TECHNICAL WORDS RELATED TO CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

1. ABSORPTION: It is the unit operation in which mass transfer takes place from the vapor phase to
the liquid phase. Generally, but not always, it designates an operation in which the liquid is supplied
as a separate and independent stream from the steam to be treated.
2. STEEL: It is an iron alloy with 0.02 to 1.50% carbon.
3. ACID: It is one of the most abundant chemical substances. In aqueous solution, it ionizes to form
hydrogen ions, H+, which immediately associate with a water molecule to form the complex ion,
H3+, called the hydronium ion.
4. ADSORPTION: It is the unitary operation that is carried out by putting a solid in contact with a fluid
mixture. The conditions in which the contact occurs are such that a part of the fluid is absorbed by
the surface of the solid, with which the composition of the non-absorbed fluid is altered.
5. AIR: It is a mixture of gases, whose composition as dry air at sea level, is 78.00% nitrogen,
20.95% oxygen, by volume; the remaining 1.05% is made up of noble gases, carbon dioxide and
water vapor.
6. ALKANES: Also called paraffins, they correspond to a class of aliphatic hydrocarbons
characterized by being constituted in an open or branched carbon chain.
7. ALKENES: Also called olefins, it is a class of unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons that have one or
more double bonds and that are obtained by the pyrolysis of naphtha or other petroleum fractions at
high temperatures.
8. ALKYL: It is called the group of paraffinic hydrocarbons that can be derived from alkanes by
detachment of a hydrogen from its molecule.
9. ALKYNES: Also called acetylenic hydrocarbons, it is a class of unsaturated hydrocarbons of the
homologous series.
10. QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS: Qualitative chemical analysis is the subdivision of chemistry that
deals with the identification of materials.
11. QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS: Quantitative chemical analysis is a subdivision of chemistry that
has to do with determining the percentage composition of mixtures or the constituents of a pure
compound.
12. BIODEGRADABILITY: It is the ability of a substance to be broken down by microorganisms.
13. GRAVITATIONAL FIELD: Means by which gravity communicates without influence.
14. COAL: It is a fossil fuel formed from plants that grew in swamps, about 250 million years ago.
15. CERAMICS: It is a product manufactured by the action of heat on an earthy raw material, in which
silica, oxygen and complex compounds known as silicates occupy a predominant position.
16. COMBUSTION: It is an exothermic oxidation reaction in which the heat released comes from
the breaking of chemical bonds.
17. DISTILLATION: It is the unitary operation that separates the vapors given off by liquids or solids,
by heating them in a distillation column and condensing them again.
18. FLOW DIAGRAM: It is a diagram or linear drawing used to indicate the successive stages in an
industrial production, the materials that enter and are obtained from the process, the by- products,
the waste and the most relevant information of the process, such as temperatures and temperatures.
pressures.
19. ELECTROCHEMISTRY: It is the branch of chemistry that conceives mainly with the relationship
between electrical force and chemical reactions.
20. CHEMICAL BOND: It is the very strong attractive force that exists between atoms, which is
sufficient to allow the compound union and be able to behave as a unit.
21. SPACE-TIME: Four-dimensional space whose points are events.
22. STOCHIOMETRY: It is the branch of chemistry and chemical engineering that deals with the
quantities of substances that become part of and are produced by means of chemical reactions.
23. FILTRATION: It is the unitary operation by means of which a heterogeneous mixture of a fluid and
the particles of a solid are separated into their components.
24. PHYSICS: It is the science that studies the structure and properties of matter in all its varied
conditions and forms, as well as the laws that regulate movements and their reciprocal
transformations.
25. HALOGENATION: It is the incorporation of a halogen element, usually chlorine or bromine, in an
organic compound.
26. HYDROLYSIS: It is a chemical reaction in which water reacts with another substance to form two
or more new substances.
27. CHEMICAL ENGINEERING: It is the branch of Engineering that deals with the development and
application of manufacturing processes, in which chemical or physical changes of materials are
involved. Such processes, in general, can be divided into a coordinated series of physical unit
operations and chemical unit processes.
28. ISOBARS: They are a particular kind of atoms, which have the same mass number, but different
atomic number, in contrast to isotopes.
29. ISOTOPE: One of two or more forms or species of an element that have the same atomic number
but different masses. The difference in mass is due to the presence of one or more extra neutrons in
the nucleus.
30. IONIZATION: It consists of the formation of ions from a neutral molecule, from a liquid solid or
inorganic gas.
31. NEWTON'S LAWS: Newton established his laws of motion based on the study of the motion of the
planets. Since the dimensions of a planet are insignificant compared to the amplitude of its motion,
Newton's laws are directly applicable only to the motion of a material point.
32. METAL: It is an element that forms positive ions when compounds are in solution and whose oxides
form hydroxides with water. Approximately 73% of the elements are metals.
33. MIXTURE: It is a heterogeneous union of substances, which cannot be represented by means of a
chemical formula. Its components may or may not be uniformly dispersed and can usually be
separated by mechanical means.
34. NEUTRALIZATION: It is a chemical reaction in which the mutual interaction of ions that
characterize acids and bases is formed when both are present in an aqueous solution.
35. ATOMIC NUCLEUS: Central part of an atom made up of protons and neutrons, held together by the
strong nuclear force.
36. OXIDATION: The term was originally applied to the chemical reaction in which oxygen
combines with another substance; this definition expanded to include any reaction in which
electrons are transferred.
37. OXIDE: It is a mineral in which metal atoms bond with oxygen atoms.
38. MOLECULAR WEIGHT: It is the sum of the atomic weights of the atoms in a molecule.
39. POLYMERIZATION: It is a chemical reaction, usually carried out with the use of a heat catalyst and
often under pressure, in which a large number of relatively simple molecules combine to form a
macromolecule, with a chain-like shape.
40. CHEMISTRY: It is the basic science that studies the structure and behavior of atoms, the
composition and properties of compounds, the reactions between substances with their
accompanying energy exchange, the laws that link these phenomena within a comprehensive
system.
41. INORGANIC CHEMISTRY: It is a specialized branch of chemistry that includes all substances,
except hydrocarbons and derivatives.
42. ORGANIC CHEMISTRY: It is a specialized branch of chemistry, which includes all carbon
compounds.
43. RADIOACTIVITY: Spontaneous rupture of a nucleus of one type to form a nucleus of another type.
44. SEDIMENTATION: It is the unitary operation that consists of settling by gravity of solid
particles suspended in a liquid.
45. SOLUTE: It is called one or more substances dissolved in another substance, called the solvent.
46. SOLVENT: A substance capable of dissolving another substance called a solute, to form a
uniformly dispersed mixture (solution) at the molecular or ionic size level.
47. SCREEN: It is the unitary operation used to separate a mixture of particles of different sizes into two
or more fractions, each of which will be made up of particles of a more uniform size than the
original mixture.
48. HEAT TRANSFER: The transmission of thermal energy from one body to another is carried
out thanks to the temperature difference between them.
49. MASS TRANSFER: Mass transfer is understood as the movement of one or more components, either
within the same phase or their passage from one phase to another.
50. GLASS: It is a ceramic material that is made up of a uniformly dispersed mixture of 75% silica
dioxide (sand), 20% sodium carbonate and 5% calcium oxide.