Designing experiments for precise estimation of all or some of the constants in a mechanistic model

An important experimental problem in chemical engineering is to collect data in order to estimate constants such as rate constants and activation energies which are needed, for example, in equipment and plant design. For a given amount of experimental effort, the engineer wants these constants to be estimated as precisely as possible. In this paper, we discuss statistical design procedures that might be used to accomplish this goal. Available procedures are reviewed for estimating precisely all the constants in a mechanistically based mathematical model. In addition, a new procedure is illustrated for precisely estimating only some of the constants which may be of more interest than the others.