The manual determination of chemical reaction networks (CRN) and reaction rate equations is cumbersome and becomes workload prohibitive for large systems. In this paper, a framework is developed that allows an almost entirely automated recovery of sets of reactions comprising a CRN using experimental data. A global CRN structure is used describing all feasible chemical reactions between chemical species, i.e. a superstructure. Network search within this superstructure using mixed integer linear programming (MILP) is designed to promote sparse connectivity and can integrate known structural properties using linear constraints. The identification procedure is successfully demonstrated using simulated noisy data for linear CRNs comprising two to seven species (modelling networks that can comprise up to forty two reactions) and for batch operation of the nonlinear Van de Vusse reaction. A further case study using real experimental data from a biodiesel reaction is also provided. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.