A challenge to the simulation of the Fischer–Tropsch reaction system is the lack of reliable kinetic models which correctly account for the deviations from ideal polymerisation behaviour. The current trend in literature is to attribute these deviations to kinetic effects only. This ignores that the reactions in Fischer–Tropsch synthesis contain many aspects of an equilibrium-controlled process. This arises since the rate of chain growth is much faster than the rate of monomer formation from CO. Consequently, the production distribution and the observed trends in reaction behaviour can be described by thermodynamics. A model has been developed to describe the reaction kinetics wherein each rate expression for n-paraffin and 1-olefin formation is expressed as equilibrium-limited. This arises because of the linear variation of the ideal gas Gibbs free energy of formation with carbon number. It was therefore shown that the high methane yield, low ethene yield and the decrease in olefin-to-paraffin ratio with carbon number could effectively be captured in a light weight and tractable manner. The model preserves the polymerisation character of reaction and has been extended to include products of carbon number up to C₈₁. The equilibrium basis of the model also successfully describes the dominant trends in the product distribution as a function of CO conversion, temperature and pressure.

Fischer-Tropsch反应系统模拟的一个挑战是缺乏可靠的动力学模型，该模型无法正确解释与理想聚合行为的偏差。文献中的当前趋势是将这些偏差仅归因于动力学效应。这忽略了费托合成中的反应包含平衡控制过程的许多方面。这是由于链增长的速度比由CO形成单体的速度快得多。因此，可以通过热力学描述产量分布和观察到的反应行为趋势。已经开发了描述反应动力学的模型，其中正链烷烃和1-烯烃形成的每个速率表达均表示为平衡极限。这是由于理想气体的吉布斯自由形成能随碳原子数的线性变化而产生的。因此表明，可以以轻量且易于处理的方式有效地捕获高甲烷产率，低乙烯产率以及烯烃/链烷烃比率随碳数的降低。该模型保留了反应的聚合特性，并已扩展为包括碳数最高为C的产物。₈₁。该模型的平衡基础还成功地描述了产品分布的主要趋势，该趋势是一氧化碳转化率，温度和压力的函数。