The simulation and optimization of processes assumes that the thermodynamic

properties and phase equilibria of the mixtures concerned are well known. This

knowledge is still based upon experimentation, but it is also the result of calculation

methods based on the principles of thermodynamics that govern them, insure their

coherence, and confer upon them a wide range of application.

This text is concerned primarily with the description of these methods and their

evolution. It is addressed to the student who wishes to apply the general principles

he has learned, and to the engineer confronted with a choice, perhaps a difficult one,

of the most appropriate method to solve his problem.

This textbook devotes extensive space to fundamental concepts. It also places

particular emphasis on the "models" that, although based on simplified concepts of

the subject matter at the molecular level, have a "predictive" character.

Computational examples are used to explain the application of these concepts and

models. A comprehensive bibliography allows the reader to broaden the under-standing

he has acquired from this text.

These calculation models are not perfect. Future progress makes thermodynamics as

applied to chemical engineering an evolving discipline. The engineer must keep

abreast of this progress and evaluate it intelligently.