A fresh approach

Chemical engineering: an introduction
Morton Denn
Cambridge University Press
2011 | 278pp | £35 (PB)
ISBN 9781107669376
Reviewed by Paul Nancarrow

The task of writing a modern and concise introduction to an entire field of engineering presents several challenges, including making the subject appear fresh, relevant and appealing to the non-expert, finding the sweet spot between breadth and depth of content, and providing a useful gateway for the interested reader to delve further into the subject matter.

Morton Denn has successfully tackled all three, making this a very useful book for new undergraduate students and also other scientists and engineers working on the interface with chemical engineering. The author’s extensive background in materials science has clearly influenced his writing and, as a result, this book is particularly suited those working at the chemical engineering–materials science interface.

The reader is introduced to the field of chemical engineering through a series of personalised success stories in areas of modern chemical engineering, such as nanotechnology and tissue engineering. This is a fresh approach and, I believe, effective in giving the reader a sense of the roles chemical engineers are playing in shaping the modern world.

The remainder of the book delves further into the fundamental principles used by chemical engineers in analysing and designing chemical processes. While the core fundamental technical areas of chemical engineering are dealt with effectively, many aspects that are essential to the field, such as process safety, economics, management and law, have been omitted. The author’s use of more modern unit operations, such as membrane separations, to illustrate traditional concepts of chemical engineering is appealing and gives a fresh perspective to ‘old’ topics.

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