Handbook of Chemical Technology and Pollution Control. Third Edition. By Martin B. Hocking. 30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803. Web: wiley.com. 2006. 830 pages, $95.95.
Reviewed by V. N. Lad, S. V. National Institute of Technology, Gujarat, India
Sustainable development that incorporates energy efficient production practices and environmentally friendly process design are responsibilities of utmost importance for any industrialist, due to the issue of global warming and other environmental problems.
The third edition of the "Handbook of Chemical Technology and Pollution Control," authored by Professor Martin B. Hocking, is indeed a good combination of selected pollution control strategies and the technical aspects of various areas of chemicals manufacturing.
The first chapter of this handbook is introductory in nature, dealing with general characteristics of chemical processing, types of general reactors, kinetics and brief notes on selected instruments and cost of operation. Chapters 2 and 3 focus on air-quality measurement, effects of gaseous emissions on the environment and strategies for controlling these emissions. Similarly, Chapters 4 and 5 deal with the laboratory methods for water quality analysis and processing of raw water and wastewater, respectively. Discussions on the production method of various chemicals from sodium, potassium, calcium, sulfur, phosphorus and ammonium have been included in Chapters 6 to 11. Chapter 8 emphasizes the electrochemical methods for brine, in particular. It also includes environmental aspects of diaphragm, mercury and membrane cells. A brief review on the other electrochemical methods, including electrodialysis, electro-osmosis and electrocoagulation, might be of worth to introduce various operations in this category. Chapters 12, 13 and 14 incorporate processing in metallurgical industries, including the production of aluminum and its derivatives, and manufacturing of copper, iron and steel. One of the most polluting industries, pulp and paper, is discussed in Chapter 15, which deals with detailed preparation methods of virgin pulp by mechanical and chemical pulping, though there is little discussion on recycle paper manufacturing. Fermentation processes have been accommodated in Chapter 16 in detail, but more conceptual kinetics of microbial reactions are lacking at this point. Chapters 17 to 23 contain rigorous information on petroleum refining, petrochemicals and polymer processing. The essence of this handbook is that all the above chapters incorporate environmental aspects as a separate section in each of them. Appendix I may he helpful for choosing suitable references related to soil pollution.
Each chapter in this handbook contains a comprehensive list of review questions and literature suggested for further reading to gain an in-depth understanding of some phenomena. In addition, the book contains updated information from recent years, making it a useful reference for senior students of science or engineering, academicians, working professionals and technical consultants.
This handbook could have been written as an independent reference by supplementing it with all the basic concepts and fundamentals of flowsheeting, as well as overviews of major operations used in the chemical process industries, including a complete economical analysis of a typical or hypothetical plant. It also may have been better organized by dividing the chapters into the logical sections: (I) preliminaries of processing; (II) air and water environmental chemistry and pollution control; and (III) industrial processing of various chemicals. Even though it is successful in bridging the gap between industrial manufacturing techniques and environmental chemistry, the addition of conceptual information for commercial production facilities might be more helpful to enhance the glory of its contents.
Above all, the third edition of this book is unique in its content, as it discusses the basics of air and water pollution control and their quality measurement techniques, as well as the technical aspects of production of various chemicals, ranging from metallurgical industry to fermentation industries, and from petroleum refining to polymer processing.
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