Category: Chemical process

Refining (also perhaps called by the mathematical term affining) is the process of purification of a (1) substance or a (2) form. The term is usually used of a natural resource that is almost in a usable form, but which is more useful in its pure form.[1] For instance, most types of natural petroleum will burn straight from the ground, but it will burn poorly and quickly…

Redox (/ˈrɛdɒks/ RED-oks, /ˈriːdɒks/ REE-doks, reduction–oxidation[2] or oxidation–reduction[3]: 150 ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of a reactant change.[4] Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is the gain of electrons or a decrease in the oxidation state. There are two classes of redox reactions:

Filtration is a physical separation process that separates solid matter and fluid from a mixture using a filter medium that has a complex structure through which only the fluid can pass. Solid particles that cannot pass through the filter medium are described as oversize and the fluid that passes through is called the filtrate.[1] Oversize particles may form a filter cake on top of the filter and may also block…

Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixture and the condensation of the vapors in a still. Dry distillation (thermolysis and pyrolysis) is the heating of solid materials to produce gases that condense either into fluid products or into solid products.…

Decontamination (sometimes abbreviated as decon, dcon, or decontam) is the process of removing contaminants on an object or area, including chemicals, micro-organisms or radioactive substances. This may be achieved by chemical reaction, disinfection or physical removal. It refers to specific action taken to reduce the hazard posed by such contaminants, as opposed to general cleaning. Decontamination is most commonly used in medical environments, including dentistry, surgery and veterinary science, in…

Fractionation is a separation process in which a certain quantity of a mixture (of gasses, solids, liquids, enzymes, or isotopes, or a suspension) is divided during a phase transition, into a number of smaller quantities (fractions) in which the composition varies according to a gradient.[1][2] Fractions are collected based on differences in a specific property of the individual components. A common trait in fractionations is the need to…

Unit processing is the basic processing in chemical engineering. Together with unit operations it forms the main principle of the varied chemical industries. Each genre of unit processing follows the same chemical law much as each genre of unit operations follows the same physical law. Chemical engineering unit processing consists of the following important processes:

In a scientific sense, a chemical process is a method or means of somehow changing one or more chemicals or chemical compounds.[1] Such a chemical process can occur by itself or be caused by an outside force, and involves a chemical reaction of some sort. In an “engineering” sense, a chemical process is a method intended to be used in manufacturing or on an industrial scale (see Industrial…