INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
EDITORIAL
Editor, DAVID E. GUSHEE Editorial Headquarters 1155 Sixteenth St., N.W., Washington, D. C. 20036 Phone 202-737-3337 Associate Editor: Jose h H 5 Hag in Jenfins Editorial Assistant: d l l i a m Manager, Research Results Service: Stella Anderson Layout and Production Joseph Jacobs Art Director Denis Gruschih, Perry DoAovan (Layout) Production-Easton, Pa. Associate Editor: Charlotte C. Sayre Editorial Assistant: Jane M. Andrews International Editorial Bureaus Frankfurt/Main, West Germany Grosse Bockenheimerstrasse 32 H. Clifford Neely London, W.C.2, England 27 John Adam St. Michael K. McAbee Tokyo Japan A J , 3b6, 47 Dai-machi asaka Minato-ku Patrick $. McCurdy ADVISORY BOARD Thomas Baron R. B. Beckmann C. 0. Bennett F. G. Ciapetta, ’J. J. Fischer, BragiGolding R. L.’Hershey E. F. Johnson A. A. Jonke F C d c G r e w Arthur kose C. N. Satierfield, W. C.’SLhriiner, E. G: Schwarz, Joieph Stewart, T. J. Williams
Next: An Experimental Era?
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ne of the major needs of chemical engineering in the next 5 to 10 years will be improved experimental methods and, through them, the collection of a great deal of highly accurate data, many of which will supplant values previously determined but with an accuracy now found to be inadequate. Several authors in this issue refer to this point, both directly and obliquely (Gorring and Weekman on page 18, Wei on page 38, for example). Perhaps one of the most profound statements on this matter is that of P. V. Danckwerts in his recent presidential address to the Institution of Chemical Engineers [Nature 210 (5036), 571 (1966)l. The “trend toward realistic calculation (by computer) ,” says Prof. Danckwerts, “also creates a demand for more accurate knowledge of the physical behavior of the system and is likely to make further experimental work rewarding rather than render it unnecessary.” Prof. Danckwerts catalogs many of the major areas of chemical engineering research in terms of both the experimental work needed and the design benefits that will result. One such area is the development of scientific methods for estimating thermodynamic quantities in systems for which they have not been measured. Another is the physical chemistry of interfaces, “particularly in relation to the formation and behavior of drops, bubbles, foams in mass transfer equipment.” I n catalysis, he continues, there seems to be a “very wide gap between fundamental scientific understanding of the behavior of heterogeneous catalysts on the one hand, and industrial practice on the other.” “Chemical reaction engineering has grown up to deal with the design and optimization of various types of chemical reactor. . Attention is concentrated on such aspects as mass transfer of reactants and products, backmixing of reactant streams and residence time distribution, the control of temperature, and the coalescence of liquid drops.)’ I n fluid mechanics, “much remains to be done in the flow of liquidgas, liquid-solid, and gas-solid mixtures in pipes ; the mechanics of fluidized beds; the settling of dense suspensions; the mechanics of bubbles, froth, and foams; the flow of non-Newtonian fluids; and the mixing of fluids.” I n logic and control theory, subjects needing attention include optimizing design and operation, methods of feedback and feed-forward control, on-line computer control, and adaptive control. And last, there is the design of chemical plant and machinery in the structural and mechanical sense. Quite clearly, therefore, and again as Danckwerts puts it, “The functions of chemical engineering science are mainly economic.’) That this is so is now much easier to see than it was a few years ago. The fact that it is being seen, frequently and in public statements, is a mark of new maturity within the chemical engineering profession. A natural consequence of this maturity will be the marriage of new experimental methods, increased precision of measurement, enhanced understanding of phenomena underlying chemical operations, and realistic calculation to create new design capabilities of inherently greater reliability, lower cost, and faster implementation.
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VOL. 5 8
NO. 9
SEPTEMBER 1966
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