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Chemical Engineering

Check here for great articles and websites concerning the ins and outs of Chemical Engineering. Topics include process modeling, heat & mass transfer, design, membrane separation, thermodynamics, fuel cells, fluid dynamics, and many more!

What Is Chemical Engineering? What Do Chemical Engineers Do?

Are you confused about how chemical engineering differs from pure chemistry or other types of engineering? Here's an explanation of what chemical engineering is and what chemical engineers do.

Chemical Engineer

This is a job profile and career information for a chemical engineer.

Working as a Chemical Engineer

Are you a chemical engineer? What would you tell someone interested in becoming a chemical engineer about your job?

What Is the Difference Between a Scientist and an Engineer?

Scientist versus engineer: are they the same? Different? Here's a look at the definitions of scientist and engineer and the difference between a scientist and engineer.

Engineering Glossary

Look up engineering definitions and acronyms with this engineering glossary and dictionary.

Chemical Engineering Jobs

Are you interested in what types of jobs you could get with a degree in chemical engineering? Here are some employment options you could get with a bachelors or masters college degree in chemical engineering.

Chemical Engineering Courses

Are you interested in studying chemical engineering? Here's a look at some of the courses chemical engineering students are expected to take in college.

Calorimetry and Heat Flow

There's a worked example for coffee cup calorimetry and another for bomb calorimetry, with links to review calorimetry and thermochemistry concepts.

Laws of Thermochemistry

Certain rules or laws apply to thermochemical equations and enthalpy. These are explanations and examples of these laws, including Hess's Law.

Spiders in Space

Columbia's STS-107 carried Australia's first animals into space. Learn about the Columbia spider experiment and the Skylab 3 experiment and visit links to ground-based research and space exploration.

What Is Distillation?

Distillation is a common chemistry process used to separate materials by changing their states of matter. Learn more about how the process works and find out about different types of distillations.

What Is Reverse Osmosis?

This handy technique is used to desalinate seawater and purify bottled water. Find out how it works!

Why Is Stainless Steel Stainless?

Learn about the chemistry of stainless steel. This article, from your About Guide, also includes descriptions of the different types of stainless steels, comments on passivation, and numerous links to sites offering related information.

Biodiesel from Vegetable Oil Tutorial

As the price of diesel continues to climb, you may wish to consider making your own diesel from cooking oil, called biodiesel. It's easy and could save you money.

Materials Science Fair Projects

Materials science involves physical science and engineering. Science fair projects can invent new materials, improve existing materials, test the properties of materials, or compare the suitability of different materials for a specific purpose. Here's a look at some science fair project ideas in this field of research.

Endothermic and Exothermic Reactions

Learn about endothermic and exothermic chemical reactions and get instructions to perform your own hot and cold chemistry demonstrations.

A Chemical Engineering Timeline

History of chemical engineering from the opening of America's first chemical plant in 1635 to the Oklahoma City bomb in 1995.

A Detailed Look at Hydrogen

From Christopher Haslego, facts, conventional production methods, and production methods from renewable resources.

Adsorption Refrigeration Technology

Page by Michel Pons about the principle of adsorption cycles for refrigeration.

Adsorption

An introduction: adsorbents, applications, types of adsorption isotherms, batch adsorption, design of adsorption columns.

An Introduction to Pinch Technology

Introductory article written by employees of AspenTech about process heat integration and Linnhoff's pinch technology.

Basics of Injection Molding

Article by Christopher Haslego, description of the process, drawing and photo of an injection molding machine.

Basics of Phase Equilibria

An introduction to phase equilibria and their role in chemical engineering from the Chemical Engineers' Resource Page.

Biomaterials Properties Database

Mechanical, thermal, chemical and flow properties of dental and medical biomaterials.

Biomaterials: Body Parts of the Future

By Cheryl R. Blanchard, article from Technology Today on biomaterials for implants. Long with many pictures.

Centrifugal Pump Tutorial

From Pump World, terms, operation, pump curves, calculation of total dynamic head and system head curves, NPSH and cavitation, operation in parallel and in series, and charts.

CFD Review

News/support/information clearinghouse for the CFD community.

Comparison of PID Control Algorithms

From ExperTune, about differences in PID control algorithms and controllers.

Clean Energy Basics

From the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a primer on renewable energy.

Complete Guide to Ethics Management

From Carter McNamara, an extensive online ethics toolkit for managers.

Cooling Towers: Design and Operation Considerations

From Christopher M. A. Haslego, article about main types, theory, design and operation of cooling towers.

Copper Corrosion Resistance Database

From the Copper Page, database of corrosion resistances of copper and copper alloys. Searchable by alloy, resistance level, and environment.

Database of Zeolite Structures

From the Structure Commission of the International Zeolite Association, provides structural information on all zeolite structure types.

Design Considerations for Pressure Swing...

...Carbon Adsorption Vapor Recovery Systems. Paper by W. Nicholson Tuttle and Jon W. Young.

Diffusion Processes

From Michael Karweit's Virtual Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University, explore two-dimensional diffusion phenomena by configuring and running the Diffusion Simulator (Java applet).

Distillation Theory And Practice

Online slide show about distillation principles, equipment, and basic design.

Distillation

From The Distillation Group, an overview of distillation processes.

Don't Gamble With Physical Properties For Simulation

Article by Eric Carlson that discusses criteria you can use to choose thermodynamic models for phase equilibria calculations. Adobe PDF file (233 kB).

Duct Friction Loss and Velocity Pressure Calculation

Online calculator for compressible fluid pressure drops in rectangular or cylindrical ducts.

Energy Conservation in Distillation

From the Chemical Engineers' Resource Page, examples for energy savings in distillation processes.

Fact Sheet on Renewable Energy

Quick facts about energy, renewable energy sources, and CO2 emissions.

Feedback and Temperature Control

Feedback control demonstrated at the example of an oven controlled by a PID temperature controller. Includes an interactive simulation of the oven-controller system to experiment with.

Filtration Spectrum

Color graphic illustrating the range of materials removed by filtration technologies from particle filtration through reverse osmosis; also available as PDF file.

Flowsheeting on the World Wide Web

Report about a system that provides "flowsheeting", i.e. mass and energy balance computation, across the WWW. A VRML viewer (e.g. Live3D integrated in Netscape Navigator) is required to see the generated flowsheet.

Galvanic Series of Metals and Alloys

From the Mc Nally Institute, a list from anodic or least noble to cathodic or most noble.

Gas-Vapor Phase Equilibrium Calculations

A mini-tutorial by W. R. Smith that discusses the calculation of dew-point temperatures and pressures in gas-vapor systems.

Glossary of Energy Terms

From the California Energy Commission, an alphabetical listing of terms related to energy in its various forms.

Glossary of Renewable Energy Terms and Phrases

Guide to terminology from the Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Clearinghouse.

Guided Tour to Granular Dynamics

From Y.-h. Taguchi, mixing, flow, vibration, fluidization for beginners.

Heat Conduction

From Michael Karweit's Virtual Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University, Deduce the cross-sectional profile of a heated conductive bar based on its temperature (Java applet).

Henry's Law Constants (Solubilities)

List of data for more than 500 species in water. Available in postscript format, subdivided into small files, or as a plain ASCII text file.

How Batteries Work

Introduction to battery chemistry and construction on a basic level. One of the many articles from the How Stuff Works series by Marshall Brain that explains technical topics.

How to Organize Your Thesis

A note by Prof. John W. Chinneck about graduate research and how to write Master's and Doctoral theses. Contains also a generic thesis skeleton.

How We Lose Heat to the Environment

Hypothermia and the modes of heat transfer from the human body to the environment, online or Adobe Acrobat (PDF) version.

Impregnated Activated Carbon...

...for environmental protection. Paper by K.-D. Henning and S. Schäfer, CarboTech-Aktivkohlen GmbH.

In Depth Look at Extractive Distillation

Article by Dominic Foo Chwan Yee at the Chemical Engineers' Resource Page.

International Sieve Chart

From Reade Advanced Materials, a table comparing various sieve standards (ASTM, JIS, BSI, AFNOR, DIN, Tyler®, particle diameter, mesh).

Introduction to Biomedical Engineering

Lecture slides from Carlos E. Davila: definitions, history, electrophysiology, transducer principles, intrumentation, and measurement systems.

Introduction to Continuum Mechanics

Book by Brian Kennett in PostScript format. Covers the concepts of deformation and stress field, constitutive relations for various materials including fluids, and the Navier-Stokes equation.

Introduction to Microengineering

Tutorial by Danny Banks covering MEMS, micromachines and microsystems.

Langmuir Equation

Derivation of the Langmuir equation and graphical illustration (Java applet).

Lean Oil Absorption Processes

Description of an absorption process in which natural gas liquids (NGLs) are removed from natural gas by contacting with a liquid hydrocarbon solvent (oil).

Liquid Membranes

Term project by Chris Patillo at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute about the liquid membranes.

Making Decisions with Insulation

From Christopher M. A. Haslego, about insulation of pipes and other equipment: theory, economics, safety, and process conditions.

MatWeb

Free online materials database. Composition, physical, mechanical and thermal properties of more than 13,000 metals, polymers, and ceramics. Browseable by category of material or searchable by name, property requirements, composition.

McCabe-Thiele Method

Online calculator for the number of theoretical plates in a distillation column using the McCabe-Thiele method.

Microfiltration

Technical papers from Osmonics about basic principles and applications of microfiltration.

Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells

Design and operation of the Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC).

Nanofiltration

Technical papers from Osmonics about many aspects of nanofiltration including basics, principles and applications.

On-Line Friction Piping Loss

Calculation of pressure losses for flowing liquids in piping, fittings, and valves.

On-Line Pump System Design

Interactive (JavaScript) application for pump sizing and design, contains extensive "Pump Terminology" and "Technical Data" screens.

PID Control Information

From John Shaw, a brief description of the standard PID control algorithm used in most controllers.

Osmosis, Reverse Osmosis, and Osmotic Pressure...

...what they are; a brief introduction by Uri Lachish.

Plastics

From San Diego Plastics, Inc., an introductory text covering the history, properties, processing, and selection of plastics.

Pressure Testing

Section from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) Environmental, Safety, and Health Manual about the test procedures that LLNL uses for their pressure vessels.

Pressure Vessel and System Design

Requirements for the design of pressure vessels and systems at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Useful reference.

Pure Water Handbook

From Osmonics, gives an overview on available technologies for water purification and their application; Adobe pdf file; long (1.1 MB).

Rheological Methods in Food Process Engineering

Free online copy of the book by J. F. Steffe, second edition (second printing) 1996, Freeman Press, East Lansing, MI, USA; PDF file.

Rheology Nomenclature

Dealy, J. M., "Official nomenclature for material functions describing the response of a viscoelastic fluid to various shearing and extensional deformations," J. Rheol., 39(1), 1995, Acrobat (PDF) format.

Signals, Systems, Control

Demonstrations developed by students at Johns Hopkins University, mostly with Java applets.

Solid-Liquid Separation

Review of equipment for solid-liquid separation such as vacuum and pressure filters, filtering and sedimenting centrifuges, thickeners, and clarifiers.

Statistical Process Control: Process and Quality Views

Excellent article by Christopher Haslego about the basics of SPC for monitoring chemical and other processes.

Steady Under Pressure

Paper by Andrew W. Sloley, The Distillation Group, Inc., about distillation pressure control.

Supercritical Fluids

Lecture slides by James K. Hardy, University of Akron, on supercritical fluids and their application in extraction and chromatography.

The Ideal Flow Machine

Java applet to experiment with and visualize elementary two-dimensional ideal flows. Sources, sinks, vortexes etc. can be placed and the streamlines are plotted.

Tower Sizing and Pricing

From Christopher M. A. Haslego, Excel spreadsheet for preliminay sizing and cost estimation of distillation columns with internal trays.

Transport Effects in Microreactors

Four lessons about microreactors done by students as a project in a chemical engineering course.

Unbounding the Future: the Nanotech Revolution

What molecular nanotechnology will mean in practical terms. Web version of the book by K. Eric Drexler, Chris Peterson, and Gayle Pergamit.

Units for Particulate Measurement

From Reade Advanced Materials, definitions of important quantities and units.

What is a Chemical Engineer?

A very good introduction for those who do not yet know what a chemical engineer is and what he does.

Why Apply a Coating -- Corrosion?

Online article by Mario S Pennisi on the finishing.com site, the requirements for corrosion to proceed, types of corrosion and techniques to restrict corrosion.

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