CHEMICAL-ENGINEERING, FRACTAL AND DISORDERED SYSTEM-THEORY - PERSPECTIVES, APPLICATIONS AND FUTURE-DEVELOPMENTS

This article critically discusses the applications of fractal and diso rdered system theory to chemical engineering problems in order to high light 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 compl ex phenomenologies on fractals and disordered systems. The effects of thermodynamical nonidealities in transport and adsorption, and the inf luence of nonlinearities in reaction kinetics are discussed in some de tail. Examples of typical engineering problems in which fractal analys is may help towards a better understanding of the physical phenomenolo gies in the presence of complex porous substrata and fluid mixtures ar e discussed. The role played by the boundary conditions on transport p henomena involving fractal structures is also analyzed. A critical dis cussion on the perspectives in the characterization of disordered and fractal porous structures, and in the study of turbulent transport and mixing is also developed.