Virtual Catalytic Reactor Laboratory

Abstract

A virtual catalytic reactor laboratory (VCRL) experiment, which can be used in most browsers, is described. Students select feed conditions and use the VCRL to take data for a gas-phase catalytic reaction and fit kinetic parameters to a Langmuir-Hinshelwood rate expression.  The VCRL contains instructions, equipment descriptions, an animated start-up procedure, a video tour of a physical laboratory, screencasts about nonlinear regression, a means to submit answers online, and an instructor portal.