Chemical reaction engineering in the chemical processing of metals and inorganic materials

Abstract

In traditional chemical reaction engineering, it is possible to incorporate only the simplified aspects of fluid flow, mixing, and mass/heat transfer into the analysis of chemical reaction rates and reactor design. As a consequence of the advent of high-speed, high-capacity computing capacity, complex processes involving chemical reactions have become amenable to analysis and modeling. This has also resulted in the merging of various disciplines of chemical engineering in formulating detailed descriptions of complex processes. Developments that exemplify this trend over the years are discussed in this review. Several examples from the author’s previous work are used to illustrate the application of chemical reaction engineering principles to the modeling and analysis of complex systems involving the chemical processing of metals and other inorganic materials.