Process and Product Design

Send feedback about this page to Dr. Wayne Bequette (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Dr. Yuhe Tian (West Virginia University), or Dr. Warren D. Seider (University of Pennsylvania)

Textbooks

• Product and Process Design Principles: Synthesis, Analysis and Evaluation, 4th Edition by Warren D. Seider, Daniel R. Lewin, J. D. Seader, Soemantri Widagdo, Rafiqul Gani, Ka Ming Ng 
• Chemical Product Design (Cambridge Series in Chemical Engineering) by E. L. Cussler
• Chemical Engineering Design, SI Edition, 6th Edition by Ray Sinnott, Gavin Towler 
• Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook, 9th Edition by Don W. Green and Marylee Z. Southard 
• Analysis, Synthesis, and Design of Chemical Processes, 5th edition by Richard Turton, Joseph A. Shaeiwitz, Debangsu Bhattacharyya, and Wallace B. Whiting
• Introduction to Chemical Product Design, 1st ed, by Nishanth G. Chemmangattuvalappil, Jecksin Ooi, Mario R. Eden
• Systematic Methods of Chemical Process Design by Lorenz T. Biegler, Ignacio E. Grossmann, and Arthur W. Westerberg

Screencasts

• LearnChemE (University of Colorado Boulder): Approximately 70 screencast videos on flowcharts, process equipment, economics, and simulation software

    

Process Design Open Course Materials

• Chemical Process Design Open Textbook (Northwestern University) – Process design theory, method, and projects
• Integrated Chemical Engineering batch process analysis, modeling, and simulation (MIT Open Learning) – Assignments and projects
• Design Projects Compendium (West Virginia University) – Including companion projects with other ChE core courses such as reaction engineering, separations, etc.
• Open-source simulators
       DWSIM: free, open-source steady-state and dynamic simulator
       IDAES:  U.S. DOE Institute for the Design of Advanced Energy Systems; Python/Pyomo-based, strong for equation-oriented optimization

Process Simulation Software Learning

• Aspen Plus and HYSYS/UniSim "Using Process Simulators in Chemical Engineering" multimedia guides (University of Pennsylvania)
• Aspen Plus Learn Aspen Plus in 24 Hours (Dr. Thomas A. Adams II, University of Science and Technology) – book and simulation file
• CHEMCAD – Chemstations youtube channel and example book
• Matlab, Python, etc. – reference to Computer Programming resources

Recent Process Design Developments

• Sustainable process design
  • Life cycle analysis – EPA GREENSCOPE tool
  • Sustainable process and product design – Webinar series (PSE for Speed)
• Modular process intensification – eLearning courses (AIChE RAPID Institute)
  • ELA350: Process Design for Process Intensification
  • ELA351: Modeling and Simulation for Process Intensification
  • ELA355: A Practical Guide to Techno-Economic Analysis

Useful Links

• Visual Encyclopedia of Chemical Engineering (University of Michigan)

Page last updated verified August 6, 2026