Preparing for the Course

Reaction Engineering Basics Logo

Prerequisites

REB, The Course is comparable to reaction engineering courses found in the junior or senior year of undergraduate chemical engineering curricula in the U.S. Students should have a basic understanding of the following topics:

  • chemical engineering principles, particularly mass and energy balances
  • basic chemistry, including chemical reactions and stoichiometry
  • mathematics, including algebra, calculus, and differential equations
  • basic programming skills, most preferrably using Python

REB Equation Summary

You will encounter and use numerous equations as you progress through Reaction Engineering Basics. In my opinion, memorizing equations is largely a waste of time, but familiarity with many of them is essential. The REB Equation Summary lists equations that are used repeatedly in the course. I recommend downloading the equation summary and either printing it out or having a link to it easily accessible so you can quickly refer to it as you complete assignments. You should attempt to complete each REB assignment referring only to this summary, and not to REB, The Book or any other books or resources. You will know you have mastered a learning objective when you can complete a related assignment referring only to the equation summary.

Computational Necessities

Python is the programming language used in REB, The Course. Students should have access to a computer with Python installed. All of the calculations presented in REB, The Course were performed using a free miniconda distribution of Python. Later versions of the following packages may work, but the versions listed below were used in the development and testing of REB, The Course:

  • python 3.10.8
  • numpy 1.23.5
  • scipy 1.9.3
  • matplotlib 3.6.2
  • pandas 1.5.2
  • statsmodels 0.13.5

Other programming languages and software packages may be used to perform the calculations presented in REB, The Course, but students should be prepared to translate the Python code provided in the course materials into the programming language or software package of their choice.

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