Chemical Engineering Primer with Computer Applications

Book excerpt: Taking a highly pragmatic approach to presenting the principles and applications of chemical engineering, this companion text for students and working professionals offers an easily accessible guide to solving problems using computers. The primer covers the core concepts of chemical engineering, from conservation laws all the way up to chemical kinetics, without heavy stress on theory and is designed to accompany traditional larger core texts. The book presents the basic principles and techniques of chemical engineering processes and helps readers identify typical problems and how to solve them. Focus is on the use of systematic algorithms that employ numerical methods to solve different chemical engineering problems by describing and transforming the information. Problems are assigned for each chapter, ranging from simple to difficult, allowing readers to gradually build their skills and tackle a broad range of problems. MATLAB and Excel® are used to solve many examples and the more than 70 real examples throughout the book include computer or hand solutions, or in many cases both. The book also includes a variety of case studies to illustrate the concepts and a downloadable file containing fully worked solutions to the book’s problems on the publisher’s website. Introduces the reader to chemical engineering computation without the distractions caused by the contents found in many texts. Provides the principles underlying all of the major processes a chemical engineer may encounter as well as offers insight into their analysis, which is essential for design calculations. Shows how to solve chemical engineering problems using computers that require numerical methods using standard algorithms, such as MATLAB® and Excel®. Contains selective solved examples of many problems within the chemical process industry to demonstrate how to solve them using the techniques presented in the text. Includes a variety of case studies to illustrate the concepts and a downloadable file containing fully worked solutions to problems on the publisher’s website. Offers non-chemical engineers who are expected to work with chemical engineers on projects, scale-ups and process evaluations a solid understanding of basic concepts of chemical engineering analysis, design, and calculations.