Introductory Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics

Excellent, comprehensive and lucid textbook for undergraduates. Asian edition is softcover and paper

This is an Asian edition (by Pearson) of an excellent textbook. Relative to the U.S. edition, the chapters are reproduced exactly, but the Asian Edition is softcover and, further, the quality of the paper is not up to snuff, which is a real demerit for a hefty book of almost 900 pages. The U.S. edition of the book (by Prentice-Hall), which I also own, is hardcover and of outstanding quality in all respects. That said, this book has an almost encyclopedic coverage of the most important concepts for practicing chemical engineers. There are many numerical examples throughout the book, and the book's website contains some very useful material (e.g., spreadsheets) that are valuable for demonstrating the methodology for implementing some quite complex thermodynamic methods. Professors Elliott and Lira are to be congratulated for providing a very thoughtful and well-written textbook that should provide a solid foundation for one of the most important pillars of the chemical engineering profession. Thermodynamics is not for the faint of heart and a serious study of this book should demystify many of the concepts that often cause confusion, at least at the undergraduate level. Practicing engineers, especially those that use process simulators, will welcome the clear exposition of the concepts and underlying algorithms for all the major methods and procedures, especially for hydrocarbon systems (equations of state) and chemical systems (activity coefficients). The sections on reaction equilibria, simultaneous phase and chemical equilibria, and electrolyte mixture thermodynamics are also very well written and offer much useful advice and valuable insights. Read more