Abstract
As a method to evaluate equilibrium constants, it is proposed that rate constants be estimated through Box-Draper''s procedure and the constants thus obtained be employed for the evaluation of equilibrium constants. The method allows the precise calculation of rate constants and, subsequently, the calculation of equilibrium constants under circumstances where the simultaneous measurements of several concentration responses are available and the error variances of these measurements are not equal.
The concentrations of ethanol, water, ethylether, and ethylene obtained for a catalytic dehydration of ethanol were utilized to demonstrate the method by evaluating the equilibrium constant of the dehydration reaction. A satisfactory agreement was obtained between the resulting equilibrium constant and the literature value.
