Practical Aspects of the Analysis of Thermal Dissociation and Pyrolysis Processes in Terms of Transition State Theory

The practical implementation of transition state theory (TST) commonly assumes equivalence between theoretical and experimentally determined rate constants, represented by Arrhenius parameters—the activation energy and pre-exponential factor. Here, we employed the General Rate Equation (GRE) to analyse solid–gas-phase thermolysis in two paradigms: mass loss (e.g., calcite decomposition) and mass gain (e.g., methane pyrolysis leading to solid carbon formation). By partitioning the Gibbs free energy of activation into forwards and reverse contributions, plus an additional term accounting for concurrent physical phenomena (notably nucleation and diffusion-viscosity effects), we derived an empirical universal expression relating both Arrhenius parameters and ∆ G + across 500–1500 K. We further demonstrate the utility of the isokinetic temperature for interpreting cases where only Kinetic Compensation or Enthalpy–Entropy Compensation effects are observed. This framework unifies kinetic and thermodynamic descriptions of complex thermolysis processes.