Relevance of Particle Size Distribution to Kinetic Analysis: The Case of Thermal Dehydroxylation of Kaolinite

Kinetic models used for the kinetic analysis of solid-state reactions assume ideal conditions that are very rarely fulfilled by real processes. One assumptions these is all sample particles have an identical size, while most samples inherent particle size distribution (PSD). In this study, influence distribution, including bimodal PSD, in investigated. Thus, it observed PSD can mislead identification model followed reaction and even induce complex thermoanalytical curves could be misinterpreted terms kinetics or intermediate species. For instance, case a affected up to point process resembles driven multi-step mechanism. A procedure considering presented evaluated experimentally studying thermal dehydroxylation kaolinite. This process, which does not fit any common proposed literature, was analyzed influence. However, when taken into account, successfully described 3-D diffusion (Jander’s equation). Therefore, concluded deviations from explained PSD.