12 replies to this topic

[theleftcoast]

Hello,

I am a senior ChE student and am looking to revisit some of the material from my basic transport, thermodynamics, separations, and reaction engineering classes. I am looking to review the fundamentals with industrial applications in mind and the textbooks I used for many of my classes don't seem to have too much related to practical application (i.e. Bird Steward and Lightfoot for my transport classes). I want to expand my small library of textbooks to include technical references that would help me size basic equipment and design processes. My goal in posting is to get responses from people who have been in industry for a while and probably have a few sources they reference regularly and trust.

Books I have found helpful:
"Troubleshooting Process Plant Control" and "Working Guide to Process Equipment" by Norm Lieberman
"Lectures in Thermodynamics" by Haile
"Plant Design and Economics for Chemical Engineers" by Peter, Timmerhaus and West
"Albright's Chemical Engineering Handbook"

Books I want to buy:
Fluid Mechanics --> "Chemical Engineering Fluid Mechanics" by Darby
Heat Transfer --> "Heat Exchanger Design Handbook"

Any suggestions? Sorry if this is a little open ended but thanks in advance for your responses!

Edited by theleftcoast, 01 February 2010 - 10:17 PM.

[breizh]

Plese consider :
Perry chemical handbook ; Process heat transfer by kern ;Rules of Thumb for chemical engineer by Branan

Hope it helps
Breizh

[Root]

Hello,

I am a senior ChE student and am looking to revisit some of the material from my basic transport, thermodynamics, separations, and reaction engineering classes. I am looking to review the fundamentals with industrial applications in mind and the textbooks I used for many of my classes don't seem to have too much related to practical application (i.e. Bird Steward and Lightfoot for my transport classes). I want to expand my small library of textbooks to include technical references that would help me size basic equipment and design processes. My goal in posting is to get responses from people who have been in industry for a while and probably have a few sources they reference regularly and trust.

Books I have found helpful:
"Troubleshooting Process Plant Control" and "Working Guide to Process Equipment" by Norm Lieberman
"Lectures in Thermodynamics" by Haile
"Plant Design and Economics for Chemical Engineers" by Peter, Timmerhaus and West
"Albright's Chemical Engineering Handbook"

Books I want to buy:
Fluid Mechanics --> "Chemical Engineering Fluid Mechanics" by Darby
Heat Transfer --> "Heat Exchanger Design Handbook"

Any suggestions? Sorry if this is a little open ended but thanks in advance for your responses!

Hi,
Buy these books,
1-Heat Exchanger Design by Frass.
2-Analysis, Synthesis,Design of Chemical Process (Turton, Bailie)
3-Process Design by Seader
Good luck with your collection
Toor

[shan]

Hello,

I am a senior ChE student and am looking to revisit some of the material from my basic transport, thermodynamics, separations, and reaction engineering classes. I am looking to review the fundamentals with industrial applications in mind and the textbooks I used for many of my classes don't seem to have too much related to practical application (i.e. Bird Steward and Lightfoot for my transport classes). I want to expand my small library of textbooks to include technical references that would help me size basic equipment and design processes. My goal in posting is to get responses from people who have been in industry for a while and probably have a few sources they reference regularly and trust.

Books I have found helpful:
"Troubleshooting Process Plant Control" and "Working Guide to Process Equipment" by Norm Lieberman
"Lectures in Thermodynamics" by Haile
"Plant Design and Economics for Chemical Engineers" by Peter, Timmerhaus and West
"Albright's Chemical Engineering Handbook"

Books I want to buy:
Fluid Mechanics --> "Chemical Engineering Fluid Mechanics" by Darby
Heat Transfer --> "Heat Exchanger Design Handbook"

Any suggestions? Sorry if this is a little open ended but thanks in advance for your responses!

Don’t buy any book until you have to. You will feel too much stuff to read soon. I know you think this guy is odd at this moment. You will agree with me when you see the books collected dust on the shelves after 10 years.

[theleftcoast]

Hope everyone doesn't think that I am too strange for asking for resources and thanks for the replies so far. I am going to look through the engineering library on campus and check some of these books out.

[latexman]

I recommend Crane Technical Paper No. 410. During my 31 years of chemical engineering experience in industry, it is the reference I have used the most.

Crane Technical Paper No. 410 is the quintessential guide to understanding the flow of fluid through valves, pipes and fittings, enabling you to select the correct equipment for your piping system.

Originally developed in 1942, the latest edition of Crane TP-410 serves as an indispensable technical resource for specifying engineers, designers and engineering students.

To purchase the publication, visit www.flowoffluids.com

[fatimah]

Hi there

you can go to below path

http://books.google....page&q=&f=false

some books you are looking for available there. our friend, breizh suggested me to go there before.

it will save your time than going to the library to search. anyway, hope it's not part of pirate copy.

[djack77494]

Why not look for books that focus directly on the subject matter that interests you? Look for Process Design books. I know there's a great one out there by (I think) Earnest Ludwig.

[theleftcoast]

Thanks for all the replies. My main goal in starting this thread was to get responses from engineers who have industrial experience and I got that in spades!!

I posted this to the forums because I worked at a Steam-Methane reforming plant for a summer and (for my brief stay as an intern) had access to all sorts of process design documents compiled by the company. I found them to be so useful for quickly understanding/troubleshooting plant processes and practices that I wanted to start compiling my own reference library. My main work was with heat exchanger networks and compression systems so I thought that it would be good to expand my understanding of those unit operations as well as other while I still have access to an awesome university library.

Of the references suggested, I have found "Rules of Thumb for Chemical Engineers" to be the most helpful of all the suggestions so far. I became an engineer because I like to learn about how things actually work and flipping through the suggested books is kind of fun for me. I am not kidding when I say that learning and remembering process design and process troubleshooting tips isn't hard at all for me. With this in mind, I thought that it would be good to find resources that are useful and relevant to those in industry. It should be beneficial to flip through quality resources while relearning my base curriculum, right? This reading reduces the number of "unknown unknowns" I have to deal with when presented with an actual design or troubleshooting question once I get a job (if I can ever find one) or in my senior design classes.

Again, this might seem weird to so many of you, but I love learning about this stuff so reading through these resources is fun for me. Thanks for those of you who replied. I truly appreciate it!

-JT

Edited by theleftcoast, 08 February 2010 - 06:37 AM.

[theleftcoast]

Thanks for all the replies. My main goal in starting this thread was to get responses from engineers who have industrial experience and I got that in spades!!

I posted this to the forums because I worked at a Steam-Methane reforming plant for a summer and (for my brief stay as an intern) had access to all sorts of process design documents compiled by the company. I found them to be so useful for quickly understanding/troubleshooting plant processes and practices that I wanted to start compiling my own reference library. My main work was with heat exchanger networks and compression systems so I thought that it would be good to expand my understanding of those unit operations as well as other while I still have access to an awesome university library.

Of the references suggested, I have found "Rules of Thumb for Chemical Engineers" to be the most helpful of all the suggestions so far. I became an engineer because I like to learn about how things actually work and flipping through the suggested books is kind of fun for me. I am not kidding when I say that learning and remembering process design and process troubleshooting tips isn't hard at all for me. With this in mind, I thought that it would be good to find resources that are useful and relevant to those in industry. It should be beneficial to flip through quality resources while relearning my base curriculum, right? This reading reduces the number of "unknown unknowns" I have to deal with when presented with an actual design or troubleshooting question once I get a job (if I can ever find one) or in my senior design classes.

Again, this might seem weird to so many of you, but I love learning about this stuff so reading through these resources is fun for me. Thanks for those of you who replied. I truly appreciate it!

-JT

[theleftcoast]

Thanks for all the replies. My main goal in starting this thread was to get responses from engineers who have industrial experience and I got that in spades!!

I posted this to the forums because I worked at a Steam-Methane reforming plant for a summer and (for my brief stay as an intern) had access to all sorts of process design documents compiled by the company. I found them to be so useful for quickly understanding/troubleshooting plant processes and practices that I wanted to start compiling my own reference library. My main work was with heat exchanger networks and compression systems so I thought that it would be good to expand my understanding of those unit operations as well as other while I still have access to an awesome university library.

Of the references suggested, I have found "Rules of Thumb for Chemical Engineers" to be the most helpful of all the suggestions so far. I became an engineer because I like to learn about how things actually work and flipping through the suggested books is kind of fun for me. I am not kidding when I say that learning and remembering process design and process troubleshooting tips isn't hard at all for me. With this in mind, I thought that it would be good to find resources that are useful and relevant to those in industry. It should be beneficial to flip through quality resources while relearning my base curriculum, right? This reading reduces the number of "unknown unknowns" I have to deal with when presented with an actual design or troubleshooting question once I get a job (if I can ever find one) or in my senior design classes.

Again, this might seem weird to so many of you, but I love learning about this stuff so reading through these resources is fun for me. Thanks for those of you who replied. I truly appreciate it!

-JT

[theleftcoast]

After a bit of review, reading, and lecture (lectures for class purposes; from respected industry professionals working for very large energy companies), I want to start compiling my own heat transfer design spreadsheets. Based on the response posted by djack77494, my goal has been to identify the most useful area of study possible , I have tried to adjust my response to pertain to heat transfer. I know that heat transfer is a very fundamental "unit operation" and want to maximize my understanding of the fundamentals and nuances of process heat transfer especially. Many professional programs (I.E. HRTRI publications and software) are available to those who are in industry and my goal is to replicate a small bit of functionality for use by those in late stages of academia and/or early into a professional life. If this seems like a reasonable goal and something that would be interesting for the professionals and moderators on the board, please let me know. Again, my goals are to develop something very useful to the academic and professional users on this board. I am a university student at the moment and like learning about these things. If anybody would be willing to lend me a hand with my community heat transfer and plant heat transfer spreadsheet development, let me know. I would greatly appreciate the advice and guidance of the more senior process engineers and moderators of the board.

Yours in Engineering,

JT

[kkala]

...I know that heat transfer is a very fundamental "unit operation" and want to maximize my understanding of the fundamentals and nuances of process heat transfer especially. Many professional programs (I.E. HRTRI publications and software) are available to those who are in industry and my goal is to replicate a small bit of functionality for use by those in late stages of academic and/or early into a professional life. ... Again, my goals are to develop something very useful to the academic and professional users on this board.

J have not dealt seriously with heat transfer so far, but a recent task of mine does (optimization, using existing exchangers as much as feasible). I feel my knowledge should have been more on the subject, especially on rough preliminary estimation of an exchanger from the required data (if there is a free software on it, please advise). What I realize is the importance of hydraulics and design pressure concepts. Mentioned task needs more time for them than for heat transfer calculations, done by the specialists in my work (that is why I have not good knowledge on the latter). Hydraulics may be the most common activity for Process Engineers, and probably (though not always) this is the first sector where young chemical engineer has to improve knowledge.

Concerning heat transfer, "Heat transmission" by W. McAdams (3rd ed, MgGrawHill, 1954)is also recommended (see criticisms in Amazon). It is an example of hard, systematic work in "past good times" of Chemical Engineering, badly needed nowadays. Reported heat loss from bare pipe to environment is not precise, as I read in WWW in about 2002,though it does not lower the whole book value.

I understand Shan and djack77494, unused books make a burden. "Life is short, art is long", said for medicine, is also true for Chemical Engineering. A real application enlightened by printed matter gives deeper understanding, more satisfaction and ability to repeat it under similar conditions. Even "after the fiesta" you will be able to distinguish the meaning of specific details written in the relevant books.
On the other hand I had grabbed tasks simply because I had got some idea of them from books. Looking back, these tasks might not be successful, if books had not prepared me. Indeed one has to read a few books "in advance", may these be the best for him/her. Good book for somebody may not be good for another.

Experience and engineering judgement does not come only from books (another long cup of tea).

Edited by kkala, 14 February 2010 - 03:40 AM.