Page 7 - Introduction to chemical reaction engineering and kinetics

Introduction to Chemical Reaction Engineering and Kinetics is written primarily for
a first course in chemical reaction engineering (CRE) for undergraduate students in
chemical engineering. The purpose of the work is to provide students with a thorough
introduction to the fundamental aspects of chemical reactor analysis and design. For
this purpose, it is necessary to develop a knowledge of chemical kinetics, and therefore
the work has been divided into two inter-related parts: chemical kinetics and CRE. In-
cluded with this book is a CD-ROM containing computer software that can be used for
numerical solutions to many of the examples and problems within the book. The work
is primarily based on material given to undergraduate students in the Department of
Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry at the University of Toronto.

Scope and Organization of Material
The material in this book deals with kinetics and reactors. We realize that students
in many institutions have an introduction to chemical kinetics in a course on physi-
cal chemistry. However, we strongly believe that for chemical engineering students, ki-
netics should be fully developed within the context of, and from the point of view of,
CRE. Thus, the development given here differs in several important respects from that
given in physical chemistry. Ideal-flow reactor models are introduced early in the book
(Chapter 2) because of their use in kinetics investigations, and to get students accus-
tomed to the concepts early. Furthermore, there is the additional purpose of drawing
a distinction between a reaction model (network) or kinetics scheme, on the one hand,
and a reactor model that incorporates a kinetics scheme, on the other. By a reaction
model, we mean the development in chemical engineering kinetics of an appropriate
(local or point) rate law, including, in the case of a multiphase system, the effects of
rate processes other than chemical reaction itself. By contrast, a reactor model uses the
rate law, together with considerations of residence-time and (if necessary) particle-size
distributions, heat, mass, and momentum transfer, and fluid mixing and flow patterns,
to establish the global behavior of a reacting system in a vessel.
We deliberately separate the treatment of characterization of ideal flow (Chapter 13)
and of nonideal flow (Chapter 19) from the treatment of reactors involving such flow.
This is because (1) the characterization can be applied to situations other than those in-
volving chemical reactors; and (2) it is useful to have the characterization complete in
the two locations so that it can be drawn on for whatever reactor application ensues in
Chapters 14-18 and 20-24. We also incorporate nonisothermal behavior in the discus-
sion of each reactor type as it is introduced, rather than treat this behavior separately
for various reactor types.
Our treatment of chemical kinetics in Chapters 2-10 is such that no previous knowl-
edge on the part of the student is assumed. Following the introduction of simple reac-
tor models, mass-balance equations and interpretation of rate of reaction in Chapter 2,
and measurement of rate in Chapter 3, we consider the development of rate laws for
single-phase simple systems in Chapter 4, and for complex systems in Chapter 5. This is

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