Rules of Thumb for Chemical Engineers, Third Edition (Rules of Thumb for Chemical Engineers)

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding compilation
Review: This is a 400+ page perfect-bound book, 8-1/2 x 11 inch formt, packed with tips and short cuts for practicing chemical engineers. Branan has essentially scoured the popular press (e.g, Chemical Engineering Magazine, Hydrocarbon Processing, etc.) for articles and data. He's captured that data and organized it into his volume. In so doing, he omits most of the explanatory text and derivations. Instead, he prints the actual data, formulas, recommendations, and definitions (and, of course, references to the source material). This makes for a highly accessible book with tremendous practical value.

There are four main sections: 1) equipment design, 2) process design, 3) plant design, and 4) operations.

For example, one of the chapters within plant design is called "Safety." It contains the following parts: - Estimating LEL and Flash (provides method for estimating LEL given the stoichiometry of combustion and a vapor pressure curve) - Tank Blanketing (method for determining inert gas requirements for breathing losses and working losses; includes data maps of the US) - Equipment Purging (for dilution, pressure-cycle, and vacuum-cycle purging) - Static Charge from Fluid Flow (reprint of an article from Hydrocarbon Processing) - Mixture Flammability (method and examples for estimating) - Relief Manifolds (describes method adopted by API)

In short, if you are practicing process engineering for plant design or maintenance, you should have this book.

Rating:
Summary: A MUST HAVE books for Chemical Engineers
Review: This is one of the few MUST HAVE books for Chemical Engineers doing process engineering. When I travel (for work) I always take "Transport Phenomena" (aka BSL), The GPA Databook and "Rules of Thumb for Chemical Engineers". Rules of Thumb... is a great reference for process design and trouble shooting field problems.

A Practical Tip: The best thing to do with "Rules of Thumb for Chemical Engineers" is to carefuly remove the binding and put it into a 3-hole notebook (e.g., the GPA databook) and then file all the classic process design articles with the appropriate chapters.

Rating:
Summary: A MUST HAVE books for Chemical Engineers
Review: This is one of the few MUST HAVE books for Chemical Engineers doing process engineering. When I travel (for work) I always take "Transport Phenomena" (aka BSL), The GPA Databook and "Rules of Thumb for Chemical Engineers". Rules of Thumb... is a great reference for process design and trouble shooting field problems.

A Practical Tip: The best thing to do with "Rules of Thumb for Chemical Engineers" is to carefuly remove the binding and put it into a 3-hole notebook (e.g., the GPA databook) and then file all the classic process design articles with the appropriate chapters.