Customer Reviews

Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering (Prentice-Hall International Series in the Physical and Chemical Engineering Sciences)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This books presents a very simplified and a unified approach to the Chemical Reactor Design and Reaction Engineering. The concepts are explained with such simple logic that it stimulates thinking of further application in the field. The topic on RTD is perfectly described not found in any other text. Made my life a lot easier in the Graduate school. A must for all chemical engineers.

This book is positively excellent; it makes the subject matter both interesting and easy to learn. With the texts for so many of my classes being mediocre at best, it's nice to run across a text that reflects a tremendous amount of thought and presents complicated subect matter in an uncomplicated way. In addition, I give the book props for the thought-provoking examples and problems. They make problem sets more interesting and worthwhile.

This book is so good, if you're taking a reactor design class, and it's not the required text...GET IT. It'll make your life a lot easier. I got it for an undergrad class and used it as a necessary reference in a graduate class.

The beauty of Fogler's book is the numerous real-world problems it contains. It's coverage of RTDs in Chemical Reactors and Catalytic Reactions remain the best I've come across in any chemical engineering textbook. The book is easy to understand yet, challenges the reader into serious thinking on problem solving. It is up-to-date with numerous references to state of the art computer problem solving techniques and programs. Fogler is a must for every student of Reaction Engineering. In combination with Octave Levenspiels book (which is rather theoretical and less real-world and computer-problem-solving oriented compared Fogler) a reaction engineering course would be well grounded.

In contrast with what my fellow Ann Arbor reviewer (and most likely UM ChE student), I tended to think that Fogler's book was an excellent way by which to learn the principles of Chemical Reaction Engineering. The book is well organized and while the chapters may skip some, the principle chapters (1-6 in the sixth printing) are the recommended starting chapters. Once passing through chapters 1 - 6, the topics do deviate some, but the fundamental principles necessary to understand any of the topics in chapters 7 and beyond are well established prior to engaging the later material. While my colleague from Ann Arbor may be correct in noting that there are several different printings of the third edition text, Fogler provides adequate typo errors on the text website. In terms of POLYMATH, Fogler does rely on this computer software to show many of the examples in his book. For a good bulk of the examples and homework problems, however, the operation of POLYMATH is extremely easy. If one knows how to type equations into a table and press a 'calculate' button, one can easily run POLYMATH. Fogler provides the program on the CD that accompanies the text. It makes solving differential equations (and their solution curves) much easier than doing so by hand.

I must say that this is the best Chemical Engineering textbook I've had as a student (Geankopolis was a close second). Fogler establishes the principles of CRE well, and the language of the text is not above and beyond reading comprehension. The style Fogler uses is very algorithmic, which, after utilizing the algorithm over and over again, makes reactor design problems much easier to deal with.

Having been one of Fogler's students, I will agree that he tries very hard to relate to students. He is the only professor I've had that tries to learn each student's name. While there might be a few interesting (cheesy) examples and illustrations in the book, they do at times provide some comical relief from the rigors of Chemical Reaction Engineering. Not to mention, the additional material (Interactive Computer Modules, Real World Examples, Chaper Notes, Self Tests) that Fogler provides on the text CD an website are available to further enrich the mind of a struggling learner.

This book, at least from a student's perspective, is wonderful!

Scott Fogler's Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering is more than just a text, it is a complete and engaging course. He combines the needed fundamental concepts of the most important topic in chemical engineering with modern, real world, problems to give the student (and instructor)a chance to solve relevant engineering problems. The text is written in a style that conveys to the reader that this guy knows what he is talking about and has recently solved industrial problems. I enjoy reading his examples because they are current problems and find myself solving the homework problems just for fun. For both students and professional engineers this is the most comprehensive and up-to-date text on the subject. To top it off Folger has developed a web site and CD-Rom to accompany the text with additional material and problems. I have redone my entire course on chemical reaction engineering using Folger's material - he has done it all! I can only imagine the work that must have gone into this. Thank you Professor Folger.

Make sure to order the most recent printing of the 3rd edition when ordering this book. There are currently 6 printings as of 4/23/03, and there are SUBSTANTIAL differences between the printings!!! (Different questions, rewritten chapters, updated examples, etc.)

Also, if you are not familiar with Polymath, you will not understand most of the examples in the book. Fogler relies very heavily on this program. While it is not a bad program, there are some quirks that make it difficult to use.

Fogler has an odd sense of humor, and has a number of cheesy references (if you didn't know that he taught at the University of Michigan, you will be well aware of it by the time you are done with this book!). He tries really hard to relate to students, but it comes off as being really corny.

PROS: Well-organized tables/flow charts to help with problem-solving.

CONS: Over-reliant on Polymath, confusing examples, chapters "skip" between topics

This book is so well presented it's simply a dream. Fogler makes learning this stuff (which is pretty hard) really easy. The book is very logical and easy to follow. It covers practically all aspects of reaction kinetics and reactor design. It's an absolute must for any Chemical Engineer who has to pass exams!

This is probably the best book you will find in chemical engineering. It is very well-written and concisely explains the basics of reactor engineering. This book is a necessity for a chemical engineer for its ability to elucidate the important concepts of kinetics

I am pleased to write this letter as I am studying chemical reactors both endothemic and exothermic type and get a lot of knowledge. And my back ground is not chemical engineer and the book makes me to understand within the shortest period