Chemical Instabilities. II. Chemical Surface Reactions and Hydrodynamic Instability

A linear stability analysis of the hydrodynamics of the isothermal two-component reactive fluid (A2, A), confined between two infinite parallel plates, and involved in the surface catalyzed reaction (A2⇋2A) is performed. The existence of solutions to the eigenvalue problem governing the state of marginal instability corresponding to pure convection is established. A variational principle for the critical eigenvalue for instability is developed and used to show that the surface catalyzed reaction enhances the instability that would occur if the reaction were frozen.