Chemical Engineering, Fractal and Disordered System Theory

Abstract

This article critically discusses the applications of fractal and disordered system theory to chemical engineering problems in order to highlight some promising research directions and the difficulties that may be encountered. Starting from the analysis of transport and reaction kinetics, the question is addressed, with the aid of some examples, of whether and how engineering research could help in the study of complex phenomenologies on fractals and disordered systems. The effects of thermodynamical nonidealities in transport and adsorption, and the influence of nonlinearities in reaction kinetics are discussed in some detail. Examples of typical engineering problems in which fractal analysis may help towards a better understanding of the physical phenomenologies in the presence of complex porous substrata and fluid mixtures are discussed. The role played by the boundary conditions on transport phenomena involving fractal structures is also analyzed. A critical discussion on the perspectives in the characterization of disordered and fractal porous structures, and in the study of turbulent transport and mixing is also developed.