T. Michael Duncan

Chemical Engineering Design and Analysis: An Overview of Chemical Engineering

THIS TEXTBOOK has two goals. The first is to describe the chemical engineering profession. We will use contemporary applications of chemical engineering to introduce fundamental concepts. The applications include case studies and chemical processes from the technical literature and the popular press. The second goal is to introduce and develop basic engineering skills. Chief among these skills are design – the ability to conceive and develop plans – and analysis – the methodology to model and evaluate chemical and physical processes. Some of the concepts introduced in this text are complex and usually require an entire course and its prerequisites to appreciate fully. You must be willing, therefore, to set aside questions about the basis for certain material or the origins of certain equations or relationships. We will, however, attempt to provide at least a heuristic description of the materials origin and point to where in the chemical engineering curriculum the material is discussed in more detail. Finally, in this text we attempt to appeal to a variety of learning and thinking styles. We appreciate that not all students prefer to think globally, reason deductively, or perceive visually. In each of the exercise sets we have attempted to invoke different styles of learning to make learning chemical engineering as inclusive as possible. Chemical Engineering Chemical engineers create processes based upon physical and chemical change. The processes may yield marketable items, such as gasoline or penicillin, or noncommercial items, such as clean air or clean water.

Chemical Engineering Design and Analysis: Models Derived from Laws and Mathematical Analysis

HAVE YOU EVER MARVELED at the beauty of an exquisite design? How did the engineers devise such a complex device or system? Surely they must have been geniuses. Although this may be true in some cases, good engineering generally does not require genius (although it certainly helps). Complex designs usually evolve from simple designs. It is important to be able to analyze and evaluate the effects of each evolutionary step in a design. How does a good design begin? Linus Pauling, who earned his B.S. degree in chemical engineering (Oregon State, 1922), and received a Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1954) and a Nobel Peace Prize (1962), recommended “The best way to get a good idea is to get a lot of ideas.” We modify and extend this useful advice to “The best way to get a good design is to create many designs and choose the best.” To choose the best design, one must be able to analyze and evaluate the designs. How does one analyze and evaluate a design? One option is to build the system and test it. This is appropriate when the design is for a small item, such as a can opener. This approach is also appropriate for a medium-sized item, such as an automobile, if one expects to manufacture thousands of units. But clearly it is impractical to build a full-sized system when the system is very large and only a few, perhaps only one, will be built.