high activation energy barriers when an external energy supplied is sufficient to overcome such barriers the reaction will start and the heat generated in the process can provide the u201c initiation energy u201d needed for the subsequent reaction such that the combustion process once started can sustain itself in a non catalyzed process as shown above the amount of external energy required to initiate the combustion is relatively high this energy requirement for the initiation process may be lowered in the presence of a suitable catalyst in accordance with embodiments of the invention a catalyst may be judicially selected such that the initiation energy required for the combustion reaction may be very small such that under the downhole conditions which may have a temperature as high as 300 u00b0 f or 150 u00b0 c no input of external energy from the surface is required i e the reactions become spontaneous in addition such catalyzed reactions would be able to sustain themselves without continued input of external energy from the surface catalysts for oxidation reactions may comprise a wide array of chemical compositions that allow reaction with air or oxygen pumped downhole in accordance with embodiments of the invention suitable catalysts may include oxygen reactive metals or metal compounds such as platinum palladium.