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Reaction kinetics and reactor design
Applied Catalysis A: General 208 (2001) 427–430
Book reviews
Reaction kinetics and reactor design John B. Butt, 2nd Edition, Marcel Dekker Inc., New York-Basel, 2000 A fundamental book for scientists and engineers working in the field of kinetics and catalysis. This is the second, significantly improved version of the book of similar title. The major difference is the increased part devoted to reactor design problems. The basic kinetics is described in Chapter 1 entitled “Apparent Reaction Kinetics in Homogeneous System” to include material on chemical thermodynamics related to the reaction system but more emphasis is put on the discussion of the chain and polymerization reaction. Chapter 2 (The Mechanism of Chemical Reactions in Homogeneous Phases) includes the theory of elementary kinetics, the collision theory of reaction rates and the transition state theory of reaction rates. In Chapter 3, the author discusses the adsorption/desorption phenomena, which is a prerequisite for the understanding of heterogeneous catalysis. The section of surface reactions and the rate-controlling step follows this. Nowadays, the enzyme kinetics and microbial system have increasing importance, which are also included in this section. In Chapter 4, the reader can find an introduction to the chemical reactor theory. This more or less theoretical approach using an idealized model gives a hint on reaction in a mixed or a segregated system, mixing a model including reactors with ideal flow to give a ideal reactor model. In this part, the temperature effect in an ideal reactor, catalyst deactivation and ion exchange and adsorption phenomena are discussed. The second part of the book deals with the real system. In Chapter 5, the main topic is the real reactor
system, its modeling. The author handles the deviation from non-ideal system, modeling of the non-ideal flow and the mixing effect on reactor performance. There is a setup for a combined model for macroscopic flow phenomena, modeling of non-ideal reactors. This part is very valuable for engineers working on a real reactor system because many affecting factors are taken into consideration. In a real reactor system, the thermal effect is extremely important, for instance, in a reactor/heat exchanger relation. The heat gradient is again a key issue in the real reactor system due to the gradient and heat profile across, e.g. an adiabatic reactor (Chapter 6). The book is also concerned with gas/solid and gas/liquid systems and the two-phase reactor model (Chapter 7). In Chapter 8, the multiphase reactor system is considered. There is a separate discussion on the fluidized bed reactor, slurry type reactor, gas liquid reactors and trickle bed reactors. Finally, in the last chapter we meet some additional problems such as the adsorption wave, chromatography and deactivation waves. The major advantage of the book is that it is evenly useable for designer and students. In the last case, the reader finds exercises at the end of each chapter. This is extremely useful because the students can have an illustration on the use of the various theories of design application. I believe, this book must be at the bookshelves of everyone who is devoted to chemical engineering problems, their combination with other phenomena and modeling. The book contains 721 pages, that is, it is a very comprehensive and detailed description of the related problems. Not only the format but also the content of the book is fully streamlined and updated including problems of not only ‘classical’ chemical engineering,
0926-860X/01/$ – see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
428
Book reviews
but also bioengineering. I warmly recommend that this book be bought by everyone who is related to chemical reaction engineering. Laszlo Guczi Department of Surface Chemistry and Catalysis HAS, Chemical Research Centre Institute of Isotopes and Surface Chemistry P.O. Box 77, 1525 Budapest, Hungary Corresponding author. Tel.: +361-392-2534; fax: +361-392-2307. E-mail address: [email protected] (L. Guczi). PII: S 0 9 2 6 - 8 6 0 X ( 0 0 ) 0 0 6 9 5 - 5
Fundamentals of Industrial Catalytic Processes Robert Farrauto and Calvin Bartholomew; Chapmann and Hall, 1997, ISBN 0 7514 0406 3 I think the book’s concept of providing both fundamentals and applied topics in catalysis is a useful approach. As they indicate in their preface, “professional scientists and engineers can no longer hope to be successful without a basic grasp of fundamentals in their applications and solving of industrial problems”. As I read through this book, I tried to assess, whether the authors met their stated goals of providing ‘a combined textbook and handbook which marries the fundamentals of catalysis with its practice’. Indeed, it meets the intended need as a ‘resource for bridging the gap between the two different worlds of academic and industrial catalysis’. The first five chapters are directed at the fundamentals of catalysis while the remaining seven chapters focus on industrial practice by covering subjects such as hydrogen production and synthesis, hydrogenation and dehydrogenation, oxidation, petroleum refining and hydrocarbon processing, environmental control of mobile and stationary sources, and homogeneous, enzymatic and polymerization catalysis. This book is a good collection of summaries of many different processes and helps the reader to learn more about the myriad of very different chemical operations, which incorporate catalysis and the impact of catalysis upon the entire chemical industry. The established credentials of two authors in both fundamental and applied aspects of catalysis provides an excellent foundation for this book.
In the past 2 years, I have found this book to be a valuable part of my collection of reference books as a practicing industrial chemist. I have encouraged young scientists working with me who have limited experience in the science of catalysis and in the practice of industrial catalysis to read this book as a means of learning more about catalysis. A number of people have commented on how valuable they found the book. Like any first edition, there are a few typos throughout the book but nothing of serious consequence. The authors apply an interesting approach to each of the chapter headings by providing a quotation from a noted expert in the topic. For example, in the very first chapter they provide a statement from Mittasch: “Chemistry without catalysis would be a sword without a handle, a light without brilliance, a bell without sound”. Each chapter concludes with a list of articles/ books for recommended further study, a list of exercises for students to pursue or to follow and a detailed list of references cited in the chapter. Chapters also have a section entitled future directions, where the authors highlight in a few pages emerging topics and themes related to the material in the chapter. Each chapter also has a summary at the end which highlights via a series of bulleted points, key aspects presented in the chapter. The addition of a rather comprehensive glossary at the back end of the book is a good feature. The index also seems to be quite comprehensive and is useful for finding key bits of information on many different topics. In the second chapter, they focus on the properties, preparations and physical properties of catalysts themselves. Here, they include working example calculations of topics such as catalyst density and porosity, dispersion of nickel and external surface area. They then move to the preparation and forming of catalysts from a laboratory scale to a commercial scale and discuss topics such as extrusion, pelletization, and monolith wash-coating which are important techniques that one has to consider in preparing commercially attractive catalyst shapes. They then provide detailed examples of the preparation of specific catalysts such as ion exchanging a Y-zeolite. The third chapter provides a really detailed summary (in more than 90 pages) of catalyst characterization and selection. The fourth chapter deals with more engineering aspects focused at reactor design and
Book reviews
Reaction kinetics and reactor design John B. Butt, 2nd Edition, Marcel Dekker Inc., New York-Basel, 2000 A fundamental book for scientists and engineers working in the field of kinetics and catalysis. This is the second, significantly improved version of the book of similar title. The major difference is the increased part devoted to reactor design problems. The basic kinetics is described in Chapter 1 entitled “Apparent Reaction Kinetics in Homogeneous System” to include material on chemical thermodynamics related to the reaction system but more emphasis is put on the discussion of the chain and polymerization reaction. Chapter 2 (The Mechanism of Chemical Reactions in Homogeneous Phases) includes the theory of elementary kinetics, the collision theory of reaction rates and the transition state theory of reaction rates. In Chapter 3, the author discusses the adsorption/desorption phenomena, which is a prerequisite for the understanding of heterogeneous catalysis. The section of surface reactions and the rate-controlling step follows this. Nowadays, the enzyme kinetics and microbial system have increasing importance, which are also included in this section. In Chapter 4, the reader can find an introduction to the chemical reactor theory. This more or less theoretical approach using an idealized model gives a hint on reaction in a mixed or a segregated system, mixing a model including reactors with ideal flow to give a ideal reactor model. In this part, the temperature effect in an ideal reactor, catalyst deactivation and ion exchange and adsorption phenomena are discussed. The second part of the book deals with the real system. In Chapter 5, the main topic is the real reactor
system, its modeling. The author handles the deviation from non-ideal system, modeling of the non-ideal flow and the mixing effect on reactor performance. There is a setup for a combined model for macroscopic flow phenomena, modeling of non-ideal reactors. This part is very valuable for engineers working on a real reactor system because many affecting factors are taken into consideration. In a real reactor system, the thermal effect is extremely important, for instance, in a reactor/heat exchanger relation. The heat gradient is again a key issue in the real reactor system due to the gradient and heat profile across, e.g. an adiabatic reactor (Chapter 6). The book is also concerned with gas/solid and gas/liquid systems and the two-phase reactor model (Chapter 7). In Chapter 8, the multiphase reactor system is considered. There is a separate discussion on the fluidized bed reactor, slurry type reactor, gas liquid reactors and trickle bed reactors. Finally, in the last chapter we meet some additional problems such as the adsorption wave, chromatography and deactivation waves. The major advantage of the book is that it is evenly useable for designer and students. In the last case, the reader finds exercises at the end of each chapter. This is extremely useful because the students can have an illustration on the use of the various theories of design application. I believe, this book must be at the bookshelves of everyone who is devoted to chemical engineering problems, their combination with other phenomena and modeling. The book contains 721 pages, that is, it is a very comprehensive and detailed description of the related problems. Not only the format but also the content of the book is fully streamlined and updated including problems of not only ‘classical’ chemical engineering,
0926-860X/01/$ – see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
428
Book reviews
but also bioengineering. I warmly recommend that this book be bought by everyone who is related to chemical reaction engineering. Laszlo Guczi Department of Surface Chemistry and Catalysis HAS, Chemical Research Centre Institute of Isotopes and Surface Chemistry P.O. Box 77, 1525 Budapest, Hungary Corresponding author. Tel.: +361-392-2534; fax: +361-392-2307. E-mail address: [email protected] (L. Guczi). PII: S 0 9 2 6 - 8 6 0 X ( 0 0 ) 0 0 6 9 5 - 5
Fundamentals of Industrial Catalytic Processes Robert Farrauto and Calvin Bartholomew; Chapmann and Hall, 1997, ISBN 0 7514 0406 3 I think the book’s concept of providing both fundamentals and applied topics in catalysis is a useful approach. As they indicate in their preface, “professional scientists and engineers can no longer hope to be successful without a basic grasp of fundamentals in their applications and solving of industrial problems”. As I read through this book, I tried to assess, whether the authors met their stated goals of providing ‘a combined textbook and handbook which marries the fundamentals of catalysis with its practice’. Indeed, it meets the intended need as a ‘resource for bridging the gap between the two different worlds of academic and industrial catalysis’. The first five chapters are directed at the fundamentals of catalysis while the remaining seven chapters focus on industrial practice by covering subjects such as hydrogen production and synthesis, hydrogenation and dehydrogenation, oxidation, petroleum refining and hydrocarbon processing, environmental control of mobile and stationary sources, and homogeneous, enzymatic and polymerization catalysis. This book is a good collection of summaries of many different processes and helps the reader to learn more about the myriad of very different chemical operations, which incorporate catalysis and the impact of catalysis upon the entire chemical industry. The established credentials of two authors in both fundamental and applied aspects of catalysis provides an excellent foundation for this book.
In the past 2 years, I have found this book to be a valuable part of my collection of reference books as a practicing industrial chemist. I have encouraged young scientists working with me who have limited experience in the science of catalysis and in the practice of industrial catalysis to read this book as a means of learning more about catalysis. A number of people have commented on how valuable they found the book. Like any first edition, there are a few typos throughout the book but nothing of serious consequence. The authors apply an interesting approach to each of the chapter headings by providing a quotation from a noted expert in the topic. For example, in the very first chapter they provide a statement from Mittasch: “Chemistry without catalysis would be a sword without a handle, a light without brilliance, a bell without sound”. Each chapter concludes with a list of articles/ books for recommended further study, a list of exercises for students to pursue or to follow and a detailed list of references cited in the chapter. Chapters also have a section entitled future directions, where the authors highlight in a few pages emerging topics and themes related to the material in the chapter. Each chapter also has a summary at the end which highlights via a series of bulleted points, key aspects presented in the chapter. The addition of a rather comprehensive glossary at the back end of the book is a good feature. The index also seems to be quite comprehensive and is useful for finding key bits of information on many different topics. In the second chapter, they focus on the properties, preparations and physical properties of catalysts themselves. Here, they include working example calculations of topics such as catalyst density and porosity, dispersion of nickel and external surface area. They then move to the preparation and forming of catalysts from a laboratory scale to a commercial scale and discuss topics such as extrusion, pelletization, and monolith wash-coating which are important techniques that one has to consider in preparing commercially attractive catalyst shapes. They then provide detailed examples of the preparation of specific catalysts such as ion exchanging a Y-zeolite. The third chapter provides a really detailed summary (in more than 90 pages) of catalyst characterization and selection. The fourth chapter deals with more engineering aspects focused at reactor design and