chemical

Perry's Handbook has been found indispensable by chemical engineers, and a wide variety of other engineers and scientists, through six previous editions spanning more than sixty years. The NST/Engineers, Inc. reviewer, a Ph.D., PE favors the hardbound book as a desk reference, whereas he favors the CD format (ISBN# 0071344128) where a laptop or copying text or calculations are required. Users familiar with previous editions of Perry's will find additional text sections, tables, and figures. The reviewer did not detect deletions of any required material.

You will notice the increased use of SI units. Section 1, of thirty Handbook sections, "Conversion Factors and Mathematical Symbols", provides a rescue line for those of us much more accustomed to U.S., British, and older Metric units and who are not fully conversant with S.I. units. The first one-third of the Handbook lays the theoretical groundwork for a fuller understanding of its final two-thirds.

Section 2 provides physical properties data, including tables of constants for properties' correlations covering wide temperature ranges. Methods for the prediction and correlation of physical properties are explained. Section 3 summarizes mathematics through differential equations and statistics. Sections 4 through 7 may be considered short texts on "Thermodynamics", "Heat and Mass Transfer", "Fluid and Particle Dynamics", and "Reaction Kinetics".

In its eighty-four double column text pages, Section 8 covers the "Fundamentals of Process Dynamics and Control". It includes model predictive control, process optimization, unit operations control, process measurements, and concludes with controllers, final control elements, and regulators. Section 9, "Process Economics", takes the reader through calculations involved in investment and profitability decisions, cost control, and cost estimation. Starting with Section 10, "Transport and Storage of Fluids", and for most of the following twenty sections, the chemical engineering unit operations, details of more specialized theories and operating practices, calculation methods, interface studies between chemical engineering and other disciplines (i.e., Biochemical Engineering and Waste Management), and data specific to the topic being presented are given.

As previously stated, these latter sections, about two-thirds of the book, build upon an understanding of the fundamentals presented earlier. For example, Section 10; Section 11, "Heat Transfer Equipment"; Section 12, "Psychrometry, Evaporative Cooling, and Solids Drying"; Section 13, "Distillation"; Section 14, "Gas Absorption"; Section 15, "Liquid-Liquid Extraction"; Section 16, "Adsorption and Ion Exchange"; Section 17, "Gas-Solid Operations and Equipment"; and Section 18, "Liquid-Solid Operations and Equipment"; build on an understanding of Section 4, "Thermodynamics", Section 5, "Heat and Mass Transfer", and Section 6 "Fluid and Particle Dynamics". However, the book sections are all prepared to be rather self-sufficient so that readers without the earlier fundamental background can still gather useful working information.

The final twelve sections complete the review of unit operations and add important interdisciplinary studies. The sections are: "Solid-Solid Operations and Equipment"; "Size Reduction and Size Enlargement"; "Handling of Bulk Solids and Packaging of Solids and Liquids"; "Alternative Separation Processes"; "Chemical Reactors" (building on Section 7 "Reaction Kinetics"); "Biochemical Engineering"; "Waste Management"; "Process Safety"; "Energy resources, Conversion, and Utilization"; "Materials of Construction"; "Process Machinery Drives"; and "Analysis of Plant Performance";

Actually, a reasonable understanding of the contents of Perry's, including how to find and use the voluminous data, is equivalent to the text-based learning at the completion of a Master's degree in chemical engineering.

I have used this book only when I need thermodynamic, physical or chemical data. However the other sections of this book are not practical at all, for those who can read and apply from pure math this is the one; for those looking for practical applications using the information given by this book, sorry fellas this is not the place for it.

This is the best book to show how distant are the theory and the practice of a Chemical Engineer.