In this chapter we derive the general equations for zero-dimensional homogeneous systems, which include both open (with flow) and closed systems. The Ansys Chemkin reactor models that adhere to these general equations are:

A PSR is also commonly referred to as a continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR) in chemical engineering literature. All of the above reactor models may include both gas-phase and surface chemistry, and surface chemistry can be included for more than one material in the system. This allows investigation of systems with close coupling between gas-phase kinetics and surface kinetics, where kinetics dominate the system behavior.

All of the above reactor models allow simulation of dynamic reactor conditions. In addition, Reactors 4 and 5 allow efficient simulation of steady-state reactor systems through a modified Newton iteration solution algorithm. For dynamic systems, the user may specify controlling conditions that vary as a function of time. For steady-state systems, the models can compute a series of steady-state conditions varying one or more parameters, such as heat-loss or pressure, between simulations. For information about the Multiphase Reactor, see Multiphase Reactor Model.