzed theoretically. It is found that Type A methods have the common errors of activation energy, while the Coats-Redfern method can lead to more accurate value of frequency factor than others. The accuracy of frequency factor can be further enhanced by adjusting the expression of the Coats-Redfern approximation. Although using quite simple approximation of the temperature integral, the Coats-Redfern method has the best performance among Type A methods, implying that usage of a sophisticated approximation may be unnecessary in kinetic analysis. For Type B, the revised MKN method has a lower error in activation energy and an acceptable error in frequency factor, and thus it can be reliably used. Comparatively, the Doyle method has higher error of activation energy and great error of the frequency factor, and thus it is not recommended to be adopted in kinetic analysis.