1.

*Chemical Reaction Engineering*: Study of chemical ABSORPTION AND DESORPTION

reactors, reaction kinetics, and catalysis.
In gas absorption, a constituent of a gas mixture is removed by
2. *Thermodynamics*: Principles governing energy transfer, contacting with a liquid. Ammonia in an air-ammonia mixture,
phase equilibria, and chemical reaction equilibria. when placed in contact with liquid water, will transfer to the
liquid. In desorption (also known as stripping), the opposite
3. *Fluid Mechanics*: Analysis of fluid flow, including happens. Here, the component of a liquid phase transfers to the
laminar and turbulent flow, and fluid transport phenomena. gas phase. The benzene in a benzene-oil mixture is recovered
4. *Heat and Mass Transfer*: Mechanisms and equations for by treating the mixture with steam. The benzene transfers to
the transfer of heat and mass, including conduction, the steam. Upon cooling, the benzene separates easily from the
convection, and diffusion. steam. For more efficient transfer, the equipment should
provide a large surface of contact between the gas and the
5. *Separation Processes*: Techniques for separating liquid phases.
components of a mixture, such as distillation, filtration, and
centrifugation. SOLID-LIQUID EXTRACTION

6. *Process Control*: Methods for monitoring and The valuable component (solute) in a solid, (e.g., oil in copra),
controlling chemical processes, including feedback loops and can be separated by soaking the solid in a solvent (e.g.,
automation. hexane) where the solute is soluble and allowing the solute to
diffuse out. This is the unit operation of solid-liquid extraction.
7. *Chemical Process Design*: Designing and optimizing Some of the other terms equivalent to solid-liquid extraction
chemical processes, including the selection of equipment and are washing, leaching, lixiviation, elution, elutriation,
materials. diffusion, percolation, decoction, decantation, infusion,
maceration, digestion, steeping, and dissolution. These terms
8. *Plant Design and Economics*: Concepts related to the
mean the transfer of the soluble material from the solids to the
layout, operation, and economic considerations of chemical
solvent.
plants.
LIQUID-LIQUID EXTRACTION
9. *Biochemical Engineering*: Application of chemical
engineering principles to biological systems, including This is a unit operation in which a solute dissolved in a liquid
fermentation and bioreactors. phase is transferred to another liquid phase. Ideally, the two
liquids should not be miscible. Otherwise, the two fluids mix
10. *Environmental Engineering*: Techniques and
and no separation takes place. Two major steps comprise the
principles for minimizing the environmental impact of
process: (1) the intimate contacting of the two phases, and (2)
chemical processes, including waste treatment and pollution
the separation of the two phases.
control.
ADSORPTION
11. *Materials Science*: Study of the properties and
applications of materials used in chemical processes, such as Adsorption is a unit operation in which a component of a fluid
polymers and composites. mixture adheres to the surface of the solid (called the
adsorbent), resulting in a change of composition in the fluid
12. *Safety and Risk Management*: Strategies for ensuring
mixture. The adsorbed substance could be an impurity (such as
safe operation of chemical processes and managing risks
odor or color) or a substance to be recovered (such as
associated with chemical engineering.
acetone).

SIMULTANEOUS HEAT AND MASS TRANSFERS

WHAT IS CHEMICAL ENGINEERING?
This is a group of unit operations where mass and heat
- chemical engineering was defined as a field concerned transfers occur at the same time. When a gas phase component
with the design, construction, and operation of industrial becomes liquid, latent heat evolves. Changing from the liquid
plants where matter undergoes physical or chemical phase to the gas phase, requires heat. In the unit operations of
changes. evaporation, crystallization, drying, humidification, and
dehumidification, heat and mass transfers are equally
1st law of thermodynamics important.
Mass cannot be created nor destroyed HUMIDIFICATION
2nd law of thermodynamics Humidity is the amount of moisture in the air. Humidification
is the addition of water to air to increase its humidity. As the
water evaporates, the remaining liquid water provides the
latent heat of vaporization. This results in the cooling of the
residual liquid water. Humidification therefore serves two
UNIT OPERATIONS OF MASS TRANSFER purposes: increasing the humidity of the air and cooling of the
liquid water.
DISTILLATION
DEHUMIDIFICATION
When a solution containing a volatile component is heated, the
composition of the vapor is different from the composition of Dehumidification (the opposite of humidification) is the
the liquid that remains. The vapor is richer in the more volatile process of condensing out the water vapor from the air to
component. Condense this vapor, then heat again. The decrease its humidity. The cooling tower, an equipment for
resulting vapor will be even richer in the volatile component. humidification can also be used for dehumidification. By
Repeat the process until you get a pure substance. This is the using a liquid with a temperature lower than that of the wet
principle used in distillation. bulb temperature of the entering gas, some of the water vapor
in the air will condense out. Dehumidification is important in
air conditioning where the chiller is the corresponding Screening is the separation of solid particles into different
equipment. The chiller cools a vapor-gas mixture and sizes by passage through several screens with different sizes of
condenses out some of the water vapor. By using the same openings.
principle, dehumidification finds application in the recovery of
solvents such as benzene, methanol, acetone, and carbon
disulfide, among others. MIXING AND AGITATION
EVAPORATION Mixing and agitation is a method for combining liquids,
Evaporation is a unit operation where part of the solvent in a solids, and gases to form intimate mixtures or to maintain
solution is vaporized to concentrate the solution. Either the intimate contact between the components.
concentrated solution or the evaporated solvent is the desired FLOTATION
product. The most common heating medium is steam delivered
through heating coils, tubes, or jackets. In some instances, hot Flotation is a unit operation where solids separate by floating
gas may be injected directly. For smaller units, electric heaters to the surface of a fluid. Air is the common flotation agent.
are common. Solids that readily take air bubbles on the surface float and
separate from those without adhering air bubbles.
CRYSTALLIZATION
SEDIMENTATION
Crystallization is a unit operation in which a solution is
brought to a concentration where it cannot hold all the soluble Sedimentation involves the separation of a suspension of fine
component (the "solute") in solution. We can attain this solids in a liquid by gravity settling. The fine particles settle to
condition by cooling a hot solution and/or by evaporating form a denser slurry. Clear fluid issue out from the top. The
some of the solvent. Crystallization can take place either by operation is either batch or continuous.
addition of a solvent, or by evaporation, or by simple cooling
of the solution. The solute precipitates out as crystals.

DRYING

Drying involves the removal of water or another liquid from a

solid, slurry, or liquid by vaporization. Hence, the definition of
drying is not clear-cut from that of evaporation. Drying is the
operation that usually follows evaporation, crystallization, or
filtration for the final removal of water.

MOMENTUM TRANSFER

In a process plant, materials are constantly flowing. This

involves transfer of momentum. Processes that involve
momentum transfer require study of material and energy
relationships. Flow of fluids requires application of fluid
mechanics. Fluid handling, filtration, and fluidization are some
unit operations that involve momentum transfer.

FILTRATION

Filtration is a unit operation in which a fluid with solids

particles passes through a filter medium. The fluid flows
through but the filter medium retains the particles that could
not pass through its pores. In filtration, we call the deposited
solid the "filter cake" while the separated liquid, the “filtrate”.

FLUIDIZATION

Fluidization refers to the movement of solid particles in a

packed bed when a fluid passes through the bed. The particles
move up and down and the bed appears to expand.

CENTRIFUGATION

Centrifugation is a unit operation that separates solids from

liquids, or liquids from other liquids by centrifugal force. The
equipment, batch or continuous, involves rotation at a high
speed to cause the separation of phases.

SIZE REDUCTION

Size reduction involves subdividing solids by application of

force to fracture or shatter large masses. Examples are
crushers for coarse size reduction and grinders and pulverizers
for intermediate and fine size reduction. The type of
equipment depends on the properties of materials to be treated.

SCREENING