Finite activation energy reactions Part 1: Reactants with spatially varying surface temperature

Summary The effect of a finite activation energy of reaction on the stability of reactants undergoing steady zero-order exothermic reactions is investigated. The reactants are exposed to a surface temperature which decreases slowly away from a global line maximum ofO(1). For both slab and cylinder geometries, it is found that large but finite activation energies can counteract the destabilising effect of the globalO(1) maximum in surface temperature.