Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes

Rating:
Summary: this book blows
Review: Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes was the textbook I used in my very first engineering class many years ago. I was then a Chemical Engineering major, because I wanted an intellectual challenge; my course of study was then, and presumably still is, regarded as the toughest of all the academic fields in my school. With this work of Felder and Rousseau as the textbook that introduced so many of us into the world of chemical engineering, the reputation of the difficulty of this major was well deserved.

I graduated with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, and instead of exploring the world of engineering well beyond my college years, I decided to pursue a different route by becoming a mathematics instructor. I also have a Master's in the field of Mathematics Education, and my added exposure to this realm has served me quite well.

Though I have left the world of chemical engineering well behind me, I just thought that I might reflect upon a portion of my past and chip in my few paragraphs pertaining to this reference.Over the course of time, being an educator has taught me that in order to get students to understand the content of the material, you have to communicate and express the ideas quite clearly. This textbook is not exactly successful in that department.

For instance, the sections referring to unit conversions were presented rather haphazardly. My knowledge of unit conversions has expanded considerably since my undergraduate days, but back then, I did not really know how to follow what the authors were trying to express. For instance, the approach to converting the unit ratio centimeters per square second to kilometers per square year is a procedure that should be well laid out in several steps. Instead, in this book, you have this type of unit conversion expressed in one line, and as opposed to having the steps displayed in an orderly manner, all that you really get is a shortcut full of exponential gibberish.

Looking back at it now, I think that unless one comes from a background that demands mathematical rigor, I honestly do not see how anyone who uses this textbook can really obtain the insight needed to progress to intermediate engineering courses and graduate.

All in all, this is not a good textbook for the full-time college student who has other topics to deal with. For me, too much time was wasted trying to translate this material into a context that would be readable for the engineering novice. There was too much material crammed into each chapter, and the pain of trying to find a clue to get from one level of mastery to the next could only be magnified by the pedantry often expressed by the impatient professor.

Rating:
Summary: Big Zero!
Review: I give this book ZERO stars rating because it is an extraordinarily lousy textbook. The book has so many typos and mistakes it will make you mad and drive you crazy at the same time. Way to much bologna! The worst textbook I have ever seen or read for a class. Put the stink in chemical engineering. Author lacks insight in many different ways. One way the author lacked perspective was not providing any student's solutions manual. Not having a solutions manual makes it very difficult to learn principles and details for solving complex calculus and advanced algebraic problems because you either must copy from someone else or get the royal going over. Seriously, no joke, you would be better off using schaum's outlines to help than this book. FIVE Thumbs Down.

Rating:
Summary: Good book for ChemE's
Review: I used this book in my 2nd year at U of Cincinnati for my Material and Energy Balance class. This is a very good book for ChemE's just starting out, and it helped me a lot(I'm currently 4th year). The example problems in the book are very good at explaining concepts, and the book is very well laid out in an easy to understand way. If you don't need this book for a class, it is still a very handy reference for many ChemE applications.

Rating:
Summary: A must for anyone in the chemical engineering curriculum.
Review: If you are dealing with chemical processes in any way, YOU NEED THIS BOOK!!

Rating:
Summary: Best text introducing Chemical Engineering Calculations
Review: This is the best text appearing in the past decade, and that is dedicated to introduing Chemical Engineering calculations in a simple and straight forward way. I found the book extremely useful for all Chemical Engineering students at Alexandria University. Most of the students -in spite of being non-English speakers - had no problems in following the book, solving its problems, and continuously using the book throughout their course of study at the ChE Dept of Alex. U. They all agree: it is an indispensable reference to a Chemical Engineer

Rating:
Summary: Good book for ChemE's
Review: This text is a concise, well-written, introductory text regarding mass, mole, and energy balances. Though the book does lack a little as far as its discourse on thermodynamics. There are a few typos, but that should not distract the reader from learning chemical engineering principles. Also, this book is a wonderful resource because of its extensive thermophysical properties tables and other important data. I have used these tables in fluids, kinetics, and heat/mass transfer.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Intro to Chemical Engineering
Review: This text is a concise, well-written, introductory text regarding mass, mole, and energy balances. Though the book does lack a little as far as its discourse on thermodynamics. There are a few typos, but that should not distract the reader from learning chemical engineering principles. Also, this book is a wonderful resource because of its extensive thermophysical properties tables and other important data. I have used these tables in fluids, kinetics, and heat/mass transfer.