Over half of the products of the chemical and process industries are
sold in a particulate form. The range of such products is vast: from
agrochemicals to pigments, from detergents to foods, from plastics to
pharmaceuticals. However, surveys of the performance of processes
designed to produce particulate products have consistently shown
inadequate design and poor reliability.
`Particle technology' is a new subject facing new challenges. Chemical
and process engineering is becoming less concerned with the design of
plants to produce generic simple chemicals (which are often single phase
fluids) and is now more concerned with speciality `effect' chemicals
which may often be in particulate form. Chemical and process engineers
are also being recruited in increasing numbers into areas outside their
tranditional fields, such as the food industry, pharmaceuticals and the
manufacture of a wide variety of consumer products. This book has been
written to meet their needs. It provides comprehensive coverage of the
technology of particulate solids, in a form which is both accessible and
concise enough to be useful to engineering and science students in the
final year of an undergraduate degree, and at Master's level. Although
it was written with students of chemical engineering in mind, it will
also be of use and interest to students of other disciplines. It
comprises an account of the fundamentals of teh subject, illustrated by
worked examples, and followed by a wide range of selected applications.
