Abstract
Chemical engineering embraces a broad field of diversified activities growing out of materials processing. Materials processing requires the use of a series of distinct operations. For example, if the materials are impure, they are purified first if necessary, and if they are mixtures, they are separated into fractions, some of which are useful in further processing whereas the others are discarded. Generally the process includes one or more chemical reactions and, in most cases, the materials are fluids. Most operations such as reaction and separation may require the transfers of heat and mass, so that the subject of transport phenomena ranks along with thermodynamics as one of the key engineering sciences in chemical engineering. Film theory is discussed as an example of the typical analytical approaches in the transport phenomena in chemical engineering. Although this model is physically unrealistic, it has nevertheless proven very useful as a basis for correlating heat or mass transfer coefficient in terms of a simple physical picture.
