The Optimal Use of Entropy and Enthalpy

 M S Ananth is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. His research interests are in thermodynamics and mathematical modelling. He is deeply concerned about the quality and reach of engineering education in India.

R Ravi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. His research interests are in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics..

The majority of the elements on earth are present in the form of compounds, mainly oxides. Oil, natural gas, coal, biomass, rock, salt, sulphur, air and water are the primary raw materials that the chemical industry depends on. From distillation of crude oil chemical engineers produce the major fuels such as LPG, gasoline, diesel and kerosene. There are about 20 base chemicals including ethene, propene, butene, benzene, synthesis gas, ammonia, methanol, sulphuric acid and chlorine and 300 intermediates like acetic acid, formaldehyde, urea, acrylonitrile, acetaldehyde and terephthalic acid. These base and intermediate chemicals are often referred to as bulk chemicals. The very large number of speciality chemicals are manufactured using these bulk chemicals as the raw materials [1].

Address for Correspondence
M S Ananth and R Ravi 
Department of Chemical Engineering
 Indian Institute of Technology 
Chennai 600 036, India.