Method and apparatus for reducing chemical reaction mechanisms

1. A processor implemented method for building or modifying a physical system by determining the results of a chemical reaction model by executing a reduced-complexity reaction model of the chemical reaction model, the method comprising:

extracting physical data associated with the physical system including a master chemical mechanism associated with the physical system to generate a chemical reaction model for the physical system;

obtaining data for one or more chemical species in the chemical reaction model from a database, the database including properties of the one or more chemical species, wherein the chemical reaction model includes data representing the reactions and chemical species based on mathematical equations in a chemical process;

grouping the chemical species in the chemical reaction model into one or more isomer groups according to molecular properties of the chemical species;

assigning a representative isomer to at least one isomer group;

generating a second chemical reaction model based on replacement of a plurality of chemical species of a particular group with a corresponding representative isomer assigned to that particular group according to the chemical reaction model; and

executing the second chemical reaction model by an apparatus to determine results without executing the chemical reaction model generated via said extracting, the results determined for building or modifying the physical system.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

causing a chemical reaction to take place using the one or more chemical species, the chemical reaction corresponding to the chemical reaction model.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the operation of grouping the chemical species into one or more isomer groups further comprises:

specifying an allowable difference of a thermodynamic property among the chemical species in a particular isomer group; and

dividing an isomer group into sub-groups if the allowable difference is exceeded.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the chemical species are grouped into one or more isomer groups based on one or more lumping rules.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the chemical species are sorted based on molecular properties according to one of the one or more lumping rules.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein at least one of the one or more lumping rules is predetermined.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein representative isomer properties are calculated as a function of the relative contribution of each chemical species in an isomer group.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the chemical reaction equations is based on one or more rate values and an equilibrium value, and the operation of replacing chemical species with representative isomers further includes adjusting at least one of the equilibrium value and one or more rate values.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second chemical reaction model includes fewer chemical species than the chemical reaction model.

10. An apparatus for building or modifying a physical system by determining the results of a chemical reaction model, the apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:

extracting physical data associated with the physical system including a master chemical mechanism associated with the physical system to generate a chemical reaction model for the physical system;

obtaining data for one or more chemical species in the chemical reaction model from a database, the database including properties of the one or more chemical species, wherein the chemical reaction model includes data representing the reactions and chemical species based on mathematical equations in a chemical process;

grouping the chemical species in the chemical reaction model into one or more isomer groups according to molecular properties of the chemical species;

assigning a representative isomer to at least one isomer group;

generating a second chemical reaction model based on replacement of a plurality of chemical species of a particular group with a corresponding representative isomer assigned to that particular group according to the chemical reaction model; and

executing the second chemical reaction model to determine results without executing the chemical reaction model generated via said extracting, the results determined for building or modifying the physical system.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the apparatus further performs the step of:

causing a chemical reaction to take place using the one or more chemical species, the chemical reaction corresponding to the chemical reaction model.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein an allowable threshold is specified for differences of a thermodynamic property among the chemical species in a particular isomer group, wherein the operation of grouping the chemical species into one or more isomer groups further comprises:

dividing an isomer group into sub-groups if the maximum allowable difference is exceeded.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the chemical species are grouped into one or more isomer groups based on one or more lumping rules.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the chemical species are sorted based on molecular properties according to one of the one or more lumping rules.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein at least one of the one or more lumping rules is predetermined.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein representative isomer properties are calculated as a function of the relative contribution of each chemical species in an isomer group.

17. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein at least one of the chemical reaction equations is based on one or more rate values and an equilibrium value, and the operation of replacing chemical species with representative isomers further includes adjusting at least one of the equilibrium value and one or more rate values.

18. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the second chemical reaction model includes fewer chemical species than the chemical reaction model.

19. An apparatus for building or modifying a physical system by determining the results of a chemical reaction model by executing a reduced-complexity reaction model of the chemical reaction model, the apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:

extracting physical data associated with the physical system including a master chemical mechanism associated with the physical system to generate a chemical reaction model for the physical system;

obtaining data for one or more chemical species in a chemical reaction model from a database, the database including properties of the one or more chemical species, wherein the chemical reaction model includes mathematical equations and data representing the reactions and chemical species in a chemical process;

grouping the chemical species in a chemical reaction model into one or more isomer groups according to molecular properties of the chemical species;

assigning a representative isomer to at least one isomer group;

replacing, in one or more chemical reaction equations of the chemical reaction model, a plurality of chemical species of a particular group with a corresponding representative isomer assigned to that particular group to generate a second chemical reaction model; and

executing the second chemical reaction model by an apparatus to determine results, wherein processing time is reduced by said executing the second chemical reaction model instead of executing the chemical reaction model generated via said extracting;

wherein the physical system is built or modified based on the determined results.