Chemical reaction engineering (reaction engineering or reactor engineering) is a specialty in
chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials in ...
or industrial chemistry dealing with
chemical reactors. Frequently the term relates specifically to
catalytic reaction
Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...
systems where either a
homogeneous
Homogeneity and heterogeneity are concepts often used in the sciences and statistics relating to the uniformity of a substance or organism. A material or image that is homogeneous is uniform in composition or character (i.e. color, shape, siz ...
or
heterogeneous
Homogeneity and heterogeneity are concepts often used in the sciences and statistics relating to the uniformity of a substance or organism. A material or image that is homogeneous is uniform in composition or character (i.e. color, shape, siz ...
catalyst
Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...
is present in the reactor. Sometimes a reactor ''per se'' is not present by itself, but rather is integrated into a
process, for example in reactive separations vessels,
retorts, certain
fuel cell
A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen fuel, hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most bat ...
s, and photocatalytic surfaces. The issue of
solvent effects on reaction kinetics is also considered as an integral part.
Origin of chemical reaction engineering
Chemical reaction engineering as a discipline started in the early 1950s under the impulse of researchers at the Shell Amsterdam research center and the university of Delft. The term chemical reaction engineering was apparently coined by J.C. Vlugter while preparing the 1st European Symposium on Chemical Reaction Engineering which was held in Amsterdam in 1957.
Discipline
Chemical reaction engineering aims at studying and optimizing
chemical reaction
A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Classically, chemical reactions encompass changes that only involve the positions of electrons in the forming and break ...
s in order to define the best
reactor design. Hence, the interactions of flow phenomena,
mass transfer
Mass transfer is the net movement of mass from one location (usually meaning stream, phase, fraction or component) to another. Mass transfer occurs in many processes, such as absorption, evaporation, drying, precipitation, membrane filtra ...
,
heat transfer
Heat transfer is a discipline of thermal engineering that concerns the generation, use, conversion, and exchange of thermal energy (heat) between physical systems. Heat transfer is classified into various mechanisms, such as thermal conduction ...
, and
reaction kinetics are of prime importance in order to relate reactor performance to feed composition and operating conditions. Although originally applied to the
petroleum
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...
and
petrochemical
Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable ...
industries, its general methodology combining reaction
chemistry and
chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials in ...
concepts allows optimization of a variety of systems where modeling or engineering of reactions is needed. Chemical reaction engineering approaches are indeed tailored for the development of new processes and the improvement of existing technologies.
Books
* The Engineering of Chemical Reactions (2nd Edition), Lanny Schmidt, 2004, Oxford University Press,
* Chemical Reaction Engineering (3rd Edition), Octave Levenspiel, 1999, John Wiley & Sons, ,
* Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering (4th Edition), H. Scott Fogler, 2005, Prentice Hall, ,
* Chemical Reactor Analysis and Design (2nd Edition), Gilbert F. Froment and Kenneth B. Bischoff, 1990, John Wiley & Sons, ,
* Fundamentals of Chemical Reaction Engineering (1st Edition), Mark E. Davis and Robert J. Davis, 2003, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., ,
ISCRE Symposia
The most important series of symposia are the International Symposia on Chemical Reaction Engineering o
ISCRE conferences These three-day conferences are held every two years, rotating among sites in North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, on a six-year cycle. These conferences bring together for three days distinguished international researchers in reaction engineering, prominent industrial practitioners, and new researchers and students of this multifaceted field. ISCRE symposia are a unique gathering place for reaction engineers where research gains are consolidated and new frontiers explored. The state of the art of various sub-disciplines of reaction engineering is reviewed in a timely manner, and new research initiatives are discussed.
Awards in Chemical Reaction Engineering
The ISCRE Board administers two premiere awards in chemical reaction engineering for senior and junior researchers every three years.
Neal R. Amundson Award for Excellence in Chemical Reaction Engineering
In 1996, the ISCRE Board of Directors established the Neal R. Amundson Award for Excellence in Chemical Reaction Engineering. This award recognizes a pioneer in the field of Chemical Reaction Engineering who has exerted a major influence on the theory or practice of the field, through originality, creativity, and novelty of concept or application. The award is made every three years at an ISCRE meeting, and consists of a Plaque and a check in the amount of $5000. The Amundson Award is generously supported by a grant from the ExxonMobil Corporation. Winners of the award include:
* 1996:
Neal Amundson
Neal Russell Amundson (January 10, 1916February 16, 2011) , Professor - University of Minnesota, University of Houston
* 1998:
Rutherford Aris, Professor - University of Minnesota
* 2001:
Octave Levenspiel, Professor - Oregon State University
* 2004: Vern Weekman, Mobil
* 2007:
Gilbert Froment
Gilbert F. Froment (born 1 October 1930) is a Belgian Professor Emeritus of chemical engineering at the Ghent University, Belgium, and a research professor of Texas A&M University. His career was on the fields of academic kinetic and chemical rea ...
, Professor - Ghent University, Texas A&M University
* 2010:
Dan Luss
Dan Luss (born May 5, 1938) is an American chemical engineer, who is the Cullen Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Houston. He is known for his work in chemical reaction engineering, complex reacting systems, multiple ste ...
, Professor - University of Houston
* 2013:
Lanny Schmidt, Professor - University of Minnesota
* 2016: Milorad P. Dudukovic, Professor - Washington University
* 2019:
W. Harmon Ray
Willis Harmon Ray (born April 4, 1940) is an American chemical engineer, control theorist, applied mathematician, and a Vilas Research emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison notable for being the 2000 winner of the prestigio ...
, Professor - University of Wisconsin
* 2022: Announced at NASCRE-5
Rutherford Aris Young Investigator Award in Chemical Reaction Engineering
In 2016, the ISCRE, Inc. Board of Directors will bestow the first Rutherford Aris Young Investigator Award for Excellence in Chemical Reaction Engineering.
This award will recognize outstanding contributions in experimental and/or theoretical reaction engineering research of investigators in early stages of their career. The recipient must be less than 40 years of age at the end of the calendar year in which the award is presented. The Aris Award is generously supported by a grant from the UOP, L.L.C., a Honeywell Company. The award consists of a plaque, an honorarium of $3000, and up to $2000 in travel funds to present at an ISCRE/NASCRE conference and to present a lecture at UOP. This award complements ISCRE's other major honor, the Neal R. Amundson Award. Winners of the award include:
* 2016: Paul J. Dauenhauer, Professor - University of Minnesota, USA
* 2019: Yuriy Roman-Leschkov, Professor, MIT, USA.
* 2022: Announced at NASCRE-5
References
External links
ISCRE web site
{{Chemical engg
Chemical reactors
Chemical engineering