ABSTRACT
The technology behind manufacturing and energy extraction processes is one of the principal keys to the prosperity of humankind. This technology provides an enormous range of products and facilities to enable us to live in a manner that could not have been imagined only a century ago. Besides the indisputable benefits that many of us enjoy, many challenges arise as well. Some are inherently political, such as the fair distribution of the benefits that accrue, and access to fossil fuel sources in countries that are themselves less able than others to enjoy the benefits. Others are fundamentally technological in nature, such as improving the efficiency of usage of fossil fuels, reducing the environmental impact of processes, improving the economic performance of manufacturing operations, and developing new processes that enable the manufacture of new products. This book is devoted to the technological challenges and to one aspect in particular. Despite the sophistication of modern process technology, there are still huge benefits to be realized in many processes by more fully exploiting their fundamental physics and chemistry. The key to this puzzle is the underlying technological challenge addressed in this book: how can we combine the ability to “see inside” industrial processes with models of the fundamental phenomena, in order to improve process control?
