Introduction
Chemical Engineering and Chemical Process Technology is a theme component of Encyclopedia of Chemical Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias.
Chemical engineering is a branch of engineering, dealing with processes in which materials undergo changes in their physical or chemical state. These changes may concern size, energy content, composition and/or other application properties. Chemical engineering deals with many processes belonging to chemical industry or related industries (petrochemical, metallurgical, food, pharmaceutical, fine chemicals, coatings and colors, renewable raw materials, biotechnological, etc.), and finds application in manufacturing of such products as acids, alkalis, salts, fuels, fertilizers, crop protection agents, ceramics, glass, paper, colors, dyestuffs, plastics, cosmetics, vitamins and many others. It also plays significant role in environmental protection, biotechnology, nanotechnology, energy production and sustainable economical development.
The Theme on Chemical Engineering and Chemical Process Technology deals, in five volumes and covers several topics such as: Fundamentals of Chemical Engineering; Unit Operations – Fluids; Unit Operations – Solids; Chemical Reaction Engineering; Process Development, Modeling, Optimization and Control; Process Management; The Future of Chemical Engineering; Chemical Engineering Education; Main Products, which are then expanded into multiple subtopics, each as a chapter.
These five volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.
Editor(s) Biography
Ryszard Pohorecki studied chemistry at Warsaw University of Technology (WUT), where he received MSc in 1959 and PhD in 1964. In the years 1965/66 he was visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge, UK, which he also visited in 1986 and 2000. In 1970 he received DSc (“habilitation”) at WUT. In 1988/89 he was teaching and doing research in France (Toulouse and Nancy). For most of his scientific career he was employed at WUT, where he was head of the Chemical Reactor and Bioprocess Engineering Division, and director of the Centre of Biotechnology. Now he is Emeritus Full Professor of Chemical Engineering at WUT. For several years he served as Vice President for Science, European Federation of Chemical Engineering, and Vice President for Europe, Alliance of Universities for Democracy. He is member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, honorary member of the Czech Society of Chemical Engineering, holder of the Purkyne Medal, Czech Academy of Sciences, and Villermaux Medal, European Federation of Chemical Engineering. He is author or co-author of 6 books, over 250 research papers and holds 15 patents. His main scientific interests include chemical reaction engineering and bioprocess engineering.
Martin Molzahn studied mechanical engineering at Darmstadt Institute of Technology (TUD), process engineering at Berlin Institute of Technology (TUB) where he received Dipl-Ing in 1967 and Dr-Ing in 1971. He worked with BASF SE in Ludwigshafen/Rh. a.o. as process engineer in the field of fluid separation processes, as director plant design and construction and as director engineering services research divisions from 1971 - 2002; 1981 – 1984 he was delegated to Wintershall AG / Kassel, where he worked as senior manager refinery technology. He has been deputy chairman of the VDI-GVC Technical Committee on Thermal Separation of Gas and Fluid Mixtures, chairman of the VDI-GVC Technical Committee on Education in Process Engineering, and chairman of the EFCE Working Party on Education. He holds the Dieter-Behrens –Medal of EFCE. Today he is chairman of the accreditation commission for degree programs of ASIIN e.V. He published 25 papers and holds five patents.
Rafiqul Gani is professor of systems design at the Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark and the head of the Computer Aided Process Engineering Center (CAPEC). His current research interests include development of computer aided methods and tools for modeling, property estimation, process-product synthesis & design, and process-tools integration. He has more than 150 peer-reviewed journal publications and delivered over 200 lectures, seminars and plenary/keynote lectures at international conferences, institutions and companies all over the world. Professor Gani is editor-in-chief of Computers and Chemical Engineering journal, editor for the Elsevier CACE book series and serves in the editorial advisory board of the journal for Chemical Engineering Patents, Journal of Process Systems Engineering and Chemical Engineering Research Letters. Professor Gani is a member of the executive board of the EFCE (European Federation of Chemical Engineering), the scientific vice president of the EFCE, a member of the Board of Trustees of the AIChE and the CAChE Corp.; a Fellow of the AIChE and also a Fellow of IChemE.
John Bridgwater was educated at Cambridge University and Princeton University and first worked in the synthetic fibers business. He then returned to teach and do research in university, working at the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Birmingham. At present he is Shell Professor of Chemical Engineering Emeritus in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at Cambridge University where he is also an Emeritus Professorial Fellow at St Catharine’s. College. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering He has held visiting appointments at the University of British Columbia, University of California at Berkeley, the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and the University of New South Wales. He was Chair of Editorial Board and Executive Editor of the journal Chemical Engineering Science in the period.1983-2005. He was President of Institution of Chemical Engineers (1997-98) and President, World Council for Particle Technology (1998-2002). His research areas are powder mixing, paste flow and extrusion, and powder attrition He retains an interest in chemical engineering education
