T his book is an introduction to the quantitative treatment of chemical reaction engineering.
The level of the presentation is what we consider appropriate for a
one-semester course. The text provides a balanced approach to the understanding
of: (1) both homogeneous and heterogeneous reacting systems and (2) both chemical
reaction engineering and chemical reactor engineering. We have emulated the teachings
of Prof. Michel Boudart in numerous sections of this text. For example, much of
Chapters 1 and 4 are modeled after his superb text that is now out of print (Kinetics
a/Chemical Processes), but they have been expanded and updated. Each chapter contains
numerous worked problems and vignettes. We use the vignettes to provide the
reader with discussions on real, commercial processes and/or uses of the molecules
and/or analyses described in the text. Thus, the vignettes relate the material presented
to what happens in the world around us so that the reader gains appreciation for how
chemical reaction engineering and its principles affect everyday life. Many problems
in this text require numerical solution. The reader should seek appropriate software
for proper solution of these problems. Since this software is abundant and continually
improving, the reader should be able to easily find the necessary software. This exercise
is useful for students since they will need to do this upon leaving their academic
institutions. Completion of the entire text will give the reader a good introduction to
the fundamentals of chemical reaction engineering and provide a basis for extensions
into other nontraditional uses of these analyses, for example, behavior of biological
systems, processing of electronic materials, and prediction of global atmospheric phenomena.
We believe that the emphasis on chemical reaction engineering as opposed
to chemical reactor engineering is the appropriate context for training future chemical
engineers who will confront issues in diverse sectors of employment.
The level of the presentation is what we consider appropriate for a
one-semester course. The text provides a balanced approach to the understanding
of: (1) both homogeneous and heterogeneous reacting systems and (2) both chemical
reaction engineering and chemical reactor engineering. We have emulated the teachings
of Prof. Michel Boudart in numerous sections of this text. For example, much of
Chapters 1 and 4 are modeled after his superb text that is now out of print (Kinetics
a/Chemical Processes), but they have been expanded and updated. Each chapter contains
numerous worked problems and vignettes. We use the vignettes to provide the
reader with discussions on real, commercial processes and/or uses of the molecules
and/or analyses described in the text. Thus, the vignettes relate the material presented
to what happens in the world around us so that the reader gains appreciation for how
chemical reaction engineering and its principles affect everyday life. Many problems
in this text require numerical solution. The reader should seek appropriate software
for proper solution of these problems. Since this software is abundant and continually
improving, the reader should be able to easily find the necessary software. This exercise
is useful for students since they will need to do this upon leaving their academic
institutions. Completion of the entire text will give the reader a good introduction to
the fundamentals of chemical reaction engineering and provide a basis for extensions
into other nontraditional uses of these analyses, for example, behavior of biological
systems, processing of electronic materials, and prediction of global atmospheric phenomena.
We believe that the emphasis on chemical reaction engineering as opposed
to chemical reactor engineering is the appropriate context for training future chemical
engineers who will confront issues in diverse sectors of employment.
