Video Lecture
The whole series is available as a single video with chapter markers. Each chapter page starts this video at that chapter.
Chemical Engineering Mass Transfer and Separation
Diffusion, Distillation, and the Separations That Define the Flowsheet
Most of a flowsheet is separation equipment, and much of a plant's energy bill is paid there. This course completes the transport-phenomena arc of our chemical engineering curriculum — momentum transfer came first, heat transfer second, and mass transfer now closes the trio — then puts the theory to work across the separations that dominate industrial practice.
Series Overview
- Diffuse — Fick's law, the two-film model, and the mass-transfer coefficient
- Absorb — operating lines, the pinch, and the HTU-NTU method
- Distill — relative volatility, McCabe-Thiele, and the reflux trade
- Extract — extraction, adsorption, and membranes for when distillation cannot
- Solidify — drying, crystallization, and the selection logic of the flowsheet
Two Films"] --> B["Absorption
& HTU-NTU"] B --> C["Distillation &
McCabe-Thiele"] C --> D["Extraction,
Adsorption,
Membranes"] D --> E["Drying, Crystals
& Selection"]
Chapters
| Chapter | Title | What You Will Learn |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Diffusion and Mass-Transfer Coefficients | Fick's law, diffusivity magnitudes, the two-film model, gas- vs liquid-film control |
| 2 | Absorption, Stripping, and the Transfer Unit | Operating and equilibrium lines, minimum liquid rate, HTU-NTU sizing, trays vs packing |
| 3 | Distillation and the McCabe-Thiele Method | Relative volatility, Fenske minimum stages, operating lines, minimum reflux, the capital-energy trade |
| 4 | Extraction, Adsorption, and Membranes | Extraction factor and staging, Langmuir isotherms and breakthrough, membrane selectivity |
| 5 | Drying, Crystallization, and Choosing a Separation | Wet-bulb and drying periods, supersaturation, separation selection, the digital layer |
Who This Series is For
- Students completing the transport arc from our Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer series into separations
- Engineers and researchers who size columns, choose solvents, or troubleshoot dryers and crystallizers
- Data scientists working with column temperature profiles and drying curves who want the physics behind the signals
Recommended preparation: Chemical Engineering Introduction and Fluid Mechanics; the Thermodynamics series supplies the vapor-liquid equilibrium this course builds on, and the Heat Transfer series the film-coefficient logic it mirrors. Mathematics stays at algebra with a few worked calculations.
Related Series
Part of the classical-fundamentals track with Chemical Engineering Introduction, Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics, Chemical Engineering Fluid Mechanics, and Chemical Engineering Heat Transfer. The reaction-engineering deep-dive continues the track in Chemical Engineering Reaction Engineering. Data-driven companions: Process Informatics Introduction and Introduction to Process Monitoring and Control.