Page 20 - Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering 3rd Edition

xxii Preface

C. The Structure

The strategy behind the presentation of material is to continually build on a
few basic ideas in chemical reaction engineering to solve a wide variety of
problems. These ideas are referred to as the Pillars of Chemical Reaction
Engineering, on which different applications rest. The pillars holding up the
application of chemical reaction engineering are shown in Figure P-1.

Figure P-1 Pillars of Chemical Reaction Engineering.

The architecture and construction of the structure shown in Figure P-1 had
many participants, most notably Professors Amundson, Aris, Smith, Levenspiel,
and Denbigh. The contents of this book may be studied in virtually any order
after the first four chapters, with few restrictions. A flow diagram showing possi-
ble paths is shown in Figure P-2.
In a three-hour undergraduate course at the University of Michigan, approx-
imately eight chapters are covered in the following order: Chapters 1,2,3,4, and
6, Sections 5.1-5.3, and Chapters 8, 10, and parts of either 7 or 13. Complete sam-
ple syllabi for a 3-credit-hour course and a 4-credit-hour course can be found on
the CD-ROM.
The reader will observe that although metric units are used primarily in this
text (e.g., kmol/m3, J/mol), a variety of other units are also employed (e.g.,
lb/ft3). This is intentional. It is our feeling that whereas most papers published in
the future will use the metric system, today’s engineers as well as those graduat-
ing over the next ten years will be caught in the transition between English, SI,
and metric units. As a result, engineers will be faced with extracting information
and reaction rate data from older literature which uses English units as well as the
current literature using metric units, and they should be equally at ease with both.
The notes in the margins are meant to serve two purposes. First, they act as
- 1 guides or as commentary as one reads through the material. Second, they identify
key equations and relationships that are used to solve chemical reaction engi-
neering problems.
Finally, in addition to developing the intellectual skills discussed above,
this is a book for the professional bookshelf. It is a “how to” book with numerous