Chemical Reaction Engineering

Chemical Reaction Engineering (CRE) lies at the heart of chemical and process engineering, providing the fundamental tools required to design, analyze, and optimize reactors in which chemical transformations occur. This textbook offers a comprehensive and rigorous treatment of CRE, seamlessly bridging fundamental theory with practical industrial applications. It guides the reader from first principles to the systematic modeling, design, and optimization of chemical reactors used in modern industry. The book progressively covers material and energy balances, ideal reactors (Batch, CSTR, PFR), reactor combinations and recycling strategies, thermal effects and non-isothermal operation, residence time distribution (RTD) and non-ideality models, before concluding with intensified reactors, micro-reactors, membrane reactors, reactive distillation, and advanced computational modeling (CFD).

• Adopts a balanced engineering approach, avoiding excessive mathematical formalism or purely conceptual explanations, and instead emphasizing physical understanding and practical interpretation.
• Integrates theory, modeling, and industrial practice throughout, with particular attention to non-isothermal reactors, thermal stability, and temperature control strategies.
• Provides step-by-step derivations of reactor design equations with clear physical interpretation, and thoroughly treats volume-variable systems, pressure effects, selectivity, and multiple reactions.
• Gives central importance to Residence Time Distribution (RTD) and non-ideality models (axial dispersion, tanks-in-series, dead zones, bypassing), enabling accurate prediction of conversion in real industrial reactors.
• Features 40 fully solved examples, numerous end-of-chapter problems with detailed solutions, and industrially inspired case studies including reactive distillation, membrane reactors, autocatalytic systems, and multi-stage adiabatic reactors with interstage cooling.
• Includes supplementary datasets and practical exercises to facilitate hands-on learning and numerical simulation.

The book serves as a primary textbook for university-level courses in Chemical Reaction Engineering, particularly at the senior undergraduate and graduate levels. Its structured pedagogical progression makes it ideal for formal instruction, while its emphasis on industrial relevance, non-ideality characterization, and practical modeling also renders it a valuable reference resource for professional chemical engineers practicing in industry. A Solutions Manual is available for adopting professors.