Spectral data are increasingly used for the identification of the 'hard' ki
netic parameters. The conventional approach is to perform a separate 'soft'
calibration between spectra and concentration units. The calibrated concen
tration values are then used for the fit of the parameters. In the present
work we suggest an approach which is based on a simultaneous soft calibrati
on of the spectral data and hard kinetic parameter estimation. We study how
the kinetics may be identified without any pure component spectral data an
d with minimal separate calibration. Such knowledge is valuable in situatio
ns where the concentrations of some components cannot be analysed or where
a separate calibration is especially difficult or time consuming. (C) 1998
Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.