Target factor analysis of reaction data: use of data pre-treatment and reaction-invariant relationships

Target factor analysis (TFA) has been used successfully with reaction data to determine, without knowledge of reaction kinetics, the number of indepen dent reactions and the corresponding stoichiometries. This paper analyzes t he applicability of TFA techniques to reaction data on the basis of concent ration measurements. It is shown that, in some cases, a data matrix that is well suited to existing TFA techniques can be constructed from concentrati on measurements, material exchange terms, and initial conditions (data pre- treatment). Otherwise, TFA needs to be performed directly on the measured c oncentration data. In the latter scenario, knowledge of reaction-invariant relationships is required to specify necessary and sufficient conditions fo r the acceptance of stoichiometric targets. The case of unmeasured species is also investigated. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.