Chemical Engineering Primer with Computer Applications

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.

Hussein K. Abdel-Aal is emeritus professor of chemical engineering and petroleum refining, NRC, Cairo, Egypt. He received his BS in chemical engineering in 1956 from Alexandria University and MS and PhD in chemical engineering in 1962 and 1965, respectively, from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. Prof. Abdel-Aal joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at KFUPM, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (1971–1985). He was the head of department for the period 1972–1974. He was also visiting professor with the Chemical Engineering Department at Texas A&M (1980–1981). In 1985–1988, he assumed the responsibility of the head of the Solar Energy Department, NRC, Cairo, before rejoining KFUPM for the period 1988–1998. Prof. Abdel-Aal conducted and coordinated projects involving a wide range of process development, feasibility studies, industrial research problems, and continuing education programs for many organizations, including Suez Oil Processing Company, Petromin in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Arab Petroleum Investment Corp in Dhahran (Saudi Arabia), Hagler-Baily & Company, Washington DC, Mobil/Esso Oil Companies in Libya, and Kuwait oil companies. Prof. Abdel-Aal has contributed to more than 90 technical papers, is the editor of Petroleum Economics & Engineering , third edition, 2014, and is the main author of the textbook entitled Petroleum and Gas Field Processing , second edition, 2016. Both books were published by Taylor & Francis Group/CRC Press. Prof. Abdel-Aal is listed in Who’s Who in the World , 1982, is member of AIChE, Sigma Si, Phi Lambda Upsilon. He is a fellow and founding member of the board of directors of the International Association of Hydrogen Energy.