A study on the accuracy and precision of external mass transfer and diffusion coefficients jointly estimated from pseudo-experimental simulated data

Optimal experimental designs for maximum precision in the estimation of diffusivities (D) and mass transfer coefficients (Kc) for solute transport from/to a solid immersed in a fluid were determined. Diffusion in the solid was considered to take place according to Fick's second law. It was found that the optimal design was dependent on the Biot number. In the range of Biot numbers tested (0.1–200), the first sampling time corresponded to values of fractional loss/uptake between 0.10 and 0.32, and the second sampling time corresponded to values of fractional loss/uptake between 0.67 and 0.82. Pseudo-experimental data were simulated by applying randomly generated sets of errors, taken from a normal distribution with 5% standard deviation, to data calculated using given values of the model parameters. Both optimal and heuristic designs (for which the sampling times corresponded to values of fractional loss/uptake from 0.30 to 0.95) were analyzed. The accuracy and precision of the estimates obtained by non-linear regression were compared. It was confirmed that optimal designs yield best results in terms of precision, although it was concluded that the joint estimation of D and Kc should, in general, be avoided. For intermediate values of the Biot number, reasonably precise and accurate estimates can however be obtained if the experimental error is small.